Huntington Collection

Item

Country: GB
Name of institution (official language of the state): Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford
Language of name of institution: eng
Contact information: postal address: Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG
Contact information: phone number: 0044 1865 277162 (reader services); 0044 (0)1865 277150 (special collections)
Contact information: web address: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Contact information: email: reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (reader services); specialcollections.bookings@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (special collections)
Reference number: MS. Huntington
Type of reference number: Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state): Huntington Collection
Language of title: eng
Creator / accumulator: Robert Huntington
Date note: Hebrew manuscripts: 14th century/16th century
Language(s): ara; heb; lat
Type of material: Textual Material
Scope and content: This collection is composed of manuscripts from the collection of Robert Huntington (1637-1701). It contains works in several languages, such as Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, and Hebrew. Among its manuscripts are some Hebrew Bibles produced in Spain, as well as other works in Judeo-Spanish presumably acquired in the Near or Middle East. The collection also includes works from Maimonides, Joshua Ibn Shuaib, and Isaac Aboab, for instance. Some of the works of special interest are the following:
MS. Huntington 70 (Neubauer 1516): Dictionary by Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (from the letter ʻAyin to article Ḳeshet), produced in Spain and dated from 1201 to 1225.
MS. Huntington Donat. 33 (Neubauer 2114): Maimonides' Aphorisms, written in Judeo-Arabic and composed in Spain or North Africa, dating from 1276 to 1325.
MS. Huntington 268 (Neubauer 332): Miscellany, including Biblical commentaries on Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes, produced in Spain and dating from the 13th century. See Alfonso and del Barco (2021), and Lawrance (2022).
MS. Huntington 34 (Neubauer 606): Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Sefer Neziḳim; Sefer Ḳinyan; Sefer Mishpaṭim; Sefer Shofṭim) produced in Spain and dating from the late-13th century. Another copy, produced between 1390 and 1410, in MS. Huntington 310 (Neubauer 588).
MS. Huntington 15 (Neubauer 1481): David Kimhi's Mikhlol, dating from the late 13th century.
MS. Huntington 261 (Neubauer 80): Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Minor Prophets, with small Masorah), presumably produced in the Iberian Peninsula and dating from the 13th-14th centuries.
MS. Huntington 550 (Neubauer 813): Collection of halakhical texts, dating from the late 13th to the 15th century.
MS. Huntington 558 (Neubauer 304): David Kimhi's Commentary on Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel 1:1-25:39), produced in Spain and dating from 1315 to 1335.
MS. Huntington 103 (Neubauer 1284): Baḥya ben Asher ben Ḥlava's Kad ha-Ḳemaḥ, presumably produced in Spain and dating from 1326-1375.
MS. Huntington 234 (Neubauer 86): Hebrew Bible (Isaiah) with David Kimhi's commentary, produced in a Sephardic context and dating from 1329.
MS. Huntington Donat. 20 (Neubauer 153): Midrash Tanḥuma, produced in Spain in 1332.
MS. Huntington 445 (Neubauer 198): Rashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch (from Leviticus 23:11 to Deuteronomy 29:28), produced in Spain and dated 1376 to 1400.
MS. Huntington 77 (Neubauer 309): David Kimhi's Commentary on the Prophets by David Kimhi (Isaiah and Jeremiah), presumably composed in Spain in the early 14th century.
MS. Huntington 516 (Neubauer 595): Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Sefer Ḳedushah), dating from the 14th century.
MS. Huntington 69 (Neubauer 41): Hebrew Bible (Pentateuch) containing both Masorahs, with micrography and marginal glosses in Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arabic, produced in Spain and dating from the 14th-15th centuries. See Kogman-Appel (2004).
MS. Huntington 556 (Neubauer 241): Supercommentary on Rashi and on Ramban on the Pentateuch, presumably produced in Spain in the 15th century.
MS. Huntington 559 (Neubauer 1258): Miscellany composed in Spain in the late 15th century.
MS. Huntington 574 (Neubauer 2035): Refaʼel Shelomoh ben Ḥayim Mordukh's Marʼeh ha-ofanim, supposedly produced in Spain in the late-15th century.
MS. Huntington 485 (Neubauer 326): Avraham ben Ḥayim Ben-Ramokh's Commentary on the Psalms, produced in Spain and dating from the late 15th century.
MS. Huntington Donat. 19 (Neubauer 1283): Collection of philosophical texts produced in Spain or North Africa and dating from 1476 to 1528.
MS. Huntington 218 (Neubauer 1508): Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew roots in Judeo-Spanish with occasional Arabic, dating from 1634.
