Description of British Library, Harley MS 5506: Ketuvim (כתובים) contributor Ilana Tahan cataloger Agata Paluch The Polonsky Foundation British Library 2022-11-22 2022-11-22 These images and the content of British Library Harley MS 5506: Ketuvim (כתובים) are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/. To the extent possible under law, British Library has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about British Library Harley MS 5506: Ketuvim (כתובים). This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode. Folio 1r contains a list of Hebrew works, probably the property of a formwer owner of the manuscript. Folio 258v contains a list of Sabbath lessons mainly from the Bible. Lower down there are some kabbalistic recipes. Folio 259r - a record of birth of a daughter, dated 15 July 222 (1462). Moshe Shevaḥ ben Yaʿaḳov, Yaʿaḳov ben Eliyah, Shabtai ben Yaʿaḳov, previous owners, inscribed with their names on folio 258r. Manuscript description based on Margoliouth, G.: Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1965. United Kingdom London British Library Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project Harley MS 5506 http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_5506 https://www.bl.uk/hebrew-manuscripts The Hagiographa, provided with vowel-points and accents. Hebrew Ketuvim (כתובים) 1v Psalms 61v Daniel 79r Ezra 109r Song of Songs 112v Ruth 116r Lamentations 120v Ecclesiastes 128v Esther 137v Job 162v Proverbs 184r Chronicles

Parchment

 259 folios; 259 folios Columns: 2; ruled lines: 23; written lines: 21; Uniform layout. Ruling with hard-point on the hair side of the folio is visible. Daniel and Proverbs begin a new column, and Song of Songs opens a new leaf. The first word of Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Ecclesiaistes and Proverbs, and the first two of Lamentations, Esther and Chronicles are written in larger letters. The centre mark occurs in all the books except in Lamentations, Esther and Chronicles. Ashkenazi square script, punctuated and accentuated, of the 13th century.

Post-1600, Harleian binding of gold-tooled red leather.

Between 1200 and 1299

Germany Acquisition: The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts; inscription by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley, 11 March 1723/4 (folio ). Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.