1.5 Other Bible translations
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- MS 2530, Syria, late 5th c.
- MS 2080 Syria, late 9th to 10th c.
- See also See also MS 1644/2, Syria, 9th c.
- MS 233/1 Turkey, 1434/5
1.5.3. The Church Slavonic Bible
- MS 1750 Moldavia, ca. 1450
- MS 1590 Bulgaria or Serbia, late 15th c.
- MS 1793 Russia, 1550-1560
- MS 2623 Russia, 1812
- MS 2010 Russia, 1800-1820
- MS 1837 Ethiopia, ca. 1400
- MS 1971 Ethiopia, 1519/1520
- MS 1692 Mexico, ca. 1525-1550
- MS 690 Austria, ca. 1380
- MS 2306 Norway, 1993
1.5.1. The Syriac Bible
BIBLE: ROMANS 6:12 - 10:7
MS in Syriac on vellum, Syria(?), late 5th c., 5 1/2 ff., 29x21 cm, 2 columns, (22x17 cm), 24 lines in a clear early Syriac estrangela book script, titles in red, later liturgical instructions in red.
Binding: Boston, Mass.(?), 1920-1960, grey shirting folding case.
Context: Part of Mt. Sinai: St. Catherine's monastery, Sin. Syr. 3 with Romans 11:6 - Hebrews. 1 f. (Romans 10:8 - 11:6) in Milano: Bibliotheca Ambrosiana. There are 20 MSS from Mt. Sinai in The Schøyen Collection. Besides the monastery's own famous library (4300 MSS), only British Library (8 MSS) and The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (60 MSS, mostly fragments), have comparable holdings.
Provenance: 1. St. Catherine's monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt (6th-19th c.); 2. Society for Biblical Research, Boston, Mass., MS 15 (-1997); 3. Bruce Ferrini, Akron, Ohio, May 1998.
Commentary: The Old Syriac text from 3rd-4th c. is only preserved in
2 MSS of the Gospels, the famous Sinaitic and Curetonian Gospels, both ca.
500. For the epistles there are no MSS with the Old Syriac text
known, only the standardized Peshitta text. The 6 earliest MSS, all ca. 500,
have nevertheless some Old Syriac readings. MS 2530/Sin. Syr. 3 is the one
with the highest number of Old Syriac readings; thus being the most important
of these earliest MSS.
Dr. Andreas Juckel made the attribution to Sin.
Syr. 3, and kindly supplied the above information.
Published: Description in Judith Oliver: Sacred and Secular, from the collections of the Endowment for Biblical Research and Boston University. Boston 1985, p. 8. Dr. Andreas Juckel: Ms Schoyen/Sinai syr. 3 and the New Testament Peshitta. In Journal of Syriac Studies, vol. 6,2. July 2003.
Exhibited: NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.
BIBLE: NEW TESTAMENT
MS in Syriac on vellum, Eastern Syria, late 9th to 10th c., 187 ff. (-115), 25x18 cm, single column, (21x13 cm), 28-29 lines in a very fine, regular East Syriac estrangela book script, with contemporary marginal notes.
Binding: Eastern Syria, ca. 10th c., dark brown blind-stamped calf over wooden boards, chain stitches on originally 4 sewing stations.
Context: Comparable with the Yonan Codex, sold at Sotheby's 24.06.1986:129. Even the pattern of stamping on the covers is of the same kind.
A fragment of another Peshitta New Testament, is MS 1644/2, from 9th to 10th c., but on papyrus.
Provenance: 1. Syriac Orthodox Christians, Georgia (before 1500?); 2. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: The Syriac Peshitta New Testament was a 5th c. translation from Greek, made on the basis of older Syriac translations of 3rd-4th c.. The present text comprises Luke 14-23, John, Acts, and the Epistles. The Peshitta text does not include Revelation, which is not canonical in the Eastern Churches.
Exhibited: NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.
See also MS 1644/2, Syria, 9th c.
