Bible

1700 · 55766 — 1700. Very good-. Small octavo 14.1 by 8.5 cm. Manuscript in black and brown ink; 18-20 lines per page; text in vocalized Hebrew. 6 title and editor's preface 146 12 blank 10 notes. Lacks the first leaf which has been supplied in manuscript by a later owner. 19th-century limp morocco rubbed at extremities gilt dentelles marbled endleaves. Faint dampstain along bottom margin occasional smudges and mild stains else very good with crisp text.<br /> <br /> Early modern transcription of the Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew published in 1551 at Paris by Martin le Jeune with notes at the rear likely the work of a student. This edition was prepared by Jean Cinqarbres Quinquarboreus; 1514-1587 who jointly held the chair of King's Professor of Hebrew Literature at the University of Paris with Jean Mercier d. 1570. Lapide describes this as a "literal" edition and notes that the learned French bibliographer and father of the Oratory Jacques Le Long regarded it as the "true and authentic Gospel of Matthew." Like many of the surviving copies it lacks the Appendix which comprised the Seven Penetential Psalms Psalm CXIX Daniel's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. Apart from minor formatting changes e.g. breaks between chapters the text appears to be a faithful copy including vowel points and some of the additional cantillation marks the printed marginalia new Hebrew page numbers and Cinqarbres's dated preface. As the original version contains only 17 lines of text per page the transcription is not a page-for-page copy. Here the copiest appears quite fastidious in providing appropritate new catchwords! The Latin portion of the title however differs notably from the original which reads: Sanctum Domini nostri Iesu Christi Hebraicum Evangelium secundum Matthaeum.<br /> <br /> "In 1537 Sebastian Münster published his Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew at Basel the first printed edition of the New Testament in the so-called 'mother tongue of the evangelist' as he states in his preface" Lapide. Like the Paris edition of Hebrew Matthew upon which the present copy is based Münster entitled his version Torat ha-Mashiah The Teaching of the Messiah. While Münster's version of Matthew was long believed to be based on the 14th-century Hebrew translation by the Jewish polemicist Shem Tov ben Isaac ibn Shaprut more recent scholarship has called this attribution into question. "There are medieval Hebrew forms of Matthew that most scholars think of as retroversions from the Greek of canonical Matthew often made to serve in arguments between Christians and Jews. However some claim that these texts are a guide to the original Hebrew of Matthew French scholars like J. Carmignac and M. Dubarle have contributed to this thesis. Still other scholars think they can reconstruct the original Hebrew or Aramaic underlying the whole or parts of the Greek text of canonical Matthew on the assumption that the original was in Semitic. The vast majority of scholars however contend that the Gospel we know as Matthew was composed originally in Greek and is not a translation of a Semitic original" Brown.<br /> <br /> Provenance and annotations: The copiest has added notes following the main text comprising a Seder shel Miqra / Ordo Bibliorum in which the tripartite division of the Scriptures according to Jewish tradition is described. Then follows several pages of Hebrew terminology with biblical references and definitions in Latin. Along with one or two references to rabbinic literature an erudite reference to the Passover Haggadah notes Rabbi Judah's grouping of the ten plagues into three acronyms.<br /> <br /> At the head of the leaf inserted after Cinqarbres' preface is the note "When I bought this Mss. the first chapter from verse one unto verse 14 and part of verse 15. I filled in the missing verses. May. 18th. 1901. Llewellyn Saunderson 10 De Vesse Terrace Kingstown Co. Dublin" References: R. Brown Introduction to the New Testament 1997 p. 210; P. Lapide Hebrew in the Church Grand Rapids 1984 see Chap. IV "Modern Christian Hebraica" esp. pp. 53-58. Cf. Adams B1890 wanting the appendix; Darlow & Moule 5095: An independent edition of Shem Tob's version see no. 5088 which notes: The editor S. Münster obtained an imperfect MS. copy of St. Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew which had been made as early as 1385 for polemical purposes by Shem Tob b. Shaprut a Jew of Tudela in Castile. He revised and completed this for the press Basel: H. Petri 1537 adding a Latin translation of the Hebrew.; Delaveaux & Hillard 4644 noting Ibn Shaprut as the ulitmate source; Le Long/Masch 2 1781 p. 10. Schwarzfuchs Paris 212. Steinschneider 6591.26 under Münsterus.<br /> <br /> Full title noting original imprint: תורת המשיח תורת ××œ×”×™× ×—×“×©×” ×•×”×™× ×‘×©×™×¨×ª ×”××“×•× ×™× ×• ישוע המשיח כפי מתי המבשר <br /> Lex Messiae. Lex Dei nova: id est Evangelium Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Matthaeum Evangelistam Impressum Parisiis: apud Martinum Iuvenem sub insigni D. Christophori è regione gymnasii Cameracensium M.D.LI. 1551. unknown