The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
Collection of astronomical texts, including a copy of a treatise on the calendar originally compiled for Pedro IV, King of Aragon, with an almanac of oppositions and conjunctions of the sun and moon and predictions of lunar and solar eclipses; four short works by the 12th-century scientist Abraham Ibn Ezra on an introduction to astrology, choosing the most auspicious moment for a given activity, the zodiac, and astrology concerning humankind collectively; and a Hebrew translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, with numerous tables, diagrams, and illustrations.
Support: parchment; Extent: 114 leaves : 275 x 204 (190 x 132) mm bound to 288 x 224 mm; Foliation: Parchment, iv (modern paper) + 114 + iv (modern paper; [1-228]; modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners.
Text written in 2 columns of 37 lines; some leaves ruled in faint ink.
Written in Sephardic cursive script by multiple hands, one perhaps of a scribe named Moshe (p. 2); headings written in square script.
2 full-page color illustrations in gouache and ink of constellation maps (p. 112-113); 43 smaller illustrations of constellations in gouache and ink with gold bezants for stars (p. 117-144); panel headpiece in interlaced red and green penwork and full border of gold bezants flourished in colored ink (p. 1); numerous full-page diagrams and tables in red and brown ink; Gothic penwork infilling frames on some tables (p. 196-211); headings in red or green ink.
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Ms. codex.
Dimensions of original manuscript: 275 x 204 (190 x 132) mm. bound to 288 x 224 mm.
Title supplied by cataloger.
4. p.69-86: [Mishpeṭe ha-mazalot (Book of the judgments of the zodiacal signs) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
3. p.61-68: [Sefer ha-mivḥarim (Book of elections) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
2. p.25-60: [Reshit ḥokhmah (Beginning of wisdom) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
1. p.1-23: [Treatise on calendar and leap years / Jacob ben David ben Yom Tov]
5. p.86-93: [Sefer ha-ʻolam (Book of the world) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
6. p.93-228: [Hebrew translation of Almagest / Ptolemy]
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Catalonia
Written in Catalonia, ca. 1361.
Modern blind-stamped morocco, with 2 sets of clasps and catches.
Hebrew
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 10 Dec. 1996, lot 48, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Formerly owned by the Carl Alexander Floersheim Trust for Art and Judaica (Bermuda).
Offered for sale as part of Sassoon's collection at auction at Sotheby's (Zurich), 5 November 1975, lot 15.
Formerly owned by David Solomon Sassoon (Ms. 823), probably purchased in the mid-1920s.
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.
Offered for sale as part of Sassoon's collection at auction at Sotheby's (New York), 4 December 1984, lot 88.
Catalonia
Written in Catalonia, ca. 1361.
Hebrew
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 10 Dec. 1996, lot 48, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Formerly owned by the Carl Alexander Floersheim Trust for Art and Judaica
Offered for sale as part of Sassoon's collection at auction at Sotheby's
Formerly owned by David Solomon Sassoon
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.
Offered for sale as part of Sassoon's collection at auction at Sotheby's
Collection of astronomical texts, including a copy of a treatise on the calendar originally compiled for Pedro IV, King of Aragon, with an almanac of oppositions and conjunctions of the sun and moon and predictions of lunar and solar eclipses; four short works by the 12th-century scientist Abraham Ibn Ezra on an introduction to astrology, choosing the most auspicious moment for a given activity, the zodiac, and astrology concerning humankind collectively; and a Hebrew translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, with numerous tables, diagrams, and illustrations.
Ms. codex.
Dimensions of original manuscript: 275 x 204 (190 x 132) mm. bound to 288 x 224 mm.
Title supplied by cataloger.
4. p.69-86: [Mishpeṭe ha-mazalot (Book of the judgments of the zodiacal signs) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
3. p.61-68: [Sefer ha-mivḥarim (Book of elections) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
2. p.25-60: [Reshit ḥokhmah (Beginning of wisdom) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
1. p.1-23: [Treatise on calendar and leap years / Jacob ben David ben Yom Tov]
5. p.86-93: [Sefer ha-ʻolam (Book of the world) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]
6. p.93-228: [Hebrew translation of Almagest / Ptolemy]
Written in Sephardic cursive script by multiple hands, one perhaps of a scribe named Moshe (p. 2); headings written in square script.
2 full-page color illustrations in gouache and ink of constellation maps (p. 112-113); 43 smaller illustrations of constellations in gouache and ink with gold bezants for stars (p. 117-144); panel headpiece in interlaced red and green penwork and full border of gold bezants flourished in colored ink (p. 1); numerous full-page diagrams and tables in red and brown ink; Gothic penwork infilling frames on some tables (p. 196-211); headings in red or green ink.
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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