1.5.2. The Armenian Bible
BIBLE: GOSPELS WITH THE LETTER OF EUSEBIUS AND CANON TABLES
MS in Armenian on polished paper, Monastery of St. George, Province of Mokk', Eastern Turkey, 1434/5, 359 ff. (-6), 28x18 cm, 2 columns, (19x12 cm), 19 lines in bolorgir book script (Armenian minuscule) by the scribe Margaré, son of Yovhannes and Oski, 199 large, up to 6-line, initials decorated in maroon and blue, occasionally including birds, 181 marginal decorations up to 3/4-page height in same colours, normally including birds, 18 large historiated marginal decorations in maroon, blue and occasionally yellow. 2 lines of display capitals in gold and colours, and the remainder of the 2 pp. in alternate red and blue erkathagir (Armenian uncial), with an angel and birds in the margins. The letter of Eusebius and Canon Tables enclosed between various coloured columns with capitals in the shape of human heads, supporting quarter-page headpieces with geometrical and floral motifs in gold and colours, 2 pp. with half-page illuminated headpieces with portraits of Christ, and angels and ducks with floral decorations on gold ground, 4 full-page miniatures splendidly illuminated in gold and colours by an unidentified master. Further 7 full-page miniatures in bright colours by an artist working in a more "popular" style, much influenced by the Persian art of the time, the Ilkhan style, extremely close to the painter Mkrtitch in Chester Beatty MS 565.
Binding: Armenia (Eastern Turkey), 1435, dark brown calf with a flap protecting the outer edges, blindtooled in a geometrical pattern, sewn on 4 bands, pastedown, Armenia, 11th c., see MS 233/2.
Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. George, Mokk' (1435-); 2. Possibly Bishop Simeon; 3. Sargis and Yaruthiwn, sons of Zarif (1731-); 4. Lady Shaghbekin and her family (19th c.); 5. Church of Pogan, near Tchoulamerig (ca. 1900); 6. Hagop Kevorkian Collection, New York, MS 1138 (-1977); 7. Sotheby's 2.5.1977:178; 8. H.P. Kraus cat. 159(1981):33.
Commentary: Recorded in Lalayan: C'uc'ak hayeren jeriagrac' Vaspurakani ( Catalogue of Armenian manuscripts of Vaspurakan), Tiflis 1915, col. 372, no. 161. A long colophon over 8 pp., signed and dated by the scribe, states that the MS was written "with wanton finger captive soul and presumptuous fluency", to the order of Bishop Sion, son of Petros and Sharmelek, in the Monastery of St. George "in the Royal land of Mokk' in 884 Armenian era." Part of the colophon was reprinted by L. Xachikyan: Ze dari hayeren jeranreri hishatakaranner (Colophons of Armenian manuscripts of the XVth century), t. I, Erevan 1953, p. 457, no. 498.
Exhibited: "Preservation for access: Originals and copies". On the occasion of the 1st International Memory of the World Conference, organized by the Norwegian Commission for UNESCO and the National Library of Norway, at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, 3 June - 14 July 1996.
1.5.3. The Church Slavonic Bible
- BIBLE: GOSPELS WITH PROLOGUES BY THEOPHYLACT OF BULGARIA
- MENOLOGION
- SYNAXARION AND A PERICOPE TABLE
MS in Church Slavonic on paper, Monastery of Neamtu, Moldavia, ca. 1450, 266 ff. (-6), 32x22 cm, 2 columns, (26x15 cm), 22-26 lines in a elegant Cyrillic half-uncial, by Gabriel Uric of Neamtu, 2-line initials in calligraphic ujaz, strips of interlacing ornament in gold and colours at the incipits of the prologues, rubrics, page-heading, sigla, marginal chapter numbers with gold, some also with red.
Binding: Moldavia, 17th c., brown leather over bevelled wooden boards, sewn on 4 cords, gold- and silver-tooled, decorative borders, front cover with central medallion of the Passion with Mary and John in gold, the 4 evangelists surrounding in silver, back cover with a saint threatened by a Turk, in silver, all against a background of Byzantine-Russian architecture.
