The Kennicott Bible, Facsimile Edition with Accompanying Commentary Volume, London: Facsimile Editions, 1985

Two volumes: 454 folios + 97 pages (11 ½ x 8 ¾ in.; 293 x 222 mm).

facsimile volume: 454 folios (11 ½ x 8 ¾ in.; 293 x 222 mm), plus the unbound limitation page (#25 of 500 numbered, and 50 ad personam, copies). 238 hand-illuminated pages; 24 canonical book headings; 49 parashah headings structured with gold in different motifs featuring zoomorphic figures in many colors; 27 lavishly-illuminated arcaded pages framing the text of the Sefer Mikhlol; 9 fully illuminated carpet pages; 150 psalm headings, numbered and illuminated in gold and silver. Printed by 11-color offset lithography on specially milled, fine, neutral pH, vegetable parchment paper, all edges gilt. Fine Italian morocco goatskin box-binding over specially prepared boards; interlacing geometric designs on all six sides embossed with handmade dies.  commentary volume: 97 pages printed on mould-made cold-pressed Magnani 160gsm paper. Bound in blind-tooled morocco; Facsimile and commentary volume enclosed in a blue, velvet lined, portfolio box.

The Kennicott Bible is one of the most lavish medieval Spanish manuscripts in existence. The history of the manuscript began in La Coruña, in north-western Spain in 1476 when Isaac, son of Don Solomon de Braga, commissioned the scribe Moses Ibn Zabara to write a Hebrew Bible, together with Rabbi David Kimchi’s grammatical treatise Sefer Mikhlol. The result of Ibn Zabara’s efforts are breathtaking, still today, more than five centuries later. In 1985, in the culmination of a project lasting over 5 years, Michael and Linda Falter of Facsimile Editions produced a limited edition facsimile of this exquisite manuscript, widely acknowledged at the time, as the finest facsimile of a Hebrew manuscript ever made. A commentary volume, written by Professor Bezalel Narkiss and Dr. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, accompanies this facsimile edition of the Kennicott Bible.