Esther scroll (Gaster Hebrew MS Add 21)
Parchment Esther scroll. Incomplete.
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Hebrew Manuscripts
- Classmark: Gaster Hebrew MS Add 21
- Title: Esther scroll
- Alternative Title(s): Megilat Ester; מגילת אסתר
- Language(s): Hebrew
- Date of Creation: 18th-19th century?
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Note(s): Tagin. Text starting with Esther 1:10.
- Format: Scroll
- Material(s): Parchment
- Extent: 5 membranes Leaf height: 158 mm, width: 440 mm. Written height: 119 mm, width: 94 mm.
- Condition:
Fire damage with the first membrane effected the most: loss of text.
Usage stains, corrections.
- Layout:
Four to five columns per membrane with 18 written lines: 22 written columns; membrane 1: 4 columns, membrane 2: 5 columns, membranes 3-4: 4 columns each, membrane 5: 5 columns.
Tagin on letters ש ,ע ,ט ,נ ,ן ,ז ,ג ,צ ,ץ but very unevenly distributed: membrane 1: none; membrane 2: none in columns 1-2, one in each of columns 3 and 4; membrane 3: many in columns 1 and 3 but only a couple in column 2; membrane 4: one in each of columns 1 and 2, none in columns 3-4; membrane 5: numerous in all 5 columns.
Some ח-s are written with a hatoteret (gable-roof ḥet).
Majuscule letters in verses: 9:9 and 9:29; minuscule letters in verses: 9:7, 9:9.
Elongated letters in the last column of membranes 1, 4 and 5.
Hard point ruling. Visible pricking and stitching.
- Script:Ashkenazi square script.
- Origin: Produced in the 18th-19th century?.
- Provenance:Membrane 1 side b: Handwritten label reading "Old Megillath / from Morocco / Beginning AT BT Taggin / slightly damaged / parchment / only portions / completing one another".
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri and Nienke Valk.
Revised and enhanced by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:Buda, Zsófia. "And the Scroll of Esther unrolls…" Rylands Blog, 14 March 2022.
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Hebrew Manuscripts
- Classmark: Gaster Hebrew MS Add 21
- Title: Esther scroll
- Alternative Title(s): Megilat Ester; מגילת אסתר
- Language(s): Hebrew
- Date of Creation: 18th-19th century?
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Note(s): Tagin. Text starting with Esther 1:10.
- Format: Scroll
- Material(s): Parchment
- Extent: 5 membranes Leaf height: 158 mm, width: 440 mm. Written height: 119 mm, width: 94 mm.
- Condition:
Fire damage with the first membrane effected the most: loss of text.
Usage stains, corrections.
- Layout:
Four to five columns per membrane with 18 written lines: 22 written columns; membrane 1: 4 columns, membrane 2: 5 columns, membranes 3-4: 4 columns each, membrane 5: 5 columns.
Tagin on letters ש ,ע ,ט ,נ ,ן ,ז ,ג ,צ ,ץ but very unevenly distributed: membrane 1: none; membrane 2: none in columns 1-2, one in each of columns 3 and 4; membrane 3: many in columns 1 and 3 but only a couple in column 2; membrane 4: one in each of columns 1 and 2, none in columns 3-4; membrane 5: numerous in all 5 columns.
Some ח-s are written with a hatoteret (gable-roof ḥet).
Majuscule letters in verses: 9:9 and 9:29; minuscule letters in verses: 9:7, 9:9.
Elongated letters in the last column of membranes 1, 4 and 5.
Hard point ruling. Visible pricking and stitching.
- Script:Ashkenazi square script.
- Origin: Produced in the 18th-19th century?.
- Provenance:Membrane 1 side b: Handwritten label reading "Old Megillath / from Morocco / Beginning AT BT Taggin / slightly damaged / parchment / only portions / completing one another".
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri and Nienke Valk.
Revised and enhanced by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:Buda, Zsófia. "And the Scroll of Esther unrolls…" Rylands Blog, 14 March 2022.
