Manuscript No. 31: Ritual Book, A.D. 1830

Item Overview

Title

Manuscript No. 31: Ritual Book, A.D. 1830

Uniform title

Mashtots'

Date Created

1830, A.D.

Language

Armenian

Collection

Armenian Manuscripts

Notes

Summary

The codex is a defective copy of the Ritual Book (Mashtots’) of the Armenain Church. Its principle divisions are as follows:Fols. 1-32. Canon of baptism.Fol. 32v. Canon of presentation of a forty-day-old child in the church. (Only a single page of this text has survived.)Fols. 33-48. [Canon of marriage.] (The beginning of the text, as well as pages 101-106, 11-116, and 120-126, according to the original pagination, are missing.)Fols. 48-60. Canon of removal of the marriage crown. (Pages 154-161 and 163-166, according to the original pagination, are missing.)Fols. 60v-61. (An untitled song not related to the Ritual Book.)

Description

Text in notragir, written by three different hands in one column: fols. 1-32 have 18 lines each, and fols. 33-59 have 13-15 lines each. Subtitles in red notragir or bolorgir, and initials throughout the codex in red notragir capitals. The quires are not numbered. Because of the many lacunae in the codex, the number of leaves in the gatherings cannot be determined.

Provenance

There are no colophons in the codex; hence its provenance is unknown . At the end of the text on fol. 60, however, we find the date 30 Adam (= May 19) 1830, which must be the date on which the writing of the book was completed. Based on the Persian month-name Adam, we can assume that the codex was written in Iran, probably in New Julfa.Fols. 22v and 29 have the identical signature of an individual named Vardan Xalawertian; the first signature is accompanied by the date December 12, 1925, and the second December 1, 1925. We also find the signature of Yarut’iwn Hayrapet Yarit’iwnian on fol. 61v. We can perhaps assume that these individuals once owned the book. Finally, there is an illegible seal with Persian script on fol. 60. We learn from a notation in pencil on fol. 61 that Dr. Minasian purchased the book on September 19, 1961 from an individual named Haxnatur.

Physical Description

Extent

61 folios

Dimensions

12x9.5 cm.

Binding note

Dark brown, worn leather (goatskin?) over pasteboards. Worn blind-tooling of a central rectangle with intersecting diagonal lines over a diamond. Spine leather wanting. No evidence of fore-edge flap or clasps, although one small hole can be seen on front cover near fore-edge. Yellpw silk raised endbands in poor condition. Fragment of blue paper on inside boards which may have been part of pastedown. Edhes darkened. Sewn on two thick single cords, but sewing no longer extant. Quires detached. Slips appear to be attached to boards by being glued between the leather and the pasteboard; no holes through boards for board attachment. Two V-notches in quires. Blue cloth spine lining. This binding appears to be a type of hybrid. The board attachment is not traditional, but notches are still used. The raised endbands are too deteriorated for us to be sure of they were the traditional triple chevron.

Condition note

Besides the dilapidated lining, the codex has suffered damage from fire and dampness. Many lacunae in the text. Fols. 1-32 were paginated by the scribe; there are lacunae after fol. 32. The rest of the book has been paginated beginning with page 97, but the following pages are missing: 101-106, 111-116, 120-126, 154-1616, 163-166. For purposes of this description, we have renumbered the folios. Many pages have been scribbled on.

Keywords

Genre

Manuscripts

Resource type

text