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he Rothschild Miscellany was commissioned by Moses ben Yekuthiel Hacohen probably around 1470 at the height of the Renaissance in Italy. It was a time when the Jews in Italy came into contact with all sectors of society and adopted the way of life of the gentile aristocracy. They enjoyed the favourable attitude of some of the great Italian Princes such as the Medici of Florence and the Este of Ferrara. The prohibition by the Church for Christians to lend money for interest was highly beneficial to the Jewish community, many of whom prospered. The wealthy Jew became a man of the Renaissance with a taste for letters and art, and pleasure in affluent living.

Nonetheless, the Jews never became estranged from their Jewish intellectual and religious heritage. This was a period of unprecedented cultural activity amongst Italian Jewry, producing scholars, artists, poets and physicians.

The Rothschild Miscellany, as it is now known, is the most elegantly and lavishly executed Hebrew manuscript of that era. From its inception it was planned as a sumptuous work to encompass, in minute detail, almost every custom of religious and secular Jewish life. The figure drawings and border decorations of the miniatures mirror the rich Italian Renaissance influence and were probably made in a workshop in the Ferrara region. Fanciful landscapes, spatial perspective settings and the precision of human and animal representations echo the style of the best artists who worked for the court of the Este in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. They may have been connected with the workshop of the artists who illuminated the famous Latin Bible of Borso d'Este.

The complete history of the Miscellany is somewhat of a mystery. From 1832 to 1855 the manuscript was in the Solomon de Parente collection in Trieste. It was later sold to the Rothschild family in Paris and remained there until it was stolen during the Nazi occupation and reappeared after the war in New York. Someone tried to sell it to Alexander Marx, librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who realised it had been stolen from the Rothschilds and returned it to them in London. James de Rothschild was persuaded by Mordechai Narkiss, director of the Bezalel Museum in Israel, that a manuscript of such importance was a national treasure and therefore belonged in Israel. In 1957, on hearing of Narkiss' illness, James de Rothschild sent it as a gift to Jerusalem.

The Rothschild Miscellany consists of more than 37 religious and secular works. Among the religious books are Psalms, Proverbs and Job and a yearly prayer book including the Passover Haggadah. All have textual illustrations for each festival and prayers for special occasions. The secular books include philosophical, moralistic and scientific treatises. The text throughout the manuscript is accompanied by marginal notes and commentaries of the sages.

This large collection of miscellaneous yet connected texts became the framework for an unprecedented programme of illumination. It contains a wealth of material illustrating almost every custom of daily life in a Jewish Renaissance household. Of 948 pages, 816 are decorated in minute detail in vibrant colours, gold and silver.

No other Hebrew manuscript equals the richness and scope of the illumination of this Miscellany.

THE LIMITED EDITION FACSIMILE

In 1980, when Linda and Michael Falter embarked on the Kennicott Bible facsimile, few believed that the colossal project could ever come to fruition. Five years later the Bodleian Library was moved to write that it was "perhaps the most faithful and exact copy ever to be produced".

The Rothschild Miscellany at The Israel Museum, proved to be an even greater challenge, for the publishers' philosophy dictates that a facsimile must be as close to the original as humanly possible. Tremendous efforts were made to acquire the finest materials and craftsmen to impart to each volume not only the presence but also the feel of an original manuscript.

In order to reproduce the Rothschild Miscellany in the same uncompromising way, a great deal of research and further technical development was required for the manuscript is lavishly decorated on almost every page. The Falters moved to Italy to supervise every stage of the facsimile's production and by combining craftsmanship and dogged determination with modern technology, remarkable results have been achieved.

The original manuscript was hand-copied and illuminated on foetal vellum which is soft and translucent. Its folios were measured for thickness, weight and opacity and a new type of 'paper' virtually indistinguishable from the manuscript's vellum, was specially milled in Italy. The result is a fine, neutral pH. vegetable parchment with the same natural characteristics of skin that makes printing on it very difficult indeed.

The printing of the minutely-detailed exquisite illuminations in twelve colours demanded a great deal of skill and perseverance by the Italian master-printer. Colour separations were made for each of the 948 pages; every one individually checked against the manuscript in Jerusalem and then re-proofed in Italy (up to four times for each page) until the colour was exactly right.

No printing process can adequately simulate a manuscript's gold leaf so it was decided that the only way to reproduce raised burnished gold was to lay metal leaf by hand, thereby achieving the richness and 'feel' of the original gold. Thus on 812 pages, a gold-coloured foil was "built up" where it was raised in the original to faithfully reproduce burnished gold. In addition, the manuscript contains thousands of illustrations decorated with powdered and flat gold and this too has been faithfully reproduced in the facsimile.

