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StorageSiteUCL Special Collections
LevelFile
Reference Number MS MOCATTA/8
TitleDefter
Date[1788-1789]
DescriptionManuscript Samaritan prayerbook AH 1203 [1788-1789]. Hebrew and Aramaic, with Arabic translation, mainly in Samaritan characters.
Extent1 volume containing 176 folios
AdminHistoryAn account of the Samaritan prayerbook (known as Defter, an Arabic word for book) in its different forms was given by A Cowley, 'Jewish Quarterly Review' (Oct 1894).
CustodialHistoryFormerly held with other Jewish collections in the Mocatta Library of University College London.
AcquisitionTransferred from the Mocatta Library (subsequently the Jewish Studies Library) of University College London.
AccessStatusOpen
AccessConditionsThe papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.
Related MaterialUniversity College London Special Collections also holds various other service books (Ref: MS MOCATTA 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 12, 18, 23, 25, 35, 72, 75, 76). 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.
FindingAidsReginald 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.
PublnNoteSeveral of the hymns have been published by M Heidenheim, 'Die Samaritanische Liturgie', Leipzig (1885).
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