Provenance: 1. Gabriel Uric of the Monastery of Neamtu, Moldavia (from ca. 1450); 2. Monastery of Neamtu, Moldavia (after 1450); 3. Hartung & Karl, München, Auktion, 2.11.1993:2; 4. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: Colophon by the scribe Gabriel Uric of the Monastery of Neamtu, who is known from the colophons of MSS between 1424 and 1447. He was the initiator of a school of calligraphy, manuscript illumination, orthography and literature which copied Middle Bulgarian versions of Church Slavonic literature. These manuscripts maintained the continuity of Bulgarian literature after the Turkish suppression of the Bulgarian and Serbian states.
BIBLE: PSALMS
MS in Church Slavonic on vellum, Bulgaria or Serbia, late 15th c., 124 ff. (complete), 15x11 cm, single column, (12x7 cm), 25 lines in a semi cursive Cyrillic book script, with title "Davida Proroka Tsare Pesne" in Cyrillic display uncials, 150 5- to 6-line initials in red and yellow, many incorporating fantasy animals, decorated headpiece in brown, red and yellow, incorporating beasts.
Binding: Bulgaria or Serbia, late 15th c., vellum over wooden boards, later blindtooled, sewn on 3 thongs.
Provenance: 1. Mishtenko, grandfather of John Mishtenko, Armenia and Bulgaria (1917), and London; 2. Mishtenko, father of John Mishtenko, London; 3. John Mishtenko, Bedworth, Warwickshire (-1992); 4. Christie's 24.6.1992:63.
Commentary: The grandfather Mishtenko, Armenian, brought this MS from Russia to Bulgaria in 1917 while emigrating due to the Russian Revolution.
BIBLE: GOSPEL LECTIONARY (APRAKOS)
MS in Russian Church Slavonic on paper, Russia, 1550-1560, 467 ff. (complete), 27x19 cm, single column, (19x11 cm), 16 lines in Cyrillic half-uncial, headings in red, large 5- to 6-line decorative initials throughout outlined in red, alternating interlaced and plain, Balkan style, 6 decorated headpieces of interlocking designs of circles with interlaced strapwork infilled in red, yellow, green and blue with black and white dots, 4 full-page miniatures of the Evangelists within geometric borders in bright opaque colours in traditional iconographic style.
Binding: Russia, 1991, dark brown leather over wooden boards, sewn on 3 bands, gilt and gauffered edges, lower board 16th c.
Provenance: 1. The Paul M. Fekula Collection, New York, MS 443, and F-XXV and F-XXXVIII (until 1990); 2. Sotheby's 29.11.1990:73; 3. Sam Fogg cat. 14(1991):42; 4. Les Enluminures (Sandra Hindman, Paris) cat. 2(1993):40.
OLD BELIEVER APOCALYPSE
BIBLE: REVELATION, WITH COMMENTARIES BY ANDREAS OF CAESAREA
MS in Russian Church Slavonic on paper, Russia, 1812, 242 ff., 43x26 cm, single column, (30x15 cm), 24 lines in Cyrillic uncial, headings and passages in red, 4 tendril-work headpieces in red and blue, 3 7-line (6 cm) opening red penwork initials, 74 full-page miniatures in full colours.
Binding: Russia, 1812, blindtooled calf leather over bevelled wooden board, sewn on 6 cords.
Context: For another Russian Old Believer Apocalypse of the same period, see MS 2010.
Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: The MS was made the year of Napoleon's defeat at Moscow, possibly as a replacement for libraries damaged in the war. It is remarkable for its great size and the quality of the paintings, made at a time when MSS had to compete aesthetically with printed books in terms of appearance.
The Apocalypse was not accepted into the canon of the Eastern Orthodox Church until the early 14th c. In Cappadocia there was an early attempt to rehabilitate the text with the commentary of Andrew of Caesarea ca. 613.
