Obj. ID: 21106
  Illuminated Manuscripts  Fugger's Twelfth Miscellany on Kabbalah, Venice, 1552

Fugger's Twelfth Venetian Miscellany on Kabbalah | Unknown

*Manuscripts and Printed Books | Mystical and Kabbalistic literature

Unknown

1552

Venetian group of Hebrew manuscripts for the collector Johann Jakob Fugger: | Meir (scribe)
Venetian group of Hebrew manuscripts for the collector Johann Jakob Fugger: | Yaakov ben Hayyim (scribe)
Venetian group of Hebrew manuscripts for the collector Johann Jakob Fugger: | Eliezer ben Yoel (scribe)

Italy | Veneto | Venice (Venezia)
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Unknown

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Unknown

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Unknown

Germany | Munich | Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB)
| Cod.hebr. 59 (Steinschneider 1895, No. 59)

Unknown

1. Hayy bin Yaqdhan (חי בן יקטן) by Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl (fols. 1-176v) in an anonymous translation with commentary by Moses Narboni, and with comments by Yohanan Alemanno integrated into the text (Idel 1978:313): beginsאמר משה בן יהושע (Steinschneider 1893:365). 2. Super commentary on the Averroes' Compendium of Aristotle's De caelo et mundo by Levi ben Gershom, Chapter IV (fols. 177-181): beginsכאן כו שידבר בצורות היסודות הארבעה (Steinschneider 1893:127). 3. Or ha-Sekhel (אור השכל; The Light of Mind) by Abraham ben Shmuel Abulafia (fols. 183-231): begins בהיות המחשבה האנושית קלה מאוד מהשיג (Idel 1976:24 n. 161; Abulafia 2001). Other copies in Munich: BSB Cod.hebr. 40 (fols. 160-212v) from Fugger's Venetian group, copied from another exemplar; BSB Cod.hebr. 92 (fols. 31-68), belonged to Egidio da Viterbo and later to Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter. 4. Sodot ve-Likkutim in Kabbalah (סודות ולקוטים, Secrets and Miscellanies) (fols. 233-247): beginsזהו ציור האלפבית אשר קבל משה. Includes Secrets of the Ten Sefirot, Commentary on the Divine Name of 72 letters from Sefer Raziel, a part of Sefer ha-Temunah, etc. 5. Keter Shem Tov (כתר שם טוב; The Crown of Shem Tov) by Abraham ben Alexander (Axelrod) of Cologne (fols. 248v-256v): begins בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקדש פנימה בנפש טהורה ובשפה ברורה. 1st ed. Amsterdam 1810. Other copies in Munich: BSB Cod.hebr. 56 (fols. 145-151) from Fugger's Venetian group, incomplete; BSB Cod.hebr. 246 (fols. 49v-55v), belonged to Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter; BSB Cod.hebr. 341 (fols. 188v-191v), belonged to Domenico Grimani and later to Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter. 6. Sodot ve-Likkutim in Kabbalah (fols. 256v-259): begins סוד שבע ברכות. Includes Secret of the Seven Blessings, Ma'aseh Bereshit (The Procedure of Creation), Merkavah (Chariot) seen by Ezekiel etc. Most were printed at the end of Moses di Leon's Sefer ha-Mishkal (The Book of Scale) or ha-Nefesh ha-Hakhamah (The Wise Soul), 1st ed. Basel 1608. 7. Commentary on Sifra, Commentary on Leviticus Rabbah by R. Samuel (fols. 261-384): beginsויקרא אל משה (Shoshana 1996:III, pp. 14 and 157ff).

Fol. 181: נשלם המאור חדש ניסן שי"ב לפ"ק/ פה וויניזיאה והתהלה לאל לבדו/ יתברך על כל ברכה ותהלה (It was completed at the beginning of Nisan, 5312 (03.1552), here in Venice, praise only to the God, blessed be He in each blessing and praise). Fol. 231: תם ונשלם ספר אור השכל בעזרת יוצר הכל/ אני יעקב ברבי חיים זצ"ל (זכר צדיק לברכה) (The Book Or ha-Sekhel was completed with help of the Creator of all things, I Yaakov ben R. Hayyim, the righteous, of blessed memory).

Fol. 235: decorative initial word contains the name Yaakov ben Hayyim within its first letter.

A crowned two-headed eagle in the centre of the folio (85 mm): unidentified; a trefoil flower between 'P' and '3' in the outer corner of the folio (32 mm): similar to Harlfinger 1974-80, Lettres 75 (Venice 1548, 1550).

