MS on clay, Larsa, Babylonia, 1865-1850 BC, 1 tablet, 12,0x8,8x2,5 cm, detailed drawing with the various halls, rooms and antechambers around the central courtyard.

Context: Other architect's plans are MSS 2992, 2994, 2063 (Tower of Babel stele), 2993 and 3193.

Commentary: Although there is no writing on the tablet, we can be sure of what it depicts. Firstly, it is written on the characteristic purplish Larsa clay. Secondly, the design of the palace and the proportions correspond almost exactly with the building remains of the Nur Adad temple unearthed by a French excavations that started in 1903. So far the only example of an identifiable plan of a known building on a clay tablet.

Published: Jöran Friberg: A remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts. Springer 2007. Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, vol. 6, Cuneiform Texts I. pp. 229.

MS in Old Babylonian on clay, Babylonia, 2000-1700 BC, 1 tablet, 11,7x10,3x2,0 cm, labyrinth of square and symmetric form.

Commentary: With MSS 4515-4516 and 3195 the only known illustrations of a labyrinth from Babylonia and the world's oldest dateable labyrinth illustrations. The second oldest are 2 from ca. 13th c. BC, a fragment from a clay vessel from Tell Rifa'at, Syria (Hermann Kern, Through the Labyrinth, no. 102), and a linear B tablet from Pylos (Kern nos. 103-104).

Published: Jöran Friberg: A remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts. Springer 2007. Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, vol. 6, Cuneiform Texts I. pp. 224-227.

See also MS 2063, The Tower of Babel stele, Babylon

MS in Newari on yellow stained paper, Nepal, 18th c., 32 ff. (complete), 29x13 cm, single column, (26x13 cm), 9-11 lines in Newari script, 30 drawings or diagrams in red, blue, green, orange and white.

Binding: Nepal, 18th c., paper covers.

Provenance: 1. Ian Alsop, Arizona (-1997); 2. Sam Fogg cat. 19(1998):107.

Commentary: Nepalese pattern books for iconography are well known, but architectural model books are rare.

MS in Latin and Old Sumerian on granite, Oslo, 1995, 4 stone slabs, all together 300x200x7-15 cm, 2,4 tons, 1 sign in Latin capital, 1 sign in Sumerian pictographic script, by the sculptor Kristian Blystad, after designs by Jorunn Sannes.

Provenance: 1. Snøhetta International, Oslo.

Commentary: Prototypes for the great wall of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, which covers 6,000 m2, with 3750 stone slabs, representing the alphabets and scripts of the world of all periods. The granite was taken from Aswan, ca. 1500 km to the south of Alexandria. It is one of the world's oldest quarries, and where the Pharaohs sourced

the rock to clad the pyramids. The Norwegian group of architects, Snøhetta, won the architectural contest for the new library in Alexandria in 1989. It is a circular building with a diameter of 160 m., accommodating 4 million books, financed by UNESCO and the Egyptian state, finished in 2001.

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.

MS in Latin and French on vellum, Metz, France, mid 15th c., 134 ff. (-ca. 5), 17x12 cm, single column, (8x6 cm), 16 lines in a Gothic liturgical book script, 100 three-quarter illuminated borders in a great variety of styles with flowers, birds, grotesques, monkeys, a white panther, etc., over 100 partial borders, 10 half-page illuminated initials with full borders, 1 half-page and 7 full-page miniatures with full borders in burnished gold and colours, one of the miniatures is signed "AH", another with the coat of arms of the original owner, in the style of lower Rheinland, some borders associated with the designs of the "Master of the Playing Cards".

Binding: England, ca. 1800, calf, sewn on 5 cords, using as sewing-guard a document dated 1446, in a wrapper formed of a part of a Spanish 16th c. antiphonal on vellum.

Provenance: 1. B. Funck (1586); 2. James Wadmore, England (1782-1853); 3. Christie's 5.5.1854; 4. Christie's 11.7.1974:16; 5. Sotheby's 24.6.1986:105.

MS in Latin and French, with Flemish on the flyleaves, on vellum, Tournai, France, 1475-90, 71 ff. (-5), 18x12 cm, single column (14x9 cm), 15 lines in a Gothic liturgical book script, 37 half-page miniatures within full borders in burnished and liquid gold and colours with early forms of the "Ghent/Bruges border style".

Binding: England, 19th c. red morocco gilt, sewn on 3 bands.

Provenance: 1. Adrian and Margaret, Tournai (late 15th c.) patrons of the MS; 2. James Comerford, F.S.A. (until 1881); 3. Sotheby´s 16.11.1881:836; 4. Heligan (from 1881); 5. Sotheby's 2.12.1986:55.

