IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS MOCATTA 8
Held at: University College London
Title: Service book (Samaritan)
Date(s): [1788-1789]
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume containing 176 folios
Name of creator(s): Unknown
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
An account of the Samaritan service book (known as Defter, an Arabic word for book) in its different forms was given by A Cowley, Jewish Quarterly Review (Oct 1894).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Manuscript Samaritan service book [1788-1789].
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: Hebrew or Aramaic with Arabic translation, mainly in Samaritan characters.
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Paper. Written by at least two scribes, and the latter portions are in a much better hand than the earlier parts. Some leaves misplaced in binding; a few leaves missing.
Finding aids:
Reginald Arthur Rye, Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts forming the library of F D Mocatta (Harrison & Sons, London, 1904), 437-8, gives a more detailed description.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Formerly held with other Jewish collections in the Mocatta Library of University College London.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Transferred from the Mocatta Library (subsequently the Jewish Studies Library) of University College London.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
University College London Special Collections also holds various other service books (Ref: MS MOCATTA 1, 3-4, 7, 9, 12, 23, 25, 35). The Defter is rare, but the British Library has a large portion of the oldest known copy (13th century); Manchester University, John Rylands Library, has two copies.
Publication note:
Several of the hymns have been published by M Heidenheim, 'Die Samaritanische Liturgie', Leipzig (1885).
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Oct 2001