Mishneh Torah. Book 11-14. (Robbins Ms. 272)

Mishneh Torah, ha-yad ha-hazaqah.

Yemen, [between 1490 and 1950]

330 leaves : paper ; 266 x 190 (195 x 125) mm bound to 273 x 122 mm

Compilation of three different, incomplete, late 15th and early 16th century Yemenite manuscripts of parts of books 11-14 of the Mishneh Torah by Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides). These manuscripts have been bound together, with missing parts supplied from leaves or quires from other Yemenite manuscripts (most also dating from the 15th to the 16th centuries, but some earlier or later, and some even filled in by 19th and 20th century hands). In the second part of the manuscript (Book of Acquisitions, fol. 106b-183), some text is missing, especially towards the end. A few folios are late completions (20th cent.) and some belong to another early Yemenite manuscript added to this volume to complete the text. The third part of the manuscript (Book of Civil Laws and Book of Judges, fol. 184-330) was incomplete, and although some text is still missing, much of the text was supplied by folios from an earlier, perhaps 14th cent., manuscript that were bound in wherever large sections of the text were missing. A few folios were supplied from another early Yemenite manuscript and some are 20th cent. completions. Some leaves damaged, torn or repaired throughout.

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Collation: Paper (glossy oriental, Yemenite), fol. 330 (fol. 184 counted twice).
Script: Written in various large square Yemenite hands.
Decoration: Some headings of sections and paragraphs outlined in red ink.
Binding: Modern cloth and quarter-leather binding over pasteboard; modern flyleaf and pastedown both front and back.
Origin: According to the colophon on fol. 105v the first part of the manuscript was copied by Khalaf ben Daoud (Chjalfon ben David) al-Tawili in the town of Tawil in 1820 Seleucid era (1508 or 1509). At the bottom of fol. 184r there is a short colophon with the date Tuesday 19 Ellul 1802 Seleucid era (1491); at the top of the same folio there is a faint colophon, now mostly written over, with the name of the scribe Shelomo (Solomon) ben David ben Maimon al-Tawili, dated Thursday 27 Ellul of the same year.
Shelfmark: Berkeley, CA, The Robbins Collection, UC Berkeley School of Law, Robbins MS 272.

Hebrew.

The manuscript from which the colophon of the second part was detached (Book of Acquisitions, fol. 106b-183) was copied in the town of Suda in Yemen for Yeter ha-Levi ben Kokhav ha-Levi. Manuscript once belonged to Rabbi Yihya Kapach (Kafich).

Beit-Arié, Malachi and Colette Sirat in Manuscrits médiévaux en caractères hébraïques : portant des indications de date jusqu'à 1540 (Jerusalem-Paris), vol. I, no. 163.

RBCAG Robbins MS 272

RESTRICTED ORIGINAL: Use of original only by permission. Inquiries concerning this item should be directed, in writing, to the reference librarian for The Robbins Collection.

Robbins MS 272

Hebrew