Obj. ID: 44703
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Fugger's Seventh Venetian Miscellany on Philosophy, Venice, 1552

1. Sha'ar ha-Shamayim (שער השמים; The Gate of Heaven) by Isaac ben Abraham ibn Latif (fols. 1r-129v): begins אמר המחבר אחר אשר עברה עלי רוח .

2. Beer Mayim Hayyim (באר מים חיים; The Well of the Water of Life) includes the two parts, Ez Hayyim (The Tree of Life) and Mekor Hayyim (The Source of Life) by Hayyim ben Jacob Obadiah (fols. 130r-282r): begins ספר בינו גם תאמינו כי מאנו תוצאות חיים.

3. Middle Commentary by Averroes on Aristotle's Interpretation (פרוש על הבאור האמצעי של אבן רשד על ספר המליצה של אריסטו) (fols. 284r-336r): begins ספר המליצה בכושר ובהלצה וספר המופת כצופים ונופת.

4. Super commentary on Averroes' Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Organon (פרוש על הבאור האמצעי של אבן רשד על ספר המופת של אריסטו) by Levi ben Gershom (fols. 337r-424r): begins באור ספר המופת אמר לוי בן גרשום.

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Dark green leather, turned brown, on wooden boards (345 x230 mm); gold-tooled with a central roundel on the front cover, under which are the letters MMMMM. The roundel in the back cover encloses a shield. Both roundels are within an undulating lozenge in a large rectangle, decorated with floral motifs at the centre of each side and at the corners. The spine, blind-tooled with hatching, has four hidden cords and head and tail bands. On the edges of the back cover are vestiges of two groups of three plaited leather bands, with corresponding holes for nails on the edges of the front cover (for preserved bands see Cod.hebr. 301). Each group of three bands terminated in a ring which was intended to hook over the nails in the opposite cover. The leaves are gilt-edged.

This binding was made for Fugger by Anton Ludwig inVenice(Hobson 1999:129). Similar bindings in BSB: e.g. Cod.hebr. 20, 28, 43, 49, 64, 68, 73; Cod.gr. 78.

Watermarks on flyleaves: A star above an anchor within a circle at the centre of the folio (65 mm; front flyleaf): similar to Harlfinger 1974-80, Ancre 24-31 (Venice, 1556).

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Owners' inscriptions: None.

Inscriptions of librarians and researchers:

Front flyleaf, verso: Contents in Hebrew in brown ink by Librarian 1:

ספר שער השמים/ ספר מעיין גנים/ באר מים חיים/ ספר המליצה/ ספר המופת.

By Librarian 7: Sepher schaar haschamaim\ Sepher maaian ganim\ Ber maim haim\ Sepher hamelizah\ Sepher hamophes. Below this, by Librarian 3: Rabi Isaac Schaar Haschamaim liber portae caeli\ Maaian Ganim. i. Aquae vitae fons\ Hameliza et hamofes liber votutionis et demonstrationum.

Exlibris and stamps:

Front pastedown: an exlibris of the Bavarian Court and State Library (227 x155 mm) with the arms of Elector Maximilian I of 1638 (Dressler 1972:B3ab) stuck over his earlier exlibris (175 x135 mm) of 1618,  before he became elector in 1623 (Dressler 1972:A3a-f).

On the front flyleaf and fol. 424v a 20th-century oval stamp of the BSB: BIBLIOTHECA\ REGIA\ MONACENSIS.

Old signatures:

Front cover, lower part in black ink, upside-down: St.8. n0 12 (second signature of Fugger's library).

Front cover, lower right corner in black ink: 2. n0. 38 (Duke's library, Prommer's signature).

Front flyleaf, verso, in red ink: 2. 38 (Duke's library, Prommer's revision of 1583).

Front pastedown in black ink: MS. Hebr. N0 41.

Sticker on the back pastedown and on the spine: Cod.hebr. 46 (current signature).