The earliest surviving dated manuscript of the whole Bible, which was selected for this exhibition as a remarkable representative of the early Hebrew book production, is kept in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg, MS EBP. IIB 19a, produced in Cairo in 1008 by the prestigious scribe Shemuel ben Ya'aqov. The images display the artistic and scribal craft facet of those bibles produced in the Middle East at the outset of the Jewish codex. Fol. 73v displays a decorated carpet-page of Massoretic text, while fol. 478r shows one of the ornamented parts of the multi-pages colophon of the scribe.

Aleppo Codex. Fol. 473v

Fol. 478r