[Igeret orḥot ʻolam] ... [etc.]

Contributor:

Finzi, Joseph ben Abraham (scribe)

Name:

Farissol, Abraham ben Mordecai, approximately 1451-approximately 1525

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1525

Description:

Geographical treatise on the locations of all dispersed Jewish peoples, including the first mention of the New World in Hebrew, a diagram representing the sky over the New World, and accounts of the coasts of Africa, India, and the Far East, followed by a copy of a brief 15th-century treatise on chess.

Language:

Hebrew

Provenance:

Ownership inscriptions: Gui Senicano [?], Dalmatia, 1587 (front flyleaf, recto); Domino Jacomo, Gramaldi, Zamaria Razzaro, Zaliman (back flyleaf, verso).; Offered for sale at auction at Sotheby's, 10 Jul. 2012, lot 28.; Purchased by Lawrence J. Schoenberg, 2012.; Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.

Relation:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366278; Digital facsimile for download (OPenn): https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0001/html/ljs499.html

Subject:

Jewish diaspora -- Early works to 1800; Geography -- Early works to 1800; Geography; Chess -- Early works to 1800; Chess; Jewish diaspora

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); diagrams; treatises; Manuscripts, Renaissance; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

36 leaves : paper; 197 x 143 (130 x 92) mm bound to 206 x 153 mm

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Title for manuscript supplied by cataloger from title for predominant work (Sotheby's).; Table of contents: 1. f.1r-34v: Igeret orḥot ʻolam / Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol.; Table of contents: 2. f.35r-36r: Melitsah tsaḥah ʻal tseḥoḳ ha-shaḳ / Bonsenior ibn Yaḥya.; Collation: Paper, i + 36 + i; 1-3¹⁰ 4⁶. Catchwords on most leaves (f. 2-33), lower left verso.; Layout: Written in 30 long lines; ruled in faint ink with vertical bounding lines.; Script: Written in Italian semi-cursive Hebrew script by Joseph ben Abraham Finzi di Legnago (Fabrizio Lelli), with a note and drawing in the hand of the author (f. 32v, according to Edna Engel), and a brief work added at the end of the manuscript in a later hand (f. 35r-36r).; Decoration: Diagram of 6 stars and 16 symbols resembling the letter S, with a caption explaining that they represent stars and lines in the sky in the New World (f. 32v); decorative additions in the outer margins of the early leaves of the manuscript, including several manicules (f. 1r-12v).; Binding: Modern morocco, blind-tooled, over pasteboards.; Origin: Written in northern Italy, probably Ferrara, after 1525 (Edna Engel).; The author and his scribal workshop, but not this manuscript, are discussed in Engel, Edna. "Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol: Sephardi tradition of book making in northern Italy of the Renaissance period." In Jewish Art 18 (1992), 149-167.; Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.; Hebrew.; Related Work: Ibn Yaḥya, Bonsenior, active 15th century. Melitsah tsaḥah ʻal tseḥoḳ ha-shaḳ.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, LJS 499

Collection:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)