Dark green leather on wooden boards (340 x211 mm); gold-tooled with a central roundel on the front and a shield on the back cover within an undulating lozenge in a large rectangle, decorated with floral motifs at the centre of each side and at the corners. The front roundel is inscribed כאבאלא, and below are the letters XXXX. The spine, blind-tooled with hatching, has four hidden cords and head and tail bands. On the edges of the front cover are vestiges of four groups of three plaited leather bands, two on the side and one each on the upper and lower edges, with corresponding holes for four nails on the edges of the back cover (for preserved bands see Cod.hebr. 301). Each group of three bands terminated in a ring intended to hook over the nails in the opposite cover. The leaves are gilt-edged.

 

This binding was made for Fugger by the 'Fugger Binder' inVenice(Hobson 1999:119-129). Similar bindings in BSB: e.g. Cod.hebr. 19, 27, 33, 39, 42, 47, 51, 55, 61, 65, 66.

 

Watermarks on flyleaves: A zigzag (43 mm): unidentified.

I. Decorated title pages by Meir (fol. 1) and by Yaakov ben Hayyim (fols. 183, 233, 249).

II. Marginal decoration and illustrations by Meir (fols. 17, 18v, 19v, 20r, 20v, 21, 21v, 22v, 23, 23v, 24,

    24v, 25, 25v, 26, 26v, 27, 27v, 28, 30, 30v, 31, 32, 32v, 33, 33v, 34, 34v, 35, 35v, 36, 36v, 37, 37v, 38,

    38v, 39, 39v, 40, 40v, 41v, 42, 42v, 44v, 46, 46v, 47v, 48, 48v, 49, 49v, 50, 50v, 51v, 52, 52v, 53v, 54,

    54v, 55, 55v, 56, 56v, 57, 57v, 58v, 59, 60, 60v, 62v, 63v, 64, 65, 65v, 66, 67, 68, 68v, 70, 70v, 71, 71v,

    72, 72v, 73, 74, 75, 76v, 77, 78v, 79, 81, 81v, 82, 85, 85v, 86, 86v, 87v, 88v, 89, 89v, 93, 95v, 97, 97v,

    98, 99, 99v, 100, 101v, 102, 104v, 105, 105v, 107v, 109, 119, 121, 128v, 129, 130v, 131, 133, 133v,

    134v, 137, 141, 142v, 143, 144v, 145, 152v, 153, 160v).

III. Decorative titles and initial words by Yaakov ben Hayyim (fols. 184, 233, 235).

IV. Decorative diagram by Yaakov ben Hayyim (fol. 225).

V. Decorative colophon by Yaakov ben Hayyim (fol. 231).

Owners' inscriptions: None. Inscriptions of librarians and researchers: The numbering of the texts by Fugger’s librarians does not always correspond to the actual number of texts in the manuscript: N0 1:1-181; N0 2:183-231; N0 3:233-247; N0 4:248v-259; N0 5:261-384. Fol. 261, in brown ink by Librarian 1a: פרוש שעשע מורי הרב/ רבינו שמואל על ספר הנקר/ ויקרא רבה Front flyleaf, verso: an inscription in brown ink by Librarian 1a: ספר אבו בכר חים יקטן/ ספר השני אור השכל/ ספר שלישי סוד עשר/ ספירות סופם בראשם/ פירוש רבי שמואל/ בויקרא רבה. Below, by Librarian 3 in brown ink: Sepher abu bahar haim iocthan. Theolog. et Philos.\ Sepher haschem or hasechael. i. luminis intelligetiae.\ sepher schelischi sod aesaer. i. mzsterij X sephirarum\ sephirros sopham le roscham.\ Peirus rebi schemuel. i. Samuelis commentarius in\ Be Vaicra Rabah. vaicra Rabba super Leviticum. Front pastedown, on the exlibris in plummet: the contents in German. Exlibris and stamps: Front pastedown: an exlibris of the Bavarian Court and State Library (227 x 155 mm) with the arms of Elector Maximilian I of 1638 (Dressler 1972:B3ab), stuck over his earlier exlibris (175 x 135 mm) of 1618, before he became Elector in 1623 (Dressler 1972:A3a-f). On fol. 384v and on the back flyleaf, verso, there is a 20th-century oval stamp of the BSB: BIBLIOTHECA\ REGIA\ MONACENSIS. Old signatures: Back cover, upper part in black ink: St. 8 (?) (second signature of Fugger's library). First front flyleaf, recto, upper left corner in black ink: n0. 5. Spine, on stickers: 75 and 59 (current signature). On the exlibris, upper left corner in plummet: Cod.hebr. 59 (current signature).