Obj. ID: 39630
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts BL Herlingen Miniature Esther Scroll, Vienna or Bratislava (?), ca. 1735
The scroll is formed of a single sheet on which the Hebrew text of the Book of Esther is written in a minute script in rectangular columns. In the spaces between the columns of text and partly inside them, the pen-and-ink drawings are placed. Two of them depict the narrative scenes from the Esther story that - due to their size and state of preservation of the manuscript - are difficult to interpret. The third scene (on the left margin of the membrane) is partly visible and it is impossible to recognize its content.
To the right edge, a small piece of parchment is glued.
The scroll is mounted on the silver-plated roller.
On the blank side of the sheet, a seal of the British Museum can be seen.
The manuscript is stored in a box visible on image no. 355976.
Another miniature megillah executed by Aaron Herlingen is stored at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (see https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/397975; accessed on 12.07.2021).
4 image(s)
sub-set tree:
Dimensions of the selected details in the scroll:
- illustrations: 12x12 mm;
- an average letter in the scroll: max. 0,5 mm;
- columns of text: 48x29 mm;
- spaces between columns of text: ca. 2,5 mm;
- upper and lower margins: 2 mm.
The roller: 75 mm (height).
The manuscript is not very well preserved.
The right edge of the membrane is damaged, the membrane is crumpled and there are some edge splits on it.
The beginning is dirty.
The Book of Esther in Hebrew is followed by the benediction recited after the Megillah reading and fragments of the liturgical poem Shoshanat Yakov.
The whole text is written in black ink on a single parchment membrane in 3 columns containing 60, 61, and 51 lines. In the last column, the additional texts are written in several more lines.
Not all lines in the column are of the same length.
The parchment is very thin, delicate, rather grey, and suede.
The letter ת (Es. 9:29) is enlarged as well as the letters in the fragments of the Shoshanat Yaakov poem.
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Inside a lid of the box in which the manuscript was formerly stored, there is an English inscription: "Bought of W.R. Berliner March 27. 1843" (it can be seen on image no. 355976).
A short description of the scroll and its images are available on http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_4670 (accessed on 12.07.2021).
George Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London 1899-1935; vols I-III repr. 1965); IV, Introduction, Indexes, ed. by Jacob Leveen (London 1977), no. 41, p. 18.
A more extensive literature on the other works by Aaron Herlingen of Gewitsch is available.