BNF Hébreu 580

Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France)

Manuscript Book

פרוש המשנה לרמב"ם

Codex

Vertical rectangle

Single manuscript

Mishna Commentary

• Hebrew
• Judeo-Arabic

משה בן מימון

Maimonides

Cordova, 1138–Fustat, 1204

אלגזו אלאול מן סדר טורות משנה פסוק ושרהה

15[?]8

1217-1277

The value of the decimal number is missing due to a worm burrow.

אתור

245 mm

165 mm

185 mm

120 mm

255 mm

185 mm

Sizes are not the original ones, since the pages have been trimmed probably more than once.

223

Complete

There are several signs of restoration: cropped pages, some of the worm burrows have been filled and paper pads have been stuck to reinforce the few cracks in the paper. The volume has been rebound and provided with a new decorated leather cover (see description below). After the cropping, the block has been coloured with red and blue marble decoration. However, some black ink spots on this marble decoration and lines evidence a later use of the codex. Such black ink spots can bee seen in the inside too. There are spots of humidity that affect mainly the margins, reaching the bottom or top written lines in some pages. The general state of preservation is good, since good quality materials have been used to make it.

Visible

Very small particles of ink have fallen. In some places, the humidity has caused the ink to be imprinted on the opposite page, but it rarely compromises the reading. As it is common, the ink is not regularly deposited throughout the line.

Paper

• Burnishing: yes
• Clumps and fibres: Thin fibres red, brown and ochre, as well as a few clumps or superficial folds can be seen
• Inclusions: Some fibres are thick enough to be called inclusions, but they are extremely rare
• Laid lines: No laid line can be seen, even when checked against a light
• Chain lines: No chain lines

Mixed ink (iron-gall + carbon)

1 V (1r-9v) 2 V (10r-19v) 3 V (20r-29v) 4 V (30r-39v) 5 V (40r-49v) 6 V (50r-59v) 8 V (60r-69v) 8 V (70r-79v) 9 V (80r-89v) 10 V (90r-99v) 11 V (100r-109v) 12 V (110r-119v) 13 V (120r-129v) 14 V (130r-139v) 15 V (140r-149v) 16 V (150r-159v) 17 V (160r-169v) 18 V+1 (170r-180v) 19 V (181r-190v) 20 V (191r-200v) 21 V (201r-210v) 22 V (211r-220v) 11 V (100r-109v)

• Catchwords at the end of quires, position: bottom left corner
• Signatures at the beginning of quires, position: Upper right corner, generally partial due to trimming. Some are in Hebrew (201r) but some are in Arabic (130r)
• Folio numbers, type and position: Upper left corner of every recto, made by the librarian
• Signatures at the beginning of quires, position: In addition to the signatures on the left upper corner, there is a numbering on the right (inner) upper corner with Hebrew letters

Comparison with the edited text is needed to determine whether a page could be missing in the last quire between folios 221 and 222, since a piece of folio is left at the bottom.

The catchwords at the end of quires are decorated with a long line above them in the middle of which there is a little v with a dot on top and sometime beneath, and the line end with a small slash.

The quires are numerated in the reverse order with Arabic/European numerals with brown ink, from a different hand, probably older, than the one of the foliation. These have probably been inscribed at the rebinding of the manuscript during the main restoration, since they appear over the paper pads, but earlier than the latest trimming, since it appears cut, for example in 29v, 39v...

Considering the ink colour and the thickness of the nib, the quire signatures in Arabic could have been done by the main hand.

No pricking

There is ruling

Mastara

Grid of single vertical and horizontal lines

23

• Text on recto and verso
• Long lines

23

• Extended letters
• Anticipation
• Writing above the line oblique

• Spaces between paragraphs
• Paragraph marks and textual dividers
• Numbering of sections
• Enlarged titles and incipits
• Change of script register

Spaces, pyramidal dots, two dots, three slashes

Hebrew

Oriental

Non-Square (beinoni)

Calligraphic

Bookhand

Scholars'

Presence of ligatures at the end of the words.

at least 5

• Hand #1 of Item "BNF Hébreu 580"
  - Type: Main text scribe
  - Scribe Identifications: Scribe not identified
  - Date Assigned to Scribe: before 1588/1277
  
  
• Hand #2 of Item "BNF Hébreu 580"
  - Type: Main text scribe
  - Scribe Identifications: Scribe not identified
  - Date Assigned to Scribe: before 1646/1334
  - Name in the Document: אלפקיר מבארך בן זאהר
  - Observations:

  The corrector uses a black ink and makes interlinear corrections to the text above the corrected word (220r), or erasing by scratching and rewriting on top (201r), as well as marginal inscriptions (221r).

  It could be the same hand responsible for the title inscription in the front page, and perhaps that of the vertical inscription where the name and date is given:

  פי נובה אלעבד אלפקיר מבארך בן זאהר זעל אלול אתדמן

  
  
  
• Hand #3 of Item "BNF Hébreu 580"
  - Type: Main text scribe
  - Scribe Identifications: Scribe named in the document
  - Name in the Document: יאשיהו נשיא הגולה בן יהודה נשיא הגולה
  - Types of Naming in the Document: Full name
  - Observations:

  Ownership statement located on the left side of the first one. Two more ownership statements underneath this one can bee seen, partially erased by scratching almost completely illegible.

  
  
  
• Hand #4 of Item "BNF Hébreu 580"
  - Type: Main text scribe
  - Scribe Identifications: Scribe named in the document
  - Date Assigned to Scribe: before 1583?/1271
  - Name in the Document: מצליח בן נחום? החזן
  - Types of Naming in the Document: Full name
  - Observations:

  Owner statement located on the right side of the front page:

  
  

  1. וצל אלי מלכיה מצליח בן נחום? החזן
  2. עלי יד יצחק הלוי בן אלעזר? אלגיאני?
  3. צור יזכהו לכל מד[ה] טובה
  4. ודלך בירח ניסן שנת
  5. אתקפג?
  6. לשטורות
  
  
  
• Hand #5 of Item "BNF Hébreu 580"
  - Type: Main text scribe
  - Observations:

  This hand can only be seen in fol. 47v and 61r, making two corrections on the right margin with a pale brown-orange ink.

• Arabic symbols for Hebrew text
• Tiberian

The vocalisation is very sporadic

Yods with symbols/abbreviation signs

Dots above letters

Single dot

בשם ייי אל עולם

• Marginal
• Interlinear

Small corrections of the text, usually on one word only.

Later

Red leather with golden frame and central medallion, which is the ex-libris of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (https://bibale.irht.cnrs.fr/35688)

Moroccan

According to the Latin inscription of Baluzius on the last page, the codex in Colbert's library is dated the Hebrew year 1674 in Aleppo. The volume's number in Colbert's collection is 4279. It has two stamps in red of the royal library, one on the first page, and one on the last one.

Catalogues des manuscrits hébreux et samaritains de la Bibliothèque Impériale / Manuscrits orientaux ; [par MM. Munk,

Derenbourg, Franck et Zotenberg ; préface par J. Taschereau], Paris 1866.

Moïse Maïmonide (1138-1204). Peyrwš hamišnah (seder našiym) | Gallica (bnf.fr)

פרוש המשנה לרמב"ם בערבית (כלים, אהלות, נגעים) (nli.org.il)

פרוש המשנה לרמב”ם בערבית (כלים, אהלות, נגעים) PARIS BN 580 (nli.org.il)