DOI issue:
Artykuły / Articles
DOI article:Budzioch, Dagmara; Tomal, Maciej: The manuskript of the Moreh Nevuchim from the collection of the National Museum in Krakow
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31060#0162
160 Dagmara Budzioch, Maciej Tomal
It would have been unimaginable to separate myself from that precious monument of antiąuity, if
I had not been convinced that it would be placed among eąually precious items (lit. comrades), under
the custody of someone widely known as a man of social virtues and of his attachment to the science and
education, whose collection of antiąuities is famous.
In Warsaw, 3/15 of February 1856
JTugendhold DSR [Director of the Rabbinic Seminar]
Some details occurring in the text. The work of Tadeusz Czacki is entitled Rozprawa
o Żydach i Karaitach [“A Treatise on Jews and Karaites”], hrst printed in Vilnius in 1807
by Józef Zawadzki s publishing house. According to the second edition of “Biblioteka Pol-
ska” from the year 1860, the relevant ąuotation concerning references of the Maimonides’
work in the texts of Albert the Great and Thomas of Aąuinas occur on pages 102-103. The
purchaser of the volume seems to be Józef Rusiecki born in Pieniążkówka in 1817 and
died in Trojanka in 1873, the father of the last owner of the manuscript.
Conclusions
The fate of the manuscript MNK rkps 307 seem to be as fascinating as it is bizarre and
obscure. Even the facts we have at our disposal rather contribute to our confusion than
shed light on the history of this particular codex. Three stages of its history are certain: 1)
it originated in Italy, in Perugia; 2) in the hrst half of the 18th century we hnd the codex in
the hands of a Dutch owner in Amsterdam; 3) hnally the manuscript emerges in Kraków
(or in Trojanka), in the hands of book collector, Józef Rusiecki. Many ąuestions as to the
history of the manuscript remain unanswered. The exact reconstruction of its Italian fate
is very difhcult despite relatively detailed information recorded within two coloplaons.
Who exactly was the Dutch collector? And an even morę difhcult question arises: is it pos-
sible to fili the gaps between the stages testified in the colophons? Maybe some scholars
who deal with the Hebrew paleography issues may in the futurę join the discussion and
help in resolying some of these ąuestions.
Bibliography
Aranov Saul I., A Descriptive Catalogue of the Bension Collection of Sephardic Manuscripts and Texts,
Edmonton 1979.
Bornstein Daniel, Law, Religion, and Economic: Jewish Moneylenders in Christian Cortona [in:] J.A.
Marino, T. Kuehn (ed.), A Renaissance of Conflicts: Visions and Revisions ofLaw and Society in Italy and
Spain, Toronto 2004, pp. 241-258.
Ha-Cohen Naftali Yaaqov, Otsar ha-gdolim alufe Yaaqov: kolei toldot gdole Israel mi-tqufat ha-ge onim
ha-rishonim mi-shnat 590 ‘ ad 1590, 5 vols.
Jewish Art in Roland. Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts, “Center for Jewish Art The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. Newsletter”, 1995, 11, pp. 4-6.
Sirat Colette, A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1985.
Sirat Colette, Hebrew Manuscripts ofthe Middle Ages, ed., trans. Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge 2002.
Toaff Ariel, Gli Ebrei a Perugia, Perugia 1975.
Toaff Ariel, The Jews in Umbria, 3 vols, Leiden 1993.
It would have been unimaginable to separate myself from that precious monument of antiąuity, if
I had not been convinced that it would be placed among eąually precious items (lit. comrades), under
the custody of someone widely known as a man of social virtues and of his attachment to the science and
education, whose collection of antiąuities is famous.
In Warsaw, 3/15 of February 1856
JTugendhold DSR [Director of the Rabbinic Seminar]
Some details occurring in the text. The work of Tadeusz Czacki is entitled Rozprawa
o Żydach i Karaitach [“A Treatise on Jews and Karaites”], hrst printed in Vilnius in 1807
by Józef Zawadzki s publishing house. According to the second edition of “Biblioteka Pol-
ska” from the year 1860, the relevant ąuotation concerning references of the Maimonides’
work in the texts of Albert the Great and Thomas of Aąuinas occur on pages 102-103. The
purchaser of the volume seems to be Józef Rusiecki born in Pieniążkówka in 1817 and
died in Trojanka in 1873, the father of the last owner of the manuscript.
Conclusions
The fate of the manuscript MNK rkps 307 seem to be as fascinating as it is bizarre and
obscure. Even the facts we have at our disposal rather contribute to our confusion than
shed light on the history of this particular codex. Three stages of its history are certain: 1)
it originated in Italy, in Perugia; 2) in the hrst half of the 18th century we hnd the codex in
the hands of a Dutch owner in Amsterdam; 3) hnally the manuscript emerges in Kraków
(or in Trojanka), in the hands of book collector, Józef Rusiecki. Many ąuestions as to the
history of the manuscript remain unanswered. The exact reconstruction of its Italian fate
is very difhcult despite relatively detailed information recorded within two coloplaons.
Who exactly was the Dutch collector? And an even morę difhcult question arises: is it pos-
sible to fili the gaps between the stages testified in the colophons? Maybe some scholars
who deal with the Hebrew paleography issues may in the futurę join the discussion and
help in resolying some of these ąuestions.
Bibliography
Aranov Saul I., A Descriptive Catalogue of the Bension Collection of Sephardic Manuscripts and Texts,
Edmonton 1979.
Bornstein Daniel, Law, Religion, and Economic: Jewish Moneylenders in Christian Cortona [in:] J.A.
Marino, T. Kuehn (ed.), A Renaissance of Conflicts: Visions and Revisions ofLaw and Society in Italy and
Spain, Toronto 2004, pp. 241-258.
Ha-Cohen Naftali Yaaqov, Otsar ha-gdolim alufe Yaaqov: kolei toldot gdole Israel mi-tqufat ha-ge onim
ha-rishonim mi-shnat 590 ‘ ad 1590, 5 vols.
Jewish Art in Roland. Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts, “Center for Jewish Art The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. Newsletter”, 1995, 11, pp. 4-6.
Sirat Colette, A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Cambridge 1985.
Sirat Colette, Hebrew Manuscripts ofthe Middle Ages, ed., trans. Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge 2002.
Toaff Ariel, Gli Ebrei a Perugia, Perugia 1975.
Toaff Ariel, The Jews in Umbria, 3 vols, Leiden 1993.