Commentary: t the end are offsets from Flemish pilgrim badges including an upright standing figure from the shrine of St. Adrian at the Benedictine Abbey, Geraardsbergen, Cambrai, Belgium, cf. MSS 006/1, 006/2 and 695.

MS in Latin and French on vellum, Metz, France, mid 15th c., 134 ff. (-ca. 5), 17x12 cm, single column, (8x6 cm), 16 lines in a Gothic liturgical book script, 100 three-quarter illuminated borders in a great variety of styles with flowers, birds, grotesques, monkeys, a white panther, etc., over 100 partial borders, 10 half-page illuminated initials with full borders, 1 half-page and 7 full-page miniatures with full borders in burnished gold and colours, one of the miniatures is signed "AH", another with the coat of arms of the original owner, in the style of lower Rheinland, some borders associated with the designs of the "Master of the Playing Cards".

Binding: England, ca. 1800, calf, sewn on 5 cords, using as sewing-guard a document dated 1446, in a wrapper formed of a part of a Spanish 16th c. antiphonal on vellum.

Provenance: 1. B. Funck (1586); 2. James Wadmore, England (1782-1853); 3. Christie's 5.5.1854; 4. Christie's 11.7.1974:16; 5. Sotheby's 24.6.1986:105.

See also MS 1981, Thomas Aquinas and others: 27 Prayers for use at mass, Italy 1500-1550

MS in Neo Sumerian on clay, Babylonia, 28th regnal year of King Samsu-iluna, 1722 BC, 1 tablet, 10,5x7,1x2,7 cm, single column, 29 lines in cuneiform script by Marduk-mushallim.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1996, yellow cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Context:  A belle lettre to King Iter Pisha of Isin, see MS 2287.

Commentary: This correspondence had become belles-lettres, 8 letters are published. The present one is unpublished.

See also MS 246, Apollinaris Sidonius: Epistolae et Carmina, Spain, 2nd half of 12th c.

MS in Arabic on paper, Syria, ca. 1250-1275, 79 ff. (complete), 25x19 cm, single column (18x12 cm), 13 lines in Arabic Naskhi script, emphasis and proper names in red and blue, large circular panel in black, red and blue.

Binding: Syria, 19th c., blind-stamped leather, sewn on 5 cords, decorated edges, strips from Arabic MSS as sewing guards.

Context: Paul Sbath had one of the most important collections of Arabic MSS ever formed, ca. 3000 MSS. 2000 MSS are in the Vatican Library, 1000 MSS were destroyed during the war, 2 MSS including the present one came to England.

Provenance: 1. Imad ibn Ahmed, Syria (1441); 2. Georges Fattalla Belit, Aleppo, Syria (1801); 3. Paul Sbath, Aleppo, Syria, MS 884 (1924-1938); 4. Private collection, England (-1995); 5. Jeremy Griffiths, Oxford.

Commentary: The text is said to be translated during the reign of Caliph al-Mansur (654-745 AD). The preface states that al-Batriq searched with great difficulty for a copy of the Greek text before finding one in the great library of the Temple of Abd Shams at Baalbek, which he borrowed and translated into Arabic. Al-Batriq was one of a group of translators who worked for the Caliph el-Mansur. He translated the works of Galen, Hippocrates and Ptolemy into Arabic from Greek, thus contributing to the extraordinary flourishing of science and natural philosophy in the Arab world, which became the foundation of these studies in the West in the later Middle ages.

The Secret of Secrets was an immensely influential text intended as a guide to kings and rulers purporting to have been written by Aristoteles as a guide for Alexander the Great in the form of letters. The origins of the text is uncertain. No Greek original exists, and the treatise was most likely originally written in Arabic around 10th c.

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.

See also MS 2085, Abélarde et Héloise; epistolae, France, ca. 1350

See also MS 1954, Petrarch: Epistolae seniles, Italy, late 14th c.

See also MS 612, The Aurispa Cicero, Italy, ca. 1435-40

See also MS 2106, Seneca: Epistolae, Italy, ca. 1440

See also MS 1781, Plinius: Epistolae, Germany, 1478

MS in Neo Sumerian and Old Babylonian on clay, Babylonia, 2000-1700 BC, 1 tablet, 22,0x9,5x4,0 cm, 2 columns, 65 lines in cuneiform script, double ruled lines between each entry.

Binding: Russia, ca. 1750, brown blind-tooled leather over bevelled wooden boards with corner stamps with gold leaves, sewn on 3 cords.

