Collection ID: 0021 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Miscellaneous treatises

Authors

• Medinah, Shemaʻyah ben Mosheh of [Hebrew MS 5/1] (http://viaf.org/viaf/308274543)
• Figo, Azariah, 1579-1647 [Hebrew MS 5/1] (http://viaf.org/viaf/25693558)
• Abohav da Fonseca, Yizhaq, 1605-1693 [Hebrew MS 5/2] (http://viaf.org/viaf/41554754)
• Duran, Profiat, approximately 1350-approximately 1415 (http://viaf.org/viaf/13522985)
• Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr, 1089-1164 (http://viaf.org/viaf/88961846)
• Ibn Yahya, Bonsenior, 15th cent. (http://viaf.org/viaf/297707669)
• Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi, approximately 1270-approximately 1340 (http://viaf.org/viaf/120777116)
• Bedersi, Abraham ben Isaac, ca. 1230-ca. 1300 (http://viaf.org/viaf/44700813)
• Joseph ben Sheshet ibn Latimi (http://viaf.org/viaf/59024423)
• Eldad, ha-Dani, active 9th century (http://viaf.org/viaf/18590701)

Other related names

• Augustus Frederick, Prince, Duke of Sussex, 1773-1843, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/59434926)
• Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/9985420)
• Bland, Nathaniel, 1803-1865, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/20108923)

Call number

Hebrew MS 5
(Manchester, United Kingdom, University of Manchester, University of Manchester Library, Hebrew Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• Former: Crawford MS 5

Publisher

University of Manchester Library

Language

Hebrew

Origin

Place

Amsterdam

Summary

Seventeenth-century Sephardi illuminated manuscript. It comprises various Hebrew texts in the fields of polemical literature, philosophy, secular and liturgical poetry, travel literature and mathematics. A different scribe added at the beginning of the manuscript a short anonymous Hebrew essay refuting the idea of eternal punishment as well as a joint letter by Shema'yah di Medina and Azariah Figo sent from Venice to Isaac Aboab in Amsterdam urging the latter to give up his views on the same issue. The treatises usually start after several folios have been left blank. The manuscript is closely related to a manuscript kept at the Ets Haim Library in Amsterdam. MS Ets Haim 47 C 25 was also produced by the scribe Isaac ben Moses Rafael de Cordoba in the year 1648 (א'ב'ק'ש'ה') and contains similar decorations and largely the same texts as the present manuscript.

Extent

I+201; 185 x 117 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals at the top outer corner of side a of each folio, from folio 2 to folio 88, skipping 77. The final, long mathematical treatise (folios 87a-197b) in the manuscript has not been numbered apart from its first two folios. Hebrew foliation has been added to treatises 2-8, as follows: 1-22 (treatise 2), 1-16 (treatises 3-5), 1-9 (treatise 6), 1-12 (treatise 7) and 1-6 (treatise 8) corresponding to respectively folios 10-31, 35-50, 52-60, 63-74, 76-82 in the manuscript overall.

Support

Paper

Binding

Half binding with two types of brown leather, tooled central diamond and frame with decorated corners. Gold tooling on spine reading "Tractatus Varii M. S. Hebraice"

Layout

18 lines. Written dimensions: 100 x 73 mm. Dry stylus ruling. Visible pricking.

Decoration

Decorated title pages. Foredge painting of Moses.

Script

Sephardi semi-cursive script in ink. The title pages are in Sephardi square script. Two identified hands (folios 1 - 6 and the rest of the manuscript).

Provenance

• Acquired by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall, and later bequeathed to the John Rylands Library.
   

Subjects topical

• Mathematics--Early works to 1800
• Chess
• Poetry
• Religion
• Jewish philosophy Early works to 1800
• Religious disputations
• Jewish ethics
• Piyutim
• Literature
• Responsa

Genres

• Manuscripts, European

Keywords

• 17th century
• Jewish
• Sephardi
• Netherlands
• Illumination
• Philosophy
• Literature -- Poetry
• Literature -- Prose
• Mathematics
• Piyutim
• Responsa
• Games

