The Gospels in Syriac.

Folio (260 x 390 mm). 142 ff. Arabic Gharshuni, Syriac manuscript on Italian laid paper. Two columns, 29 lines written in Serto script with black ink, with titles and keywords in red. Full leather, ruled and stamped in blind. A Gospel manuscript written in Syriac, presumably at the end of 18th century, which belonged to the Maronite community of the Lebanon. Written in serto script on paper produced in Northern Italy at the end of the 18th century, featuring the watermarks of Valentino Galvani (of Pordenone, Friuli) and of Giovanni e Fratelli Andreoli (of Luseti near Brescia). Several contemporary ownerships on the final folio provide a history of the manuscript's circulation: the first mark is from 1799 and identifies the owner as Boutros Noujaim. The manuscript was then most likely donated to the church of Saidet et-Talle, as the following two annotations from the 1850s concern the transfer of the manuscript from the church of Saidet et Talle, located in Deir el-Qamar, to the church of Ain al-Maaser, a village more commonly known as Maaser Beiteddine. These locations near Mount Lebanon suggest that the book was written in the area and show how it was circulated among Lebanese Maronite Christians. - 1 smaller leaf (60f.) with the same handwriting pasted in. A few closed paper tears, some browning and stains. Binding professionally repaired.