see its pdf version here
List of Digital Facsimiles
of Biblical Hebrew Manuscripts on the Web
and a couple other odds and ends…
Dead Sea
Scrolls
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa). More to come.
Aleppo
Codex
High resolution; multiple pdfs.
For online reading.
Description The
Aleppo Codex, known in Hebrew as Keter Aram Tzova is probably the most famous
manuscript of the Tanach, written in the 9th or 10th century by the school of
the great Massorete Ben Asher. This manuscript was used by the Rambam as a
reference for the correct reading of the Tanach. The manuscript is kept in the
Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This edition includes
actual scanned color photos of the manuscript.
This edition includes actual scanned color photos of the
manuscript in high resolution.
Leningrad Codex
High resolution; multiple pdfs.
Description The
Leningrad Codex (or Codex Leningradensis) is one of the oldest manuscripts of
the complete Tanach produced according to the Tiberian mesorah. It is dated from
the year 1008 according to its colophon. The manuscript is kept in the National
Library of Russia in Sankt Petersburg labeled Firkovich B 19 A.This is a
fascimile edition of the manuscript.
Table of contents with page numbers for the large
seforimonline pdf above.
Berlin
Codex
(Babylonian pointing)
Description The
Berlin Codex (Berlin Library ms. 680), also know as the New York Codex (JTS
Library ms. 510) is an ancient manuscript of the Tanach (Ketuvim) from the
school of Ben Asher. This is a fascimile edition of the manuscript.
Cairo
Codex
Description The
Cairo Codex (or Codex Cairensis) is believed to be the oldest extant Hebrew
manuscript containing the complete text of the Neviim written by the school of
Ben Asher. It is dated from the year 895 CE according to its colophon. The manuscript
is kept in the Karaite Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt. This is a fascimile edition
of the manuscript.
Codex
Hillely
Description Codex
Hillely is a manuscript of the Torah from the year 1241, from Toledo, Spain. It
is kept in the JTS library in New York. This is a fascimile edition of the
manuscript.
Berlin
Codex
Description The
Berlin Codex (Berlin Library ms. 680), also know as the New York Codex (JTS
Library ms. 510) is an ancient manuscript of the Tanach (Ketuvim) from the
school of Ben Asher. This is a fascimile edition of the manuscript.
Lisbon
Tanach
Description Lisbon
Tanach (or Lisbon Bible 1482) is an illuminated manuscript (British Library
#2626) of the complete Tanach dating from the year 1482, from Portugal. This
edition contains color photos of the manuscript.
A few pages.
ms. Heb 5702
Pentateuch. Eretz Israel. 10th century
(DjVu format)
Description
Pentateuch with Vocalization, Accents, Masorah Magna and
Masorah Parva.
Manuscript. Eretz Israel, 10th century. Parchment. 270
folios. 432x385 mm. Three columns. Written in a fine, large bold, Oriental
square script, fully vocalized and with accents.
A very exact, beautiful manuscript, almost complete. One of
a very small group of early manuscripts of the Pentateuch of very great
importance for the research of the Masorah.
Purchased in 1914 by David S. Sassoon from the notables of
the Jewish community in Damascus and hence nicknamed as "the Damascus
Keter" (the "crown" of Damascus).
D.S. Sassoon, in his Ohel David catalogue, describes the
manuscript as being written in a 9th century "Babylonian [i.e. Iraqi]
hand"; scholars of the Hebrew University disagree with this assumption and
consider it to be of Palestinian origin and written in the 10th century.
The manuscript was purchased from the Sassoon collection in
1975.
ms. Heb 790
Bible. Spain, 1260
(DjVu format)
Description
"Damascus Keter". Bible with Vocalization,
Accents, Masorah Magna and Masorah Parva.
Manuscript. Burgos, Spain, 1260. Parchment. 428 folios.
305x270 mm. Sefardi square script. Three columns per page (Proverbs, Job and
Psalms in two columns)
Colophon (426v): "I, Menahem, son of Abraham ibn Malek
... wrote these twenty four [books] for ... Isaac, son of ... Abraham ...
Haddad, and completed them on Monday, the 17th day of the month of Adar in the
year 5020 in Burgos ... .
The Masorah Magna is written on each page in delicate micrographic
ornamentations. The text of the Masorah at the opening and closing sections of
the volume, as well as at the pages between the three divisions of the Bible
(Pentateuch, Prophets and Hagiographa) are also written in micrography in the
form of colored "carpet" pages, the contours of which for a
combination of floral motifs and geometric forms.
The books of the Pentateuch and the Prophets are arranged in
the conventional order which was adopted by later printed editions. The
Hagiographa deviates from the conventional order, and from that given in the
Tractate Bava Bathra (14b), and its arrangement is: Chronicles, Ruth, Psalms,
Job, Proverbs, The Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel,
Ezra and Nehemiah.
The beginnings of sedaqrim [portions] and parashiyyot are
ornamented in gold and other colors, some of them serving as illustrations of
the text.
At an unknown date the manuscript reached Damascus, which
explains its appelation "The Damascus Keter" (it was customary in the
East to call an ornate codex of the Bible a "Keter" [Crown]".
There it was kept in the synagogue of Hushbasha Al'anabi, where it was viewed
by Alexander E. Harkavy in 1886 and by Avinoam Yellin in 1919. According to
Yellin's report, the manuscript contained 429 leaves. And indeed, one 'carpet'
leaf originally from the end of the manuscript was auctioned in 198t at
Sotheby's in London, and is now in the Museo Sefaradi of Toledo.
