Notes: [1] The manuscript’s colophon is written on pages 643 and 644. As a dated manuscript, this codex is also found on SfarData.nli.org. [2] Page one in the manuscript notes the mortgage of the manuscript by Mahfud ben Daud el-Dehbani to Suleiman ben Joseph al-Meshraki in 1867. However, it is unclear whether the manuscript ever came into his possession permanently. [3] David Solomon Sassoon most likely purchased the manuscript, which he designated MS 942, either in 1911 or between 1918 and 1932. In his catalog “Ohel Dawid,” he references acquiring several Yemenite manuscripts in 1911 but does not give a list of those manuscripts in detail. Most of his other manuscripts were purchased after World War I (“Ohel Dawid” I, pp. x–xii, 607–608). In addition to this manuscript, Sassoon purchased a nearly identical Benayah Torah codex, also written in 1470, from the Sotheby’s sale of George A. Crawley’s manuscript collection in 1927 (MS 964 in “Ohel Dawid,” 604–607). Due to their almost identical features and date of completion, it is likely that Benayah penned the manuscripts concurrently. This other manuscript was in the possession of the Valmadonna Trust Library (Jack V. Lunzer) until it was sold at the Valmadonna Trust Library sale, Sotheby’s New York, 22 December 2015. [4] Seventy-six Important Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts from the library of the late David Solomon Sassoon, Sotheby’s London, 21 June 1994, Lot 52. The name of the purchaser was not disclosed, but the sale is referenced in the provenance section of the Important Judaica auction, Sotheby’s New York, 4 December 2014, Lot 104. [5] The Important Judaica auction, Sotheby’s New York, 4 December 2014, Lot 104.

Selected References:

David Solomon Sassoon, "Ohel Dawid, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts," Vol. II (London: Oxford University Press, 1932).