Exquisitely Illuminated Hebrew Manuscript Gifts

The North French Miscellany is the British Library's finest Hebraic treasure. Completed over 720 years ago at a time of upheaval for the Jews of Europe, its contents are so varied and extensive that this volume should be considered more a library than a book. It comprises 84 different groups of texts, including hundreds of poems, reflecting the intellectual tastes of its medieval patron. These include the Pentateuch and Haftarot (readings from the Prophets), Song of Songs and several other biblical texts; the daily, Sabbath and festival prayers, including those for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; Grace after Meals; Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers); assorted legal codes and formulae for agreements concerning marriage, divorce and business partnerships; an arithmetical riddle; laws governing Tefilin, Ritual Slaughter and an abundance of other texts including the Mezuzah; the earliest extant copy of the Hebrew version of the Book of Tobit, a wide range of medieval poetry and the earliest known copy of Isaac de Corbeil's Sefer Mitsvot Katan, which was composed in 1277.
---Of no less importance than the texts is the breadth and scope of the elaborate programme of illumination. Most of the 1,494 pages are decorated in the style of the finest artists of the High Gothic period. Ashkenazi Hebrew manuscript illumination reached a peak of excellence during a brief period in northern France, but very few manuscripts from this school have survived.

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