The Prague Bible

June 7, 2008 3:21 PM

The Prague Bible (1489) is a splendid three-volume MS of the Tanakh, once in the possession of Enlightenment luminary Moses Mendelssohn. There are several other beautiful examples of medieval and early modern Hebrew MSS online, including the Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts collection (New York Public Library), the Illuminated Haggadah Exhibit (Klau University), selections from Moses Maimonides' Moreh Nevukim (Leiden University), and the Prato Haggadah (Jewish Theological Seminary). See also the introduction to the Hebraic Collections at the Library of Congress.
posted by thomas j wise (7 comments total)

The Prague Bible has to be the most beautiful rendering of the bible I have ever seen.

Thanks.
posted by grouse at 3:37 PM on June 7, 2008

Wow, wonderful stuff here. Great post!
posted by languagehat at 4:56 PM on June 7, 2008

Lots of excellent links and info here thomas, thanks for this awesome, lovely post, sir.
posted by dawson at 9:39 PM on June 7, 2008

Just one clarification:
The Illuminated Haggadah Exhibit you link to is a part of the collection at the Hebrew Union College ("Klau" is just the name of the library, not a separate university).

Thanks for a terrific collection of links!
posted by AngerBoy at 9:56 PM on June 7, 2008

Thanks so much for posting this.

See also:

Mahzor Worms
(from the Jewish National and University Library in Israel) -

"Festival prayerbook according to the Ashkenazi rite, for the use of hazanim (cantors) in the synagogue, containing mainly cycles of piyyutim (liturgical hymns). 2 vols. of different origin, written on parchment, in beautiful Ashkenazi calligraphy, with illumination and decoration in ink and color, including arcaded pages to open the main divisions of the book."

posted by peacay at 2:38 AM on June 8, 2008

Thank you. This is very beautiful.
posted by Wolof at 5:24 AM on June 8, 2008

Great post!
posted by RussHy at 9:01 AM on June 21, 2008