Licenses

• Text

  Images are ©2017 The University of Manchester Library Special Collections and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  Metadata is ©2017 The University of Manchester Library Special Collections and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• Flyleaf 1a — Index: 1. Disputation on Eternal Punishment; 2. Isaac Abahab against the Doctrine of the same; 3. Al Tehee Kabotheca, by Maishtri Bunim; 4. Letter of Aristotle on Prosperity; 5. Letter of Aristotle [long line indicating idem] to Alexander the Great; 6. A[...]rugath Habas[...] by Aben Ezra; 7. Poems on the Game of Chess by Aben Ezra; 8. The Book of Tobit Paraphrastical translation in Rabbinical Character; 9. Eldad Hadoni on Religion; 10. Treatise on Arithmetic
• 1a — Hebrew MS 5/1, part 1. Hatsa'ah, or Disputation on Eternal Punishment [ff.1a-4b]. The text may have been authored by Shemaʻyah ben Mosheh di Medina. This short, anonymous essay refutes the idea of eternal punishment. It was possibly written as a refutation of Isaac Aboab's Nishmat Hayyim which follows in the manuscript.
• 5a — Hebrew MS 5/1, part 2. Letter [ff.5a-6a]. A copy of a letter sent by Shemaʻyah ben Mosheh di Medina and Azariah Figo, 1579-1647, to Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, 1605-1693, written in Venice in 1635-1636, urging the latter to give up his views on the controversial issue of eternal punishment. According to the scribe, Shemaʻyah is still alive at the time of copying, but Azariah has died.
• 9a — Hebrew MS 5/2, part 1 [f.9a]. Title page. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. The philosophical text is construed as a responsum to an anonymous question on eternal punishment with which the text starts. Two copies of the same text are found in the Ets Haim Library in Amsterdam, in rather similar codices.
• 10a — Hebrew MS 5/2, part 2 [ff.10a-31b]. Nishmat Hayyim, by Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, 1605-1693. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 34a — Hebrew MS 5/3, part 1. Title page. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Colophon in Hebrew.
• 35a — Hebrew MS 5/3, part 2 [ff.35a-41b]. Iggeret al Tehi ka-Avotekha, or Be Not Like Your Fathers, by Profiat Duran, 1350-1415?. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 42a — Hebrew MS 5/3, part 3 [ff.42a-45a]. Iggeret Aristo. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Pseudo-Aristotle's Letter on Ethics, also called at the end of the text Iggeret ha-Musar [אגרת המוסר] on folio 45a.
• 45a — Hebrew MS5/3, part 4 [ff.45a-47a]. Iggeret Aristo el ha-Melekh Alexander. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Pseudo-Aristotle's Letter to Alexander the Great.
• 47a — Hebrew MS 5/3, part 5 [ff.47a-50a]. Arugat ha-Bosem u-Fardes ha-Mezimmah, by Abraham Ibn Ezra, 1089-1164. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Philosophical text, poetic in style, often ascribed to Abraham ibn Ezra.
• 51a — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 1 [f.51a]. Title page. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 52a — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 2 [ff.52a-53a]. Poem on chess, or Carmina Rhythmica de Ludo Shahmat, by Abraham Ibn Ezra. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 53a — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 3 [ff.53a-54b]. Poem on Chess, by Bonsenior Ibn Yahya, 15th cent. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 55a — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 4 [ff.55a-55b]. Baqqashah shel Rabbi Yedayah ha-Penini, by Yedayah ben Abraham ha-Penini Bedersi, approximately 1270-approximately 1340. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Acrostic poem forming the phrase בקשח םרתי אני ידעיה הפניני בר אברהם.
• 55b — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 5 [ff.55b-57a]. Baqqashah shel Rabbi Avraham Bedersi, by Avraham ben Yishaq Bedersi, ca. 1230-ca. 1300. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. Liturgical poem for Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
• 57a — Hebrew MS 5/4, part 6 [57a-60b]. Prayer, by Joseph ben Sheshet ibn Latimi. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. 20 א. All verses of the poem start with א. Complex acrostic poem.
• 62a — Hebrew MS 5/5, part 1 [f.62a]. Title page. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 63a — Hebrew MS 5/5, part 2 [ff.63a-74b]. Book of Tobit. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 75a — Hebrew MS 5/6, part 1 [f.75a]. Title page. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 76a — Hebrew MS 5/6, part 2 [ff.76a-82a]. Book of Eldad ha-Dani, active 9th century. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba.
• 87a — Hebrew MS 5/7 [ff.87a-197b]. Anonymous mathematical treatise on arithmetics. Scribe: Isaac ben Moses Rafael of Cordoba. The text deals with the arithmetical operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square roots and cubic roots about integers, fractions, and mixtures of both types. Some problems seem to point to elementary algebraic procedures. Folio 87a: Top half of the page has been left blank, presumably for an engraving. It has never been added. Presumably an engraving was also meant to be added on the previous folio.
• Flyleaf 1a — Index: 1. Disputation on Eternal Punishment; 2. Isaac Abahab against the Doctrine of the same; 3. Al Tehee Kabotheca, by Maishtri Bunim; 4. Letter of Aristotle on Prosperity; 5. Letter of Aristotle [long line indicating idem] to Alexander the Great; 6. A[...]rugath Habas[...] by Aben Ezra; 7. Poems on the Game of Chess by Aben Ezra; 8. The Book of Tobit Paraphrastical translation in Rabbinical Character; 9. Eldad Hadoni on Religion; 10. Treatise on Arithmetic
• Loose leaf recto — Handwritten letter from Rev. A. Cohen, M.A. of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, dated 31.03.1919, addressed to the librarian, offering to edit Isaac Aboab's Sefer Nishmat Hayyim.