The artist of the present MS is influenced by the famous woodcuts by Dürer of 1498, the Cranach workshop for the Luther Bible of 1522, 1530 and 1535, and Holbein of 1523. But for the main part the artists of MS 2010 and 2623 follow the Byzantine-Slavonic tradition even if they are very different in composition and palette.
Following the schism in 1647 of the Russian Church, the Old Believers were often ruthlessly persecuted, many of their service books burnt or otherwise destroyed.
Exhibited: The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, British Museum, room 90 (Prints and Drawings Gallery), 17 December 1999 - 24 April 2000, cat. pp. 206-207.
MS 2010
OLD BELIEVER APOCALYPSE BIBLE: REVELATION, WITH THE COMMENTARY OF ARCHBISHOP ANDREW OF CAESAREA
MS in Russian Church Slavonic on paper, Russia, 1800-1820, 248 ff. (complete), 34x21 cm, single column, (26x15 cm), 21 lines in Cyrillic half-uncial, headings in red, multicoloured headpieces of ribbon-, strap- or ironwork, some with birds alighting facing the illustrations, 72 full-page pen drawings with bright washes within a yellow frame.
Binding: Russia, 1800-1820, brown blind-tooled leather over bevelled wooden boards, sewn on 5 thongs, brass/leather clasps, title stamped upside-down at head and foot. Context: For another Russian Old Believer Apocalypse of the same period, see MS 2623.
Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: The Apocalypse was not accepted into the canon of the Eastern Orthodox Church until the early 14th c. In Cappadocia there was an early attempt to rehabilitate the text with the commentary of Andrew of Caesarea ca. 613.
The artist of the present MS is influenced by the famous woodcuts by Dürer of 1498, the Cranach workshop for the Luther Bible of 1522, 1530 and 1535, and Holbein of 1523. But for the main part the artists of MS 2010 and 2623 follow the Byzantine-Slavonic tradition even if they are very different in composition and palette.
Following the schism in 1647 of the Russian Church, the Old Believers were often ruthlessly persecuted, many of their service books burnt or otherwise destroyed.
1.5.4. The Ethiopic Bible
ORIT - OCTATEUCH
| 1. | BIBLE: GENESIS |
| 2. | BIBLE: EXODUS |
| 3. | BIBLE: LEVITICUS |
| 4. | BIBLE: NUMBERS |
| 5. | BIBLE: DEUTERONOMY |
| 6. | BIBLE: JOSHUA |
| 7. | BIBLE: JUDGES |
| 8. | BIBLE: RUTH |
MS in Ge'ez on vellum, Ethiopia, ca. 1400, 209 ff. (complete), 49x36 cm, 2 columns, (36x25 cm), 38 lines lines in square Ge'ez book script, headings in red, 8 ornamental headpieces and frames (harägs) in red, green and yellow.
Binding: Ethiopia, ca. 1400, thick wooden boards, chain stitches on 4 sewing stations
Context: Orits are surprisingly uncommon. The majority are 18th c. or later. Only five very early examples are recorded: British Museum, Orient 480 (15th c.), Bibliotheque Nationale Eth. 3 (15th c.) and Eth. 102 (13th/14th c.), Kebran 4 (1413-1430), Ethiopian manuscripts microfilm library, EMML2098 (15th c.).
Provenance: 1. Abunä (our father) Zär'a Ent'ones (ca. 1400); 2. Särs'sä Mika'el; 3. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: Texts 1-5, & 8 close with a blessing, 2 of them with
the name Abunä Zär'a Entones, who had the book written.
One of the
earliest and most monumental Ethiopian MSS extant.
