Saturday, November 07, 2009

A book on gospel lectionary 351

Those who think that only large uncial NT manuscripts such as the Sinaiticus or Codex Bezae deserve the honour of having an entire book (or even more) devoted to them may be surprised to learn that text-critically perhaps less important minuscule lectionaries, not even mentioned in Nestle-Aland27 can become just as happy, if the circumstances are right.
John Lowden, The Jaharis Gospel Lectionary. The Story of a Byzantine Book, New Haven etc., Yale University Press etc., 2009.


It took me some close reading (i.e. note 9 on p. 121) to find out that this "Jaharis Gospel Lectionary" is l 351 in the Gregory-Aland numbering. In the Kurzgefasste Liste, the manuscript is still located in Paris, at the Société de l’Histoire du Protestantisme Français, shelf mark Ms. 206. That should thus become The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 2007.286 (which BTW one looks for in vain in the book).
The manuscript is now named after Mary and Michael Jaharis, thanks to whom the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art could acquire it (see also the museum's webpage on the ms.).
The book itself, written by a professor of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, is an interesting read, and in a way a good introduction on these Byzantine lectionaries as well (see also Appendix 1 on the Menologion Rubrics etc.). There are many (beautiful) images, of course, also of other manuscripts, for instance New York Pierpont Morgan Library Ms. 639 (l 381 for NT textual critics) (figs. 58; 89-90 in the book) and Sinai, St. Catherine's Monastery Gr. 204 (l 300) (figs. 21-22).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is certainly interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.