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Bookplate of the Duke of Sussex. Handwritten note inside front cover: Lot 398 in the Sale of 3rd / August 1844 of the Duke of / Sussex's Library, where it was / bought by Payne.
• 9a — Polychrome engraving cut out and attached to the page. Coloring was made after the printing. The top of the page shows a golden painted crown with diamonds. The crown is held by two putti. The word Sefer is written in ink on a blank horizontal background. It is bordered by a green garland with pink and white roses and a violet background. The middle of the page contains a black text on blank background, with a pink frame and gold painted decoration. The word Amsterdam is written in golden painted letters on a pink band. There are four biblical scenes around the text banner, two on its left and two on its right side. Top left: golden painted crown with the words Crown of Priesthood [כתר כהונה] and a scene depicting Elijah and the priests of Baal on mount Carmel. After a day of praying to Baal, the sacrifice that his priests prepared still does not burn. Elijah prays to God and his sacrifice bursts into flames, proving to the priests that Baal is an idol and the God of Israel the true God (1 Kings 18:38). Bottom left: golden painted crown with the words Crown of Good Name [כתר שם טוב ]and a scene depicting Solomon's judgment (1 Kings 3:16-28). Top right: golden painted crown with the words Crown of Torah [ כתר תורה] and a scene depicting David bringing the ark from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, dancing and playing the harp with all his might. Michal, daughter of Saul, looks through the window and hates David with all her heart (2 Samuel 6:14-16). Bottom right: golden painted crown with the words Crown of Kingship [כתר מלכות] and a scene depicting David kneeling before Samuel. The Lord tells Samuel: "Rise and anoint him; this is the one." (1 Samuel 16:12). At the bottom of the page is a green garland with pink and purple roses, surrounding written text on a blank background.
• 10a — Initial-vignette cut out and attached to the page. Monochrome engraving of two putti holding a crown. It is the same depiction appearing on folio 9a, this time without colour. In the garland with roses the word Sha'al [שאל] is written.
• 34a — Monochrome engraving cut out and attached to the page, announcing the book title. The centre of the engraving shows a round unit filled with text. On top is the coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam. Below, a sun can be seen in a banner. In the text unit itself sits a caterpillar. The engraving includes the name of Simon Goulart, thus the piece must have been originally part of a publication of this author. Four female figures sit around the text unit. Top left: the cardinal virtue of Prudence with her attributes (a mirror and two snakes); below her hangs a shield with three stars. Bottom left: St. Agnes with her attribute (a lamb). Top right: the cardinal virtue of Justice with her attributes (sword and scales); below her hangs a shield with a fighting merman. Bottom right: Fortune with the horn of plenty (cornucopia).
• 35a — Initial-vignette cut out and attached to the page. Monochrome engraving of a crown and a garland with roses. The initial-word is written in the garland.
• 51a — Monochrome engraving cut out and attached to the page, announcing the book title. The engraving consists of three garlands filled with text. On the left and right side there is a palm tree with garlands hanging around its trunk. The palm trees are filled with grapes. At the top of the page, a crown is depicted.
• 62a — Monochrome engraving cut out and attached to the page, announcing the book title. The engraving shows the temple of Jerusalem built in a Classicist style, an open book stands on top of the temple. At the bottom of the page, the ark can be seen. The top of the page depicts an opening in the clouds with the Tetragrammaton.
• 63a — Initial-vignette cut out and attached to the page. Monochrome engraving of three men, two of them holding a quill and one of them wearing a quill on his hat. They hold a text banner with the title of the book.
• 75a — Monochrome engraving. The book title is announced in a garland: ספר אלדד הדני. On top of the garland sit two leopards, in their middle a helmet is depicted.
• 76a — Monochrome engraving cut out and attached to the page, announcing the book title. The first two words are written in a text banner, the last word in a garland with roses. Around the text, four biblical scenes are depicted that are exactly the same as the polychrome ones on folio 9a.
• Inside back cover — Bookplate of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana; printed label of Bland MSS.
• Foredge — Moses with two stone tablets and horns