Details

Subjects:

Astronomy -- Early works to 1800.
Astronomy.
Astronomy, Medieval.
Jewish astronomy -- Early works to 1800.
Astrolabes -- Early works to 1800.
Astrolabes.
Geography, Medieval.
Jewish astronomy.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Annotations.
Commentaries.
Diagrams.
Tables (documents)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Hebrew.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Hebrew.

Summary:

Collection of astronomical texts in Hebrew from source texts ranging from the 11th to the 16th centuries. Subjects include geography, the Ptolemaic model of the universe, solar and lunar eclipses, and the astrolabe. Frequent marginal notes and glosses, some from copied from known commentaries to these works.

Contents:

1. f.1r-65r: [Partial copy of Tsurat ha-arets / Abraham bar Hiyya Savasorda]
2. f.67r-77r: [Abridgement of Tsurat ha-arets / Judah ha-Nasi]
3. f.79r-133v: [Shesh kenafayim / Immanuel ben Jacob Bonfils]
4. f.134r-147r: [Keli ha-itsṭrolav / Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṣaffār]
5. f.148r-196v: [ʻIyun ha-kokhavim ha-meshartim / Georg von Peurbach]
6. f.197r-198r: [Diagrams]
7. f.199r-203v: [Keli ha-neḥoshet / Abraham ben Meïr ibn Ezra].

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title for manuscript from title supplied for first work by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, iii (modern paper) + 204 + iii (modern paper); [1-204], modern foliation in pencil, upper left recto; contemporary foliation using Hebrew letters in ink visible on some leaves.
Layout: Written in 20-27 long lines.
Script: Written in Ashkenazi semi-cursive script by multiple hands.
Decoration: 25 full-page diagrams, numerous small diagrams in text; some rubrication in red; tables in red and black (f. 107r-133v).
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Aigle à deux têtes 285 (f. 45, 48; Gratz, 1594-1598; Millstatt (Carinthie), 1597-1600; Vienna, 1599) and Aigle à deux têtes 282 (Gratz, 1580; Osnabruck, 1588); similar to Briquet, Aigle à deux têtes 291 (f. 189; Gratz, 1598; Kempten, 1607-1627).
Binding: 19th-century half morocco over cloth
Origin: Possibly written in Gratz, in the second half of the 16th century, after the first edition of Erasmus Reinhold's Theoricae novae planetarum Georgii Purbacchii Germani in 1542, some of which is copied alongside the Hebrew translation of Peurbach (f. 188r-196v), on paper with watermarks similar to those on paper produced in Gratz in the 1580s and 1590s (Les Enluminures).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Possible ownership inscription: Yitshaq Cohen (f. 1; Les Enluminures).
Formerly owned by Italian philologist, poet, and biblical exegete Samuel David Luzzatto (Les Enluminures).
Acquired by the Polish scholar and bibliophile S.J. Halberstam from the estate of Samuel David Luzzatto, ms. 134 (Halberstam number on Montefiore label, inside upper cover).
Sold as part of Halberstam's library to Judith Montefiore College (Ramsgate, England), after 1887, ms. 423 (gilt spine, Montefiore MS. 423; label inside upper cover).
Placed on deposit at Jews' College (London) as part of the Montefiore Endowment, 1899 (Les Enluminures).
Sold at auction at Sotheby's (New York) as part of a collection of manuscripts from the Montefiore Endowment, 27 Oct. 2004, lot 308.
Sold by Les Enluminures (Paris and Chicago) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle in memory of Martin L. Fine, 2012.

Cited as:

UPenn LJS 498

Contributor:

Ibn Tibbon, Jacob ben Machir, approximately 1236- translator.
Mizraḥi, Ephraim, translator.
Luzzatto, Samuel David, 1800-1865, former owner.
Halberstam, S. J. (Solomon Joachim), 1832-1900, former owner.
Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Judith Montefiore College (Ramsgate, England), former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Contains:

Bonfils, Immanuel ben Jacob, active 14th century. Shesh kenafayim.
Ibn al-Ṣaffār, Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd Allāh, -1035. Kitāb al-ʻamal bi-asṭurlāb. Hebrew.
Peurbach, Georg von, 1423-1461. Theoricae novae planetarum. Hebrew.
Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr, 1089-1164. Keli ha-neḥoshet.

OCLC:

785900593

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page