After a note on
ownership on f. 2v, a curse on whoever steals or mutilates it.
| 1. | BIBLE: GOSPELS |
| 2. | GÄBRÄ HEYWÄT: LIBRARY CATALOGUE AND INVENTORIES OF TREASURY OF THE CHURCH OF GEFU´ GIYORGIS, INCLUDING: 2 GOSPELS, 2 LIVES OF ST. GEORGE, 2 MISSALS, 1 BOOK OF HOURS, 1 COPTIC BOOK OF HOURS, 1 COLLECTION OF MALKE, 1 BOOK OF THE BAPTISMAL SERVICE; DURING THE PERIOD OF THE OFFICE OF MANDÄRSO SAHLU AND THE TREASURESHIP OF BWADEHA SAHLU |
| 3. | INVENTORY OF THE POSSESSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF GEFU´ GIYORGIS, RECEIVED DURING THE PERIOD OF THE OFFICE OF QESÄ GÄBÄZ ASSÄGGAHAN, INCLUDING 1 BOOK OF THE FUNERAL SERVICES, THE BOOK OF HOURS SOLD |
| 4. | RECORD: THE DAY WHEN THE PEOPLE OF DÄRÄBÉ HAD GONE ON CAMPAIGN, AND ATO YETBARÄK TÄGÄNNÄ OVERCAME THEM AND CAME BACK, HE HAD DEPOSITED IN THE CHURCH FOR THE MEMORY OF HIS ANCESTORS A COPY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS |
| 5. | INVENTORY OF THE POSSESSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF GEFU´ GIYORGIS, RECEIVED DURING THE TREASURESHIP OF ABBA GÄBRÄ HEYWÄT, INCLUDING 1 MISSAL, 1 MIRACLES OF JESUS, AN OLD AND A NEW TESTAMENT WRITTEN ON PAPER, AND 200 FURTHER ITEMS |
| 6. | INVENTORY OF THE LAND, BOOKS AND OTHER POSSESSIONS BELONGING TO THE CLERGY AND DEACONS OF THE CHURCH OF GEFU´ GIYORGIS, INCLUDING 1 GOSPELS, 1 LIFE OF ST. GEORGE, 1 FUNERAL SERVICE BOOK, AND 1 HOMILIES OF ST. MICHAEL |
MS in Ge'ez and Amharic (texts 2-6) on vellum, Ethiopia, 1519/1520, 157 ff. (complete), 33x26 cm, 2 columns, (22x17 cm), 25-33 lines in Ethiopic Ge'ez book script, section headings in red, elaborate ornamental headpiece (haräg) at the beginning of each gospel and within the text, 4 full-page miniatures of the evangelists in pale tones of red, green, blue and yellow.
Binding: Ethiopia, ca. 1520, blind-tooled leather over wooden boards, chain stitches on 4 sewing stations.
Provenance: 1. Emperor Lebnä Dengel (1520); 2. Church of Gefu´ Giyorgis (1520-); 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd.
Commentary: Colophon: This book belongs to the church of Gefu´ Giyorgis, and was given by Emperor Lebnä Dengel. The clergy and deaconal lands are As'egbi, Agäwit, Ezbo, Kumbet, Gagatit and Gafatit, Abba Zämo, Matänt Markos, Awiyo, Waro, A'eyenté, Ayälé, Wängélé, Tämo, Bäzéto, Bergano. 2 crosses, 2 sistra, 2 handbells, 3 mantles, 4 shirts, 1 paten, 1 copy of the Homilies of St. Michael. This is the total of the sacred possessions of Gefu´ Giyorgis.
- BIBLE: ACTS 9:1 - 19; 22:5 - 16; 26:12 - 18, WITH ADDED RHETORIC AND DETAILS, INCLUDING MANY ELEMENTS DRAWN FROM THE PRE-CORTEZIAN CULTURE OF THE AZTECS
- CENSUS OR LEGAL DOCUMENT OF LABOUR TRIBUTE, INCLUDING NAHUATL NAME GLYPHS INVOKING THE SIGNS FROM THE SET OF 20, USED TO NAME BIRTHDAYS IN THE OLD AZTEC CALENDAR: EARTHQUAKE, REED, SNAKE, STONE AND SCORPION
MS in Nahuatl on paper (text 1) and figtree bark paper (amatl) (text 2), Mexico, ca. 1525-1550, 1+8 ff. (complete), 16x12 cm, single column, (12x8 cm), 15-19 lines in a Hispano-Aztec rounded book script by 3 probably Aztec scribes, 9 decorated initials (text 1), and Aztec hieroglyphs (text 2), 64 Indian heads, arranged in 8 lines, drawn in black, some coloured in blue-green and pink (text 2).
