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ML.MS.02

Library Number:

ML.MS.02

folios/fragments:

43 (originally contained 140-150 folios)

Language:

Bohairic-Arabic

Material:

Italian Paper with occasional watermarks.

Format:

Loose Double and single folios from a codex, 8 folios per quire

Dimensions:

220x163 mm, text 155x102 mm

Arrangement:

2-column, arranged in quires of 4 double folios, with 15 lines per page

Script:

Upright in black ink with some red characters

Page Numbering:

Coptic numerals on verso side of folio and quire number at the recto of the first folio as well as the verso of the last folio of each quire

Illuminations:

Page header (from auction photo), Initials, lectional signs, colored filling of characters, quire monograms

Marginalia:

Extensive marginal notes with variant textual readings in Bohairic and Arabic

Colophons:

Unknown

Binding:

Unknown

Contents:

Biblical/Liturgical, Book of Revelation used during the Good Friday Vigils. It contains the following verses:

(f4-7) 1:5b-16a, (f.13-4) 2:10b-16a, (f.17-8) 2:21b-29a, (f.22) 3:8b-10a, (f.29) 4:6b-8a, (f.31) 4:10b-5:2a, (f.34) 5:8b-11a, (f.37) 6:2b-5a, (f.40-2) 6:10b-7:1, (f.49) 8:2b-4, (f.52) 8:10b-12a, (f.62) 10:4-6a, (f.66) 11:4-6a, (f.69) 11:10b-13a, (f.85-6) 13:18b-14:4, (f.112-20) 18:7b-19:6a, (f.122-9) 19:9b-20:8a, (f.131) 20:10b-12a, (f.134) 21:4b-6, (f.137) 21:12b-15a

Dating:

Undated, possibly 15-16th century based on the liturgical text in the Florida fragments.

Scribe:

Unknown

Owner

Onsy Makar

Provenance:

Asyut

History:

The owner family, who lives in the Massachusetts (MA), have brought this manuscript with them from Egypt. They said that it was a gift from their great grandfather to their father, Onsy Makar. The daughters were given portions of the manuscript as a living inheritance. They subsequently sold it on EBay beginning on June 2004 and through private dealings with multiple collectors in the United States. The known sales of the separate folios have gone on until the first half of 2006.

Related Fragments

There are three known private collectors with folios of the same manuscript: Maryland (f.35-6) 5:11b-6:2a, (f.44) 7:4b-8a, (f.47) 7:13-15a, (f.65) 10:11b-11:3, (f.140) 21:20b-22; Iowa (f.48) 7:15b-8:2a; Florida (f.130) 20:8b-10a), (f.132-3) 20:12b-21:4a, (f.138-9) 21:15b-20a. The Florida portion of the manuscript includes a verse recited by the bishop during the Bright Saturday service which is fully integrated in the text and not preceded by a Rubric. This is in addition to an indeterminate number of folios still in Massachusetts with the Makar family and possibly other ones that may have been donated to a local museum there.

 Last Modified: 4/17/2007