Xanten Bible

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Description: An early and very rare illuminated manuscript in Hebrew, the Xanten Bible is the first Hebrew manuscript to enter the Library's Spencer Collection. This two-volume manuscript on vellum of the entire Hebrew Bible carries the colophon: "I, Joseph of Xanten, son of Kalonymus from Neuss have written and illustrated these twenty-four books for my friend Moses, Son of Jacob." It was completed on Monday, the twenty-first day of the Hebrew month of Sivan "in the year 5054 of the creation of the world [i.e., 1294 of the Common Era]." The Hebrew text is arranged three columns to the page, with scattered historiated initials and charming pen-and-ink miniatures of flora and fauna both realistic and fantastic (the artist seems especially fond of rabbits). Accompanying the text is the Masorah, the body of notes related to the accurate presentation of the text. The Masorah Parva, or Little Masorah, mostly in abbreviated form, is found to the right of each column; the Masorah Magna, or Great Masorah, appears at the top and bottom of the page. Volume II of the manuscript opens with the Book of Jonah; the page is decorated with a miniature showing Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. This was a favorite subject for illustration in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Bibles. The note in the left margin of that page, added in an Ashkenazic semi-cursive script, is a reminder that this is read at the afternoon service of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Names: Joseph ben Kalonymus ha-Nakdan, of Xanten, -after 1294 (Illuminator); Joseph ben Kalonymus ha-Nakdan, of Xanten, -after 1294 (Calligrapher)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1294 (Inferred); Place: Xanten, Germany
Library locations: Spencer Collection; Shelf locator: Spencer Coll. Hebrew MS. 1
Topics: Jewish illumination of books and manuscripts; Manuscripts, Hebrew; Bible. Old Testament
Genres: Manuscripts; Illuminations; Bibles
Notes: Statement of responsibility: [written in Hebrew by Joseph ben Kalonymus ha-Nakdan, of Xanten]; Content: Bound in 2 volumes in red velvet.; Content: Vol. 1: 254 folios (508 p.); vol. 2: 202 folios (404 p.); Reproduction: Microfilm. New York, N.Y.: New York Public Library, 19--. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (MN: *ZZ-735); Content: Layout written in three columns, with annotations in the margins, miniatures, some designs and animal figures.
Physical Description: Vellum (parchment); Extent: 2 v. (253, 202 folios), ink, illustrations
Type of Resource: Text; Still image
Identifiers: Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): dc853890-c5f7-012f-8020-58d385a7bc34

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