Binding: Mexico, ca. 1525-1550, limp vellum cover made of 2 sheets, one using an old choirbook leaf, 6 sewing stations, title in red ink: "Convezzion de Sanct Pablo", upper pastedown of Aztec figtree bark paper (amatl).
Provenance: 1. Tom Schwarz, California (-1993); 2. Sam Fogg, London.
Commentary: The earliest surviving MS of the Scriptures in the Americas. This is a primary document of the introduction of Christianity into the New World. The destruction of the pre-Columbian civilisation of Mexico was so thorough, and the burning of books so systematic, that only about 20 wholly pre-Cortezian Aztec MSS have survived. From the immediate post-contact period there are only around 200 MSS extant. The present MS has been previously unrecorded.
Exhibited: "The Story of Time", Queen's House at the National Maritime Museum and The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Dec. 1999 - Sept. 2000.
PETRUS COMESTOR: HISTORIA SCOLASTICA, OR HISTORIATED BIBLE
MS in Middle high German on paper, Monastery Zwettl, Waldviertel, Austria, ca. 1380, 325 ff. (-2), 30x21 cm, 2 columns, (20-21x14-15 cm), 29-33 lines in a current Austrian lettre bâtarde, by 3 scribes, headings in red, several hundred 2-to 3-line initials in red throughout, 1 4-line red initial with brown infill.
Binding: Monastery Zwettl, Waldviertel, Austria, ca. 1400, leather over stout beech boards, sewn on 4 thongs, with a chain of twisted iron loops and a ring, 90 cm, fastened at the top of lower cover. As marker between the various chapters are sewn in vellum strips, ca. 1 cm wide, extending outside the foreedge, taken from 2 Austrian documents from 14th c., one from the church in Steinkirch. Context: From the same scriptorium, with the same provenance, and in the same type of chained binding as MS 691.
Provenance: 1. Benedictine Monastery Zwettl, Waldviertel, Austria (ca. 1380-17th c.); 2. Johann Jamaigne, Alt-Pöllach, Waldviertel, Austria (17th c.); 3. Piaristen-Kloster, Wien (18th c.); 4. Graf Wilczek, Schloss Kreuzenstein, Austria, No. 5645 (from 19th c.); 5. Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Wien (1989-1990); 6. H. Tenschert cat. 22(1990):18.
Commentary: Of the 101 known "Historienbibeln" in German, this is the earliest and the only one from 14th c.
Exhibited: 1. Conference of European National Librarians, Oslo. Sept. 1994. 2. University of Oslo. Domus Bibliotheca, 6-15 May 1996: European medieval manuscripts from The Schøyen Collection.
BIBLE, WITHOUT JOB, JAMES AND REVELATION
MS in Norwegian on paper, Norway, 1993, 5 vols, 215+231+213+189+267 ff. (complete), 42x32 cm, 2 columns, (34x26 cm), 43 lines in Norwegian cursive script, capitals, italics, and half-uncial by 10761 scribes from 209 Norwegian dioceses, 1 p. with the Lord's prayer illustrated with deaf language positions and signs.
Binding: Oslo, Norway, 1994, red morocco gilt, sewn on 6 cords, by Det Norske Bibelselskap. Context: 2 more Bibles were copied by hand in Norway 1993, 1 in Norwegian and 1 in New Norwegian, at Det Norske Bibelselskap, Oslo.
Provenance: 1. Det Norske Bibelselskap, Oslo.
Commentary: "Aksjon Håndskrevet Bibel" (Action Handwritten Bible) was one of the most significant events in the Year of the Book 1993. Over 30,000 Norwegians participated. For each verse a person wrote, he paid the price of an Ukrainian children's Bible. The action raised enough for 66,000 children's Bibles.