The pages of the manuscript contain the minute pricking holes made by the scribe between which he ruled parallel lines to guide him in the writing of the text. Even these pin-size holes have been reproduced. The edges of the pages of the Miscellany are brown with age and irregular, so, in the facsimile each one has been laboriously cut to exactly the same size and shape as the original and then "aged".

Each facsimile is hand numbered using metal dies. Each number is irrevocably stamped into the binding. The printing plates too were destroyed with rabbinical consent ensuring no subsequent copies could be printed.

As the original binding of the manuscript no longer exists, Mirjam Foot, Director of Collections and Preservation at The British Library, London, suggested an exquisite Italian binding of the period, worthy of the manuscript, which has been copied in minute detail. The facsimile is bound in fine-grain morocco goatskin, blind-tooled on the front and back covers with morocco head and tail bands. The binding is secured by four silver clasps on morocco thongs; the thongs and clasps being attached to the binding by minute silver nails.

COMPANION VOLUME

Five eminent scholars have each contributed to the companion volume which is introduced and edited by Iris Fishof, Chief Curator of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The rich subject matter of the illustrations is described by Luisella Mortara-Ottolenghi, Professor of Codicology and History of Illumination at the Universita Degli Studi di Milano, Italy, who also deals with stylistic affinity and differences between the artists and their relation to general Italian illumination of the period. The historical and social background of the manuscript is thoroughly expounded by Shlomo Simonsohn, Professor of Jewish History at Tel-Aviv University. The codicology and palaeography is discussed by Malachi Beit-Arié, Ludwig Jesselson Professor of Codicology and Palaeography at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Israel Tashma, Professor of Humanities at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses the religious and liturgical content of the Miscellany. The binding is discussed by Mirjam Foot, Director of Collections and Preservation at The British Library. The companion volume is illustrated with full-colour plates and finely bound in blind-tooled morocco to complement the facsimile.

PRESENTATION

The facsimile is presented in a cloth-bound hinged slipcase edged in morocco together with a similar slipcase for the companion volume. Every set is accompanied by a certificate bearing the seals and signatures of both The Israel Museum and Facsimile Editions.

SPECIFICATION

CODICOLOGY

Size 210 x 156 x 102mm (8 1/4" x 6 1/8" x 4") approximately. Page sizes vary slightly. 948 Pages, 474 folios numbered 0-473. 816 illuminated pages with raised burnished gold, flat gold, powdered gold, silver and brilliant delicate colours.

PAPER

A paper mill in Italy worked for over a year to reproduce the opacity, texture and thickness of the manuscript's vellum. The paper they made has been widely acclaimed as the closest likeness to vellum ever achieved. The 160gsm paper is uncoated, has a neutral pH and was developed exclusively for this facsimile.

PRINTING

Printed offset litho in up to twelve colours. The manuscript was disbound and photographed flat, so that any curvature close to the spine was completely eliminated. The printed page is, therefore, exactly the same size as the original.

GILDING

The three different types of gold found in the manuscript have all been faithfully copied in the facsimile. The raised gold of the original has been reproduced without embossing. Craftsmen applied the metal leaf by hand to each page using a special building-up process to give the same raised effect as in the original. This facsimile is the first to reproduce burnished gold accurately. Flat gold was reproduced by applying a metal leaf by hand. Gold powder was applied to all the illuminations that contain it in the original.

SILVERING

Silver metal leaf was applied by hand wherever it appeared in the original. Wherever the silver had oxidised, a darker leaf and special varnish was used.

PRICKING and CUTTING

The scribe pricked minute holes on either side of each folio between which he would rule lines for his script. This is the first time that pricking holes have ever been reproduced in a facsimile.

Once printed each page was cut to the exact size and shape of the original and then aged at the edges. No previously published facsimile has achieved this precision with such accuracy.

BINDING

Fine Italian binding in morocco goatskin, blind-tooled on both covers and the spine. The book block is sewn over hand-made head and tail bands, each leaf having first been cut and "aged". Four silver clasps are attached by leather thongs to silver catch plates which are themselves attached by tiny silver nails.

PRESENTATION

The facsimile and companion are individually housed in hand made slip-cases.

GIFT CERTIFICATE

Your facsimile can be personally dedicated by our calligrapher at no extra charge. Whether the facsimile is intended as a gift to an institution or a private individual, our calligrapher can inscribe a beautiful illuminated gift certificate with an appropriate inscription.

Strictly limited to 500 numbered and 50 'ad personam' copies. Each volume. discreetly numbered by hand inside the leather binding using minute steel dies, is accompanied by a numbered and signed certificate carrying the seal of The Israel Museum.

The printing plates have been destroyed thus protecting the significant investment value of each facsimile.

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