Digital copies are available online:; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 70; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington Donat. 33; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 268; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 34; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 310; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 234; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington Donat. 20; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 445; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 550; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 77; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 516; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 15; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 261; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 558; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 103; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 69; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 556; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 559; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 485; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington Donat. 19; Bodleian Library MS. Huntington 218
Archival history: Robert Hungtington donated over 30 manuscripts to the Bodleian Library. However, the majority of the collection was purchased by the Bodleian in 1693 for £700.
Administrative / Biographical history: Robert Huntington (1637–1701) was an English churchman, distinguished orientalist, and an avid manuscript collector. He acquired many of his manuscripts during his journeys in the Near East, where he stayed for nearly a decade as chaplain to the Levant Company at Aleppo. He returned to England in 1681 after resigning his chaplaincy. Two years later, in 1683, he became the provost of Trinity College in Dublin, a position he retained for nearly ten years. He was instituted to the rectory of Great Hallingbury in Essex in 1692. In 1701, he became the bishop of Raphoe in Dublin, where he died soon after.
Access points: locations: Northern Africa; Spain
Access points: persons, families: Aboab, Isaac; Ben-Ramokh, Avraham ben Ḥayim; Ḥlava, Baḥya ben Asher ben; Jehiel, Nathan ben, of Rome; Kimḥi, David; Maimon, Mosheh ben (Maimonides); Mordukh, Refaʼel Shelomoh ben Ḥayim; Shuaib, Joshua Ibn; Yitzhaki, Shlomo (Rashi)
Access points: subject terms: Sephardic Manuscripts; Spanish Medieval Jewry; Aljamiado; Halakha; Jewish languages - Judeo-Spanish; Medicine; 13th century; 14th century; 15th century
Access points: document types: Bible; Exegesis; Jewish liturgy; Dictionaries
Access, restrictions: Some digital copies of the manuscripts can be found at:; Digital Bodleian: Huntington
Finding aids: Beit-Ariè, Malachi. 1994. Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: Supplement of Addenda and Corrigenda to Vol. I (A. Neubauer’s Catalogue). Oxford: Clarendon Press.; Madan, Falconer. 1895. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford Which Have Not Hitherto Been Catalogued in the Quarto Series, with References to the Oriental and Other Manuscripts. 7 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.; Neubauer, Adolf, and A. E. Cowley. 1886-1906. Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library and in the College Libraries of Oxford, Including Mss. in Other Languages ... Written with Hebrew Characters, or Relating to the Hebrew Language or Literature; and ... Samaritan Mss. 2 vols. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
Links to finding aids: Hebrew and Judaica Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University
Existence and location of copies: Collection of halakhical texts. 1276-1425: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 20350).; Dictionary by Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (from the letter ʻAyin to article Ḳeshet), produced in Spain and dated from 1201 to 1225: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 16435).; Hebrew Bible (Pentateuch). 1300-1400: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 33054).
Author of the description: Joana Rodrigues, 2022
Bibliography: Alfonso, Esperanza, and Javier del Barco. 2021. Translating the Hebrew Bible in Medieval Iberia: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hunt. 268. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004461222.; Cohen, Dov. 2018. “New Sources in Portuguese Aljamiado. A Collection of Letters Concerning the Commercial Activities of Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Italy During the Mid-Sixteenth Century.” In Portuguese Jews, New Christians, and ‘New Jews,’ Claude B. Stuczynski and Bruno Feitler, 73–101. Leiden: Brill.; Kahn, Roger S. 2004. “A Treasured Legacy: Hebrew Manuscripts at the Bodleiana.” Library History 20 (2): 95–116. https://doi.org/10.1179/lib.2004.20.2.95.; Kogman-Appel, Katrin. 2004. “The Catalan Workshops of the Fourteenth Century.” In Jewish Book Art Between Islam and Christianity: The Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain, 131–70. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047402961.; Lawrance, Jeremy. 2022. “Jewish Forerunners of the Spanish Biblia Romanceada: A Thirteenth-Century Witness (Bodleian MS Hunt. 268).” Zeitschrift Für Romanische Philologie 138 (2): 399–421. https://doi.org/10.1515/zrp-2022-0018.

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