Tractate Sanhedrin.

(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN & JERUSALEM).

Orient

10th-11th century

Hebrew manuscript written in square Oriental type on vellum. 28-32 lines per page composed in a single column. The David Solomon Sassoon copy. Text corresponds as follows: f. 1r-v = Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin ff. 91r-92r (as per the Vilna foliation). * ff. 2-3 = Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin chap. 2: ff. 4-6; and chap. 3: ff. 5-8.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXTANT TALMUD MANUSCRIPTS WITH CONSIDERABLE TEXTUAL VARIANTS FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS. This fragment was recovered from a later binding. It is interesting to note that both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds are represented here, seemingly indicating that the text of both were written at the same time and studied simultaneously. See A. S. Scheiber, Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts as Binding Boards in the Libraries and Archives of Hungary in: The Joshua Bloch Memorial Volume (1960) pp. 19-28; Mauro Perani, Fragments from the Italian Genizah: An Exhibition (Bologna 2000). Provenance: Sotheby Parke Bernet, The Collection of David Solomon Sassoon, 12th May, 1981, lot 35. Sotheby’s, Property from the Silberstein-Boesky Foundation, 3rd December, 2004, lot 2.