YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 293 Constantinople, 1674
Synopsis Mikra (in Greek)
There are 5 sets of prayers in the codex. Each is preceded by a simple
headpiece and heading that serve to separate one section from the next.
1. ff. 1r-27v [Prayer:]
[Greek] [sic]
[Greek].
[Greek]. [Greek].
2. ff. 28r-48r [Greek].
[Greek].
3. ff. 48r-63v [Greek].
[Greek]. [Greek].
4. ff. 63v-70v [Greek]. [The
text continues for ff. 64r-65v in the exact same manner as on ff. 1r-3r. On
f. 66r it diverges:]
[Greek].
[Greek].
5. ff. 70v-78v [Greek].
[Greek].
[colophon:] 1674 [Greek]. ff.79r-80r blank except for pen trials
Paper (only partial watermarks), ff. i (paper) + 82 (foliation begins
on the third leaf) + i (paper), 144 x 98 (98 x 70) mm. Written in 11 long
lines; single outer and double inner vertical bounding lines, the inner
full length. Ruled in hard point, on verso.
I^^2, II-III^^8, IV^^8 (-2), V-XI^^8 (+ 1 leaf at end, f. 80). Quire signatures
(Arabic numbers) near the upper right corner of written space.
Written by two copyists. Scribe 1 was responsible for the major portion of
the manuscript in a large bold hand; Scribe 2 supplied the rubrication and
some parts written in a smaller, more delicate script. Scribe 1 dated the
manuscript on f. 78v (see art. 5).
Inelegantly executed initials, 6- to 4-line, outlined in black and filled
with red, olive, blue, and purple. Small initials in red sprouting floral
motifs. Rubrics throughout.
Binding: s. xviii. Islamic. Dark red goatskin with an orange gilt border
and a gilt flowered pattern on a deeply inset central medallion of orange
leather or paper. Title gold-tooled. Bound in a similar style to Beinecke MS
294.
Written in Constantinople in 1674; ownership inscriptions (18th century)
of Helen Atradereskou [?] and of Nikolaus Karatzes of Byzantium, on f. i recto.
Belonged to Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827; no. 549 in sale
catalogue and on spine; chi and gamma in gold on added strip of leather at top
of spine); sold to Payne who sold it to Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 7759, tag on
spine). Acquired from L. C. Witten with funds from the Jacob Ziskind
Charitable Trust in 1957 (MS 49).
Bibliography: Ziskind Catalogue, p. 52.
Barbara A. Shailor