Beschreibung:

Kitab Alif Laila, the Book of One Thousand and One Nights, in Arabic, short quotations added to twelve cuttings recovered from Christian manuscripts, including various Bibles in Latin and a leaf from a copy of the Decretals, a Menaion and Oktoechos or Parakletike in Greek, an orthodox prayerbook and a Bible in Armenian, and a few originally blank pieces of parchment most probably from similar Christian books, manuscripts on parchment[France, Italy, perhaps England, Armenia, and Byzantium, ninth to twelfth century, with additions from the Holy Land in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century] Thirteen cuttings: (a) Matthew 11:16-19 and 12:5-25, in Latin, double column of 13 lines in a Romanesque book script, red and blue initials, northern France, mid-twelfth century, with addition of 6 lines in Arabic naskh (Thousand and One Nights); (b) Canon Law, Decretals, similar to but not identifiable as Ivo of Chartres, in Latin, single column of 13 lines in a good Romanesque bookhand, annotations in margins, headings in capitals (some touched in red), six 2-line initials, Normandy or England, first half of the twelfth century, with addition of 2 lines of Arabic naskh ("The 27th ... the two faces ... the guardian"); (c) Malachi 1:4-10; 1:14-2:20, in Latin, single column of 32 lines in a rounded bookhand, Italy, first half of the twelfth century, with addition of 6 lines in Arabic naskh ("The tenth sitting of the literal ..."); (d) Homiliary, including part of St. Gregory: Homiliae in Evangelia, Lib. II, Hom. 31, and reading from Matthew 9:9, single column of 16 lines in good Romanesque bookhand, perhaps Italy or Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, second half of the twelfth century, with addition of 5 lines in Arabic naskh (the first and second reading according to the Wazir from the Baghari); (e) Zamagirk, part of the Armenian Orthodox Prayerbook, with readings from John and Matthew, double column of 10 lines in a sloping Armenian Uncial (erkat'agir), Armenia, twelfth century, with addition of 4 lines in Arabic naskh ("The fifth part of the twistings/turnings[?]"); (f) two fragments of Psalms, with the Name 'Elijah' in Armenian, double column of 16 lines in an Armenian Uncial (erkat'agir), Armenia, twelfth century, with additions of 2 lines of Arabic naskh (from The Book of the 40 Extracts, and Book of Manliness/Chivalry) on a paper label pasted on; (g) Menaion, part of the Office of the Apostle Bartholomew, for August 25, in Greek, double column of 30 lines in Greek minuscule, Byzantium, tenth century, with addition of 15 lines of Arabic naskh in upper and side borders (part of Thousand and One Nights and a charitable donation); (h) Oktoechos or Parakletike, liturgical book of the Byzantine Church, single column of 22 lines in a sloping Greek half uncial (the so-called 'mixed script'), Byzantium, ninth century, with addition of 3 lines of Arabic naskh (parts of Thousand and One Nights); plus four further cuttings from blank sections of parchment (but most probably also from Christian books), with (1) 4 lines of Arabic naskh ("The first part of the skilled-one and ... given to his children"), (2) 7 lines of Arabic naskh (section of the ninth part of the Service of Poetry, with a charitable donation), (3) 3 lines of Arabic naskh (Thousand and One Nights), (4) 2 lines of Arabic naskh (Thousand and One Nights); almost all approximately 150 by 170mm., some with tears and losses to edges, only one with substantial losses to edges (item a) This clutch of fragments is of breathtaking importance as witnesses to the Fall of Jerusalem; and they are most probably all that remains of a series of codices left abandoned in the city by fleeing Christians when it fell to the forces of Salah ad-din in 1187, and then reused by the Muslim conquerors as wrappers for their own books Provenance:1. Almost certainly from a library in the Holy City of Jerusalem, probably that of the Holy Sepulchre itself, the epicentre of Christendom and Christian devotion. The Cr