B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

PDF facsimiles of the Leningrad Codex are available on line at

<http://archive.org/details/Leningrad_Codex> (Leningrad.pdf, searchable from archive.org as "Leningrad_Codex")

and

<http://www.seforimonline.org/seforimdb/ ... _value=264> (264.pdf) .

When compared with an SHA-1 hash, the files from the two URLs are identical. The archive.org site explicitly declares the document "opensource" and provides it under a Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Locating a particular verse in the above facsimile isn't easy. The site

<http://www.echoofeden.com/digest/slaveo ... nline-toc/>

provides an index of the starting pages of particular books in the facsimile.

Chris Kimball
West Redding, CT
USA

What are the provenance of the photographs? Is it the same as the Eerdman's Leningrad Codex Facsimile?

The facsmile is not the same as Freedman & Beck at Eerdmans Publishing. The resolution is almost as good, however, the images are clipped so that in many pages the folio number isn't completely visible. (The file size is 748.1 MByte!) Unlike Freedman & Beck, the files do not contain the book chapter:verse range on the pages. The West Semitic Research Project provides an index of the folio number and text references, however, at

<http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/schola ... /biblical/>

so that the folio number for a particular verse can be found. The recto page number in Leningrad.pdf is 2*folio number + 4.

The Internet Archive, archive.org, doesn't give the provenance of the file, but declares it open source. I queried seforimonline.org about provenance and received a humorous response.

Chris Kimball
West Redding, CT
USA

I contacted the Internet Archive, <archive.org>, about the provenance of the "Leningrad_Codex" facsimile they provide. Here's part of their reply (8 Nov 2014 1:35 AM):

"Internet Archive does not itself make an ownership claim to materials in the collections at archive.org. We do not advise as to the copyright status of these items and do not guarantee the accuracy of information posted on items’ details or collection pages, including information regarding copyright or intellectual property rights of any kind. Our terms of use (http://www.archive.org/about/terms.php) require that users make use of Internet Archive's Collections at their own risk and ensure that such use is non-infringing and in accordance with all applicable laws. "

The facsimile is a great resource for students who don't have access to (or are able to carry) Freedman & Beck. I wonder if any B-Hebrew reader can identify the facsimile's creator and publisher?

Chris Kimball
West Redding, CT
USA

Yesterday, I examined a copy of "Codex Leningrad B 19A", D.S. Loewinger, Makor Publishing Co., Jerusalem, 1971. The photos in this document have a smaller scope and a lower quality than those in the file "Leningrad.pdf" available at the <http://archive.org> site.

In the process, I found that "Leningrad.pdf" lacks a penciled note "48,1." (Ezekiel 48.1) on Folio 303r, that is present both in the Loewinger and Freedman & Beck facsimiles. The photo in the file "Leningrad.pdf" appears (to me) to have note erased, with vestiges remaining. If this is the case, the file would be later than Freedman & Beck of a "cleaned up" LC. (Photo-editing wouldn't have left any vestiges.)

Chris Kimball
West Redding, CT
USA