Provenance: 1. Aronov Collection, New York (-1995); 2. Sam Fogg, London.

Commentary: The right column was intended for exercise purpose, translating a Sumerian text into Akkadian. 11 entries are without translation. This is the only known major bilingual proverb tablet of Old Babylonian origin.

Text 1. The folk tale about the man getting increasingly old, his declining physical abilities, and the effect of a young girl on him, is the oldest known example of a theme well attested in later world literature. Best known is 1 Kings 1:1 ff. and 2:17 ff., Eccl. 12: 1-7, and the Merchant's Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Text 26. In the fable or tale, The Fowler and his wife, the wife asks her husband to let free the raven and esig-bird he had caught in his net, blaming him for neglecting his marital duties and of his potency problem, asking him to rise himself instead of the birds.

This collection brings many new and improved readings to the proverbs, which calls for a revision of the published text.

Published: Bendt Alster in Oriantalia, vol. 75, 2006, fasc. 1, pp. 94-95. Bendt Alster: Sumerian Proverbs in the Schøyen Collection, Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology, vol. 2, Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, Cuneiform texts II. CDL Press, Bethesda, MD, 2007. pp. 96-122.

See also MS 2379/44, Asoka legend, India, 6th c.

MS in Arabic on paper, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, 14th-16th c., 71 ff. (complete), 18x13 cm, single column, (15x11 cm), 11 lines in Arabic naskhi script by several scribes.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1990, green cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai (ca. 16th - 19th c.); 2. Friedrich Grote, Germany (ca. 1900); 3. Walther Adam, Magdeburg and Goslar, S 6 (1918/30-1964); 4. Carl Wilhelm Adam, Goslar (1964-1987); 5. F. Dörling, Hamburg 1.6.1987:35; 6. Wolfgang Görigk, Germany (1989); 7. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.

Commentary: The legend of Joseph, son of the patriarch Jacob, is based on the account in Genesis. The present text is a translation into Arabic from one of the many Syriac versions. 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.

MS in Japanese on paper, Kyoto, Japan, 17th c., 1 roll (complete), 34x630 cm, 13 scenes, 33x48 cm, in full colours and gold, a descendant of the paintings by the Tosa school for the Imperial Court.

Binding: Kyoto, Japan, 17th c., silk brocade wrapper.

Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg cat. 19(1998):168.

Commentary: The origins of the tale are unclear. One version says Yuriwaka was born in Iki, in today's Yamaguchi prefecture. As a young man, he set out to conquer demons and returned after many years to his home town in Iki, where no one recognized him until he succeeded in taming a horse no one else but Yuriwaka could handle. It is a legend similar to the Greek legend of Ulysses, with the universal theme of the testing of a hero's identity.

MS in Russian Chuch Slavonic on paper, Russia, ca. 1750, 266 ff. (complete), 19x15 cm, single column, (14/15x11/12 cm), 20-22 lines in Cyrillic semi-uncial by several scribes, red titles and chapter headings, 135 full-page illustrations in full colours by several artists displaying the collaboration of a circle of Old Believer artists of varying levels of skill.

Binding: Russia, ca. 1750, brown blind-tooled leather over bevelled wooden boards with corner stamps with gold leaves, sewn on 3 cords.

Provenance: 1. Aronov Collection, New York (-1995);  2. Sam Fogg, London.

Commentary: Commentary: The Old Believers (Raskolniki) are a group which opposed the modernization of the Russian Church introduced by Patriarch Nikon from 1652 on. They were excommunicated and persecuted as a result of the Church councils in 1666 and 1667. The Old Believers may have had the support of 10-20 % of the population. Their ranks included many prosperous business people who patronised the production of books for the community. In the 18th and 19th c. their descendants collected libraries. The Old Believers are a network of dissenting communities rather than a sect, and continue to exist in Russia and the USA.

MS in Thai, with some Pali passages, on paper, Thailand, ca. 1800, 102 ff. (complete), 15x65 cm, 1 - 3 columns, (3 columns: text: 28 cm column width), 5 lines in a very fine Old Cambodian book script, 14 coloured miniatures, each 29x20 cm, of high quality, between coloured borders on both sides of text.

Binding: Thailand, ca. 1800, leporello form, outer leaves built up and varnished as covers.

Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg cat. 19(1998):132.

Commentary: This is translation and expansion of a Pali legend about the monk Phra Malai, who has extended meditation and prayer so, that he was able to fly up to the heavens or down to hell and to return to earth.

See also MS 4458/1, Legends and religious myths, China, 18th c.

See also MS 2125, Selma Lagerlöf: Legenden om Julrosorna, short story Sweden, 1903-1921