This composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel was written by various hands; it contains primarily astrological writings, among them texts by Abraham ibn Esra, Al-Zarkali and Hermes Trismegistus translated from the Arabic, Hebrew and Greek. In the margin of f. 120r there is a blessing against worms, on f. 145v medical advice in a blend of German and Latin. In addition to handwritten parts, the volume also contains three prints. One of the two original leather clasps is still intact. (mue)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

The Sefer ha-Yashar is one of two Bible commentaries by the great R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089/92-1164/67). Written in Lucca, Italy ca. 1142-45, this work attained great recognition and popularity during the Middle Ages and has been preserved in numerous manuscripts and printed books. This 15th century Italian copy is of particular interest since it belonged, at some point during the 16th century, to Theodore de Bèze (1519-1605), the famous Genevan Calvinist theologian and Professor, who then gave it to one of his disciples and colleagues, Antoine Chevalier (1507-1572), the first Professor of Hebrew language at the Académie de Genève. (iss)

Online Since: 06/13/2019

This manuscript consists of four texts: an anonymous treatise on arithmetic and astronomy, an anonymous commentary on the Sefer ha-Mispar by R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (ca. 1092-1167), the treatise She'elot Tiviot (Problemata Physica) attributed to Pseudo-Aristotle, and the ethical and didactic poem Musar Haskel by R. Hai ben Sherira Gaon (ca. 939-1038). The She'elot Tiviot, translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Moïse Ibn Tibbon (died ca. 1283), are especially important since Ms. heb. 10 contains a version in four chapters. Of a total of seven known surviving manuscripts in the entire world containing the She'elot Tiviot, only three other manuscripts comprise these four chapters. (iss)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This collection of cosmological treatises contains excerpts from a larger manuscript, presumably written by the same scribe Moses, which now is part of the Schoenberg Collection at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (ljs 057). The manuscript contains tables on lunar motion by Jacob ben David Jomtow (Bonjorn); three astrological works by Abraham ibn Ezra (1089 - about 1164): a fragment of Reshit Hokhman ("Beginning of Wisdom"), the larger part of Mischpetei ha-Mazzalaot ("Judgments of the Constellations") and the larger part of Sefer ha-Olam ("Book of the World"); and, as the last part the Sefer ha-Mivharim le-Batlamyus, i.e. Ptolemy's "Almagest". On f. 15r and f. 15v there are three images of constellations from classical antiquity: Orion (Ha-Gibbor ba-Te'omim, "the hero of twins") in bare feet and with a scimitar (f. 15r), Eridanus (Ha-Nahar, "river") and Lepus (Ha-Arnevet, "hare") (f. 15v). The imagery is based on the Arabic "Book of Fixed Stars", written in 964 by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi. (red)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This composite manuscript by three different scribes encloses two textual units which were bound together. The volume is structured by a liturgical section, according to the Ashkenazi rite and a halakhic section. The manuscript Heidenheim 145 is one of many compendia of its genre, consisting of an assortment of texts which reflect the religious and talmudo-centric orientation of the intellectual elite of medieval Franco-Germany. (iss)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

Illuminated biblical and ethical miscellany produced in Italy in 1322. This small format manuscript, with an exquisite 16th-century white leather binding blindstamped with the coat of arms of the city of Zurich, is divided into two groups of texts. The first section is made up of the biblical texts of the Five Megillot, accompanied by three commentaries on them, composed by the great medieval scholars, Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), Avraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Qara. The second section is of ethical nature and consists in the Mishna tractate of the Pirqei Avot or Ethics of the Fathers and its commentaries. The first is an anonymous one ; the second is entitled Shemonah Peraqim by Maimonides, as translated by Samuel ibn Tibbon, and the third is a commentary by Rashi placed in the margins of the latter. In addition, this handbook is interspersed with aggadic, midrashic, mystical and philosophical material. (iss)

Online Since: 12/10/2020