Illustrated Manuscript from Barcelona
"Guide for the Perplexed". The manuscript was copied in Barcelona in 1347-1348. Today it is kept at the Royal Library of Denmark in Copenhagen.
All that is known about this magnificent manuscript is taken from the ‘colophon,’ a short caption - usually at the end of the book - explaining who copied the manuscript, when it was copied, and (sometimes) under what circumstances it was copied. The information in this colophon is very limited.
According to the colophon, the manuscript was copied by Levi Bar Yitzhak, a native of Salamanca, between 1347-1348. The manuscript was ordered by the Jewish physician Menachem Bezalel of Barcelona, who did not enjoy the manuscript for long. One year after the manuscript was completed, the former court physician of the King of Spain passed away.
The verse chosen by the copyist to sign the colophon indicates the way in which the book was perceived in 14th century Spain: no longer an esoteric work known only to the privileged, but a philosophical guide "which Moses gave to all Israel" (Numbers 34:12).