The manuscript, without that single leaf, was auctioned at
Sotheby's in 1962 and in that year was acquired for the Library through the
generosity of the America-Israel Cultural Fund and Mr. N.Z. Williams of
Jerusalem.
ms. Heb 1401
Bible. Spain, 1341
(DjVu format)
Description
Bible with Vocalization and Accents, Spain, 1341
Manuscript on parchment. Saragossa, Spain, 1341. 3 volumes.
204, 206, 53 fols. 215x155 mm. Sefardi square script. 2 columns per page.
In the margins, the place usually assigned to the Masorah,
the scribe copied David Kimchi's Sefer ha-shorashim ('The Book of Roots')
letters alef to mem, in micrography which forms the contours for ornamental
geometric motifs. The continuation of this work was written on full pages at
the end of the Bible, now bound as a separate third volume. (In the past, all
three present volumes formed one volume).
Colophon (vol. 2, 206v): "Completed ... in the month of
Shevat, in the year 5101 ... in the city of Saragossa; I copied it for myself,
Ezra ben Moses ... ben Eleazar...
The manuscript is richly oranamented. Most of the initial
words of the books are in gold and other colors on a background of ornamental
filigree outlines in purple and red. There is an ornamental red frame at the
end of each book, including the number of its verses. The colophon is written
in red, blue and silver within a double arched gothic frame surmounted by
rosettes.
Order of the Latter Prophets: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah,
Minor Prophets. Order of the Hagiographa: Rith, Psalms, Job, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Chronicles (as set down in Tracta Bava Bathra 14b).
From the Estate of the late Dr. Yeshua Shami, donated by his
daughters Miriam Kotev, Jerusalem and Susan Rosil, San Francisco, 1946.
Codex Bodmer 21
Tanach · Spain (?) · 13th century
Large clear images; Oddly, Psalm 1 & 2 seem to be
combined as one psalm. Psalm 3 is labeled ב.
Catalogue Listing
Facsimile
Manuscript summary: The
Hebrew text of the Old Testament in CB 21 originated in Moorish Spain:
Al-Andalus. Unlike most similar surviving manuscripts, it does not belong to
the Ashkenazic tradition, but rather is an artifact of the Sephardic book
culture of the 13th century. The decoration is strongly influenced by
calligraphic art.
Bibel mit Masora - BSB Cod.hebr. 392, [S.l.], 13./14. Jh.
[BSB-Hss Cod.hebr. 392]
Catalogue
Entry
Facsimile
1-890 pages; Can select a page range and generate a custom
pdf.
Cairo Genizah Collection
For Hebrew Biblical texts, search for "Hebrew" and
look for Halper 001 - Halper 036.
Other Facsimiles
Second Rabbinic Bible
‘Bomberg Bible’ (Not a manuscript)
David Kaufmann Collection
Not Bibles but a nice collection of very clear Hebrew
manuscripts from the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Other Places to Search
French National Library in Paris
There may be some treasures here but the scan quality is not
great. Flash swf files.
Munich Library Hebrew Manuscripts
European Geniza Fragments Database
Hebrew Manuscripts at the Madrid University Library
Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library
This is a 775 page catalogue of 801 Hebrew manuscripts in
the Vatican library, mostly medieval codices.
Biblioteca del Dottorato of the University of Perugia
Unfortunately the text is too small to read.
National Library of Israel
ms. Heb 5702, ms. Heb 790 and ms. Heb 1401 above are from
this site.
Digitized Seforim Manuscripts Online
The 3 links below are from this blog posting.
*** Catalogue
of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts at UCLA (Link directly to Hebrew manuscripts)
Very helpful list.
*** Penn/Cambridge
Genizah Fragment Project (contains fragments of various documents from the
Cairo Genizah)
Looks like there’s lots here.
Oxford Library Bodleian Oriental Manuscript Collections
(contains some Hebrew manuscripts under a few different categories)
Helpful Web Pages
Manuscripts Summary
|
Date
|
Manuscript
|
Content
|
|
|
890-950
|
ms Heb 5702
|
Most of Torah
|
|
|
895
|
Cairo Codex
|
Neviim
|
|
|
930
|
Aleppo Codex
|
Tanach with missing parts*
|
|
|
1008
|
Leningrad Codex
|
All of Tanach
|
|
|
1050-1000
|
Berlin Codex
|
Most of Neviim (Ps 20-107)
|
Babylonian Pointing
|
|
1200s
|
Codex Bodmer 21
|
All of Tanach
|
|
|
1200s-1300s
|
Cod hebr 392
|
Torah, Neviim. No Ketuvim.
|
|
|
1241
|
Hillely Codex
|
Torah
|
|
|
1260
|
ms Heb 790 Damascus Keter
|
All of Tanach
|
|
|
1341
|
ms Heb 1401
|
All of Tanach
|
|
|
1482
|
Lisbon Tanach
|
Torah
|
|
|
1524
|
Second Rabbinic Bible**
|
All of Tanach
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
870 - 1880
|
Cairo Genizah Collection
|
selections
|
|
*Missing parts of Aleppo Codex
·
Gen 1 - Deut 28:17 (118
pages)
·
2 Kings 14:21-18:13 (3
pages)
·
Jeremiah 29:9-31:34 (3
pages)
·
Amos 8:13 - Micah 5:1 incl.
Obadiah & Jonah (3 pages)
·
End of Zeph - Zech 9:17
incl. Haggai (4 pages)
·
Psalms 15:1-25:1 (2 pages)
·
SS 3:11 - end of Kituvim
incl. Eccl, Lam, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Neh (36 pages)
·
Also first 7 pages, 1 page
containing the dedication, and 20 pages at the end.
** Not a manuscript.
