Beschreibung:

MANUSCRIPT. Sefirat omer be'et ha-tsorekh, gam minchah u-ma'ariv u-virkat ha-levanah le-ha-bore ha-mevorakh [Counting of the Omer, Minchah and Ma'ariv prayers and the Sanctification of the New Moon]. Amsterdam: [copied by Barukh ben Shemariah], 1794. Fol. [I]r: titlepage Fol. [I]v: blank Fol. 1r-13r: tefillat minchah Fol. 13v-22r: tefillat arvit Fol. 22r-33r: sefirat omer Fol. 33r-36r: birkat ha-levanah Fol. 36v: blank [1], 36 leaves (numbered in Hebrew by the scribe). Thick yellowish parchment with equalized sides. Black ink. 103 x 74 mm., text: 81 x 56 mm. Usually 13 lines of text per page and a running title, in the text letter, with its own single-line ruling and a single catchword, in the text letter, against the lefthand marginal line, with its own single-line ruling. 1(2), 1 before 1 2-18(2). Hard point ruling on rectos and versos, vertical lines from top to bottom border; twinned horizontal lines between the vertical lines, marked by single pin pricks. Square Ashkenazic script in different heights, with infra-linear vocalization of the prayers. To fill the line the scribe used dilated letters, a graphic filler in the shape of a dash and occasionally he left an open space before the full stop ':'; to prevent the line from being exceeded he regularly compressed the last letters in a line, although occasionally one or two exceeding letters do occur. Bound in an attractive richly gold-tooled original red morocco binding with a single silver clasp, g.e., with an owner's inscription on the front cover: "Zeh ha-omer shayyakh le-ha-katsin pu'm khr'r David bar Anshel Segal." Decoration, executed in the text ink: Fol. 1r: architectural title-page, topped by a crown, with an original owner's inscription: "Zeh ha-omer shayyakh le-ha-gevir ha-nagid ve-ha-mefursam ha-rosh ve-ha-katsin pu'm khr'r David bar Anshel Segal." Fol. 1r: single-panel letters, with floral decoration: "vayyedabber." Fol. 13v: simple opening word panel in the shape of a cartouche: "shir." Fol. 22v: a cartouche holding the text "ha-yom yom echad la-omer," flanked by two stylized trees. Fol. 23r-24v: 8 cartouches per page, each holding the text for one day of the Omer, within a rectangular frame with abstract and floral decoration. Fol. 25v: a mystical menorah, holding the text of Psalm 67. Until now four manuscripts of this scribe, Barukh ben Shemariah of Amsterdam, have been identified, three of them Omer-booklets. One is in private hands in Israel and was executed in Amsterdam in 1795, the other is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (180/29; 170/17; Inv. 36-11-48) and was executed in Amsterdam in 1794; the one offered here is the third. The name of the scribe only occurs on the title-page of the 1795 manuscript, which is in fact the most elaborate of the three and also contains an interesting micrography. The three manuscripts betray a skilled calligrapher, with a rather esthetic approach to the decoration of his manuscripts, which is not too likely to be found in the last decade of the eighteenth century. We are grateful to Dr. Emile G.L. Schrijver of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, University of Amsterdam, who assisted in preparing this catalogue entry and shared with us information from his Repertory of decorated Hebrew manuscripts of the eighteenth century (in preparation).