Kennicott 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. Kennicott
Type of reference number: Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state): Kennicott Collection
Language of title: eng
Creator / accumulator: Benjamin Kennicott
Date(s): 1220/1500
Language(s): heb; lat
Type of material: Textual Material
Scope and content: This collection is composed of Biblical manuscripts in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, collected by the Hebrew scholar Benjamin Kennicott. The manuscripts gathered by Benjamin Kennicott include a small number of Latin Bibles, amongst primarily Hebrew collections. One of the highlights of the collection is the so-called Kennicott Bible, a Bible written in Sephardic script with David Kimhi's Sefer Mikhlol. The Bible was produced under the patronage of Isaac di Braga, copied by Moses Ibn Zabarah, and illuminated by Joseph Ibn Ḥayyim in La Coruña, 1476. After the expulsion of 1492, the Bible was presumably taken with Isaac di Braga to Portugal, and from there to North Africa. The Kennicott Bible has been acknowledged as one of the richest and most skillfully illuminated medieval Hebrew manuscripts. It is considered a masterpiece in view of its 77 fully illuminated pages and overall abundant decoration (MS. Kennicott 1, Neubauer 2322).
The Kennicott collection also contains other manuscripts of Sephardic origin, such as the following:
MS. Kennicott 2 (Neubauer 2323): Hebrew Bible produced in Soria, Spain, dated 1306.
MS. Kennicott 4 (Neubauer 2326): Pentateuch with Five Scrolls and Haftarot, also produced in Spain and dating from the early 14th century
MS. Kennicott 7 (Neubauer 2331): Fragments of the Latter Prophets, originally from Toledo, Spain, copied by Israel ibn Isaac ibn Israel, and dated 1222.
Digital copies are available online:; Bodleian Library MS. Kennicott 1; Bodleian Library MS. Kennicott 2; Bodleian Library MS. Kennicott 4; Bodleian Library MS. Kennicott 7; (source: Polonsky Foundation Digitization Project — The Kennicott Bible)
Archival history: Kennicott's manuscript collection was deposited in the Radcliffe Library until 1872 when it was transferred to the Bodleian Library.
Administrative / Biographical history: Benjamin Kennicott (1718-1783) was an English clergyman, biblical scholar, and Hebraist. Kennicott was admitted into Oxford in 1744 and, while still an undergraduate student, published two dissertations: On the Tree of Life in Paradise, with some Observations on the Fall of Man, and On the Oblations of Cain and Abel, which granted him his B.A. Later, in 1753 and 1759, he published two other dissertations entitled The State of the Printed Hebrew Text of the Old Testament considered, questioning the integrity of the Hebrew text. However, his major work was the Vetus Testamentum hebraicum cum variis lectionibus (1776–1780), produced through the collation of 52 printed editions of the Bible, 615 Hebrew manuscripts, and 16 manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Kennicott sent the Radcliffe Library the manuscript collations he had worked on. He was librarian there from 1767 until his death.; (source: Archives Hub — Hebrew Biblical manuscripts of Benjamin Kennicott
Access points: locations: La Coruña (Spain); North Africa; Portugal; Segovia (Spain); Soria (Spain); Toledo (Spain)
Access points: persons, families: Braga, Isaac di; Ḥayyim, Joseph ibn; Israel, Israel ibn Isaac ibn; Kimḥi, David; Zabarah, Moses ibn
Access points: subject terms: Portuguese Medieval Jewry; Sephardic manuscripts; Spanish Medieval Jewry; Liturgy and ritual; 13th century; 14th century; 15th century
Access points: document types: Bible; Hebrew fragments; Illuminated manuscripts
Access, restrictions: Digital copies of some manuscripts are available at:; Digital Bodleian: Kennicott
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. 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: Hebrew Bible produced in Soria (Spain). 1306: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 21015).; Fragments of the Latter Prophets. 1222: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 21023).
Author of the description: Joana Rodrigues, 2022
Bibliography: Avrin, Leila. 1990. “Illuminated Hebrew Manuscript Facsimiles.” Ars Orientalis 20: 189–95.; Clarkson, Christopher. 2007. “The Kennicott Bible: Its Illumination, Binding, Conservation Problems and Repair.” Collection Management 31 (1–2): 31–56.; Métzger, Thérèse. 1990. “Josué ben Abraham ibn Gaon et la masora du Ms. Iluminado 72 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Lisbonne.” Codices manuscripti & impressi 5: 1–27.; Narkiss, Bezalel. 1982. Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Isles: A Catalogue Raisonné. Oxford [Oxfordshire] ; New York: Published by the Oxford University Press for the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the British Academy.; Norin, Stig. 1982. “An Important Kennicott Reading in 2 Kings Xviii 13.” Vetus Testamentum 32 (3): 337–38. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2307/1517922.; Schubert, Ursula. 1987. “Zwei Tierszenen am Ende der ersten Kennicott-Bibel (La Coruña, 1476) in Oxford.” Jewish Art 12–13: 83–88.; Vives, Verónica. 2005. “La Biblia de Cervera: Un Modelo Olvidado.” In Actes Del II Congrés per a l’Estudi Dels Jueus En Els Territoris de Llengua Catalana, 201–11.
Published primary sources: Narkiss, Bezalel, and Gabrielle Sed, eds. 1982. Facsimile Edition: The Kennicott Bible. London: Facsimile Editions Ltd.

Item sets: WSD Roadmap; WSD Roadmap finais; WSD Roadmap UK

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