Book of Jubilees (Ethiopic)

About to hand over to you, kind reader, a printed book of ancient Judaism, most worthy of remembrance and rescued from the dark fate of oblivion, I will briefly explain both the resources and the reasoning behind my edition.

About a decade ago, when I published a German translation of the Book of Jubilees based on the Tübingen manuscript, I publicly admitted that an edition of the Ethiopic book itself could hardly be prepared until another copy brought from Abyssinia original: "Abyssinia," the historical name for Ethiopia came into my hands. The longing for a new copy that I had felt since that time was fulfilled sooner than I expected. Antoine d’Abbadie—whom I had heard from the renowned scholar H. Ewald possessed a hidden copy of Jubilees in his vast collection of Ethiopic manuscripts—most generously permitted me to use it for my work, showing the exceptional kindness for which he is distinguished. Having examined it, and realizing that a sufficiently reliable edition of Jubilees could be compiled from these two books, I did not wish to delay the completion of the work any longer.

There are, therefore, two manuscripts that I used. The first is the Tübingen manuscript, kept in the public university library (M. a. IX. 4), which I will designate hereafter with the symbol T. It is made of paper, in a quarto size, consisting of 80 leaves. It was transcribed somewhat carelessly in Abyssinia by the assistant of the Reverend J. L. Krapff, and it contains only the book of Kufâlê The Ethiopic title of the Book of Jubilees, meaning "The Book of Division". This manuscript was sent here by the most distinguished R. Roth, my very dear friend, with permission most generously granted by the governing board of the library. The other, marked by me with the symbol A, is the d’Abbadie manuscript (designated as number 117 [CXVII]) ¹), made of parchment, in a very large quarto format,

1. One may consult the catalog of the d’Abbadie library, published this year: Annotated Catalog of Ethiopic Manuscripts belonging to Antoine d'Abbadie. Paris, Imperial Printing House, 1859 [MDCCCLIX], pages 132 and 133.