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DOI Artikel:Tomal, Maciej; Budzioch, Dagmara: The manuskript of the Moreh Nevuchim from the collection of the National Museum in Krakow
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31060#0153
Dagmara Budzioch, Maciej Tomal
Kraków, Uniwersytet Jagielloński
The Manuscript of the Morek Nevuchim from the
Collection of the National Museum in Kraków
Among the Hebrew manuscripts in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków the
most interesting one seems to be that of Morek Nevuchim (MNK rkps 307) by Moshe ben
Maimon (or Maimonides, 1135-1204). According to the colophon, the manuscript was
written in 1406 in Perugia. The manuscript we are dealing with here includes the Shmuel
ibn Tibbons Hebrew translation of Maimonides famous work written originally in Ara-
bie. The translation was completed - according to the colophon of the translator - in 1213,
i.e. almost ten years after the authors death. Ibn Tibbon enlarged the original work with
the vocabulary of difficult terms and also - within the framework of the colophon - de-
tailed description of the circumstances and place where the translation was completed.
Our manuscript includes also these additions of the translator.
Description of the manuscript
The manuscript has been preserved in a very good State. Only in certain places some tiny
damages are present, for instance little holes (some of them arecovered with paper from be-
hind), stains (probably the remnants of spils) and scrapes. The bottom margins of some leaves
have been cut off. The manuscript contains 522 pages (the pagination is modern, originally
neither pages nor leaves were numerated or the numeration was lost due to the trimming of
sheets), in the present State of the manuscript an average leaf is 170 x 235 mm. Parchment
ąuires have been bound with wooden binding covered brown leather with embossed pattern.
Two brass clasps at the covers have been preserved. The leaves represent different types of
bleached parchment with a yariety of shades, tones and thickneses. The parchment may be
described as Italian (the charta italica) due to a characteristic way of bleaching leather that
enables discerning which side of each sheet comes from the outer hair-covered side of the
skin and which from the inner one.
On the parchment ruling (madę with hard point) is visible. The letters are “hungd” on
the lines according to the Italian modę. The space between the lines is always the same,
i.e. 5-6 mm. On each page there are 28 vertical lines and 4 horizontał ones. Vertical lines
run through the whole width of the sheet while the vertical ones spread through the whole
length of the page. In the present State of the manuscript on the majority of pages no
pricking is yisible, probably due to the trimming of sheets. The widest, bottom, margin
is of around 65 mm, while the top one as well as outer and inner are of around 34, 41
and 20 mm respectiyely. Generally, the margins on the left side of each page are equal,
Kraków, Uniwersytet Jagielloński
The Manuscript of the Morek Nevuchim from the
Collection of the National Museum in Kraków
Among the Hebrew manuscripts in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków the
most interesting one seems to be that of Morek Nevuchim (MNK rkps 307) by Moshe ben
Maimon (or Maimonides, 1135-1204). According to the colophon, the manuscript was
written in 1406 in Perugia. The manuscript we are dealing with here includes the Shmuel
ibn Tibbons Hebrew translation of Maimonides famous work written originally in Ara-
bie. The translation was completed - according to the colophon of the translator - in 1213,
i.e. almost ten years after the authors death. Ibn Tibbon enlarged the original work with
the vocabulary of difficult terms and also - within the framework of the colophon - de-
tailed description of the circumstances and place where the translation was completed.
Our manuscript includes also these additions of the translator.
Description of the manuscript
The manuscript has been preserved in a very good State. Only in certain places some tiny
damages are present, for instance little holes (some of them arecovered with paper from be-
hind), stains (probably the remnants of spils) and scrapes. The bottom margins of some leaves
have been cut off. The manuscript contains 522 pages (the pagination is modern, originally
neither pages nor leaves were numerated or the numeration was lost due to the trimming of
sheets), in the present State of the manuscript an average leaf is 170 x 235 mm. Parchment
ąuires have been bound with wooden binding covered brown leather with embossed pattern.
Two brass clasps at the covers have been preserved. The leaves represent different types of
bleached parchment with a yariety of shades, tones and thickneses. The parchment may be
described as Italian (the charta italica) due to a characteristic way of bleaching leather that
enables discerning which side of each sheet comes from the outer hair-covered side of the
skin and which from the inner one.
On the parchment ruling (madę with hard point) is visible. The letters are “hungd” on
the lines according to the Italian modę. The space between the lines is always the same,
i.e. 5-6 mm. On each page there are 28 vertical lines and 4 horizontał ones. Vertical lines
run through the whole width of the sheet while the vertical ones spread through the whole
length of the page. In the present State of the manuscript on the majority of pages no
pricking is yisible, probably due to the trimming of sheets. The widest, bottom, margin
is of around 65 mm, while the top one as well as outer and inner are of around 34, 41
and 20 mm respectiyely. Generally, the margins on the left side of each page are equal,