Artistic Masoretic micrography
Masoretic notes written in minute script and arranged into geometric patterns, animals, plants, or full-page compositions. The collection includes all thirty BIMA-documented decorated folios of British Library Or. 2091.
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 1 rectoFolio 1r: the Masorah magna forms a monumental field of animals, plants, knots, and architectural motifs around the three biblical columns; BIMA supplies the transcribed notes and their page geometry.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 20 rectoFolio 20r: a chain of tiny architectural forms crowns the page, while the lower Masorah is woven into a dense interlace panel.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 38 versoFolio 38v: micrographic creatures and vegetal forms run across the upper margin, balanced by a broad angular knotwork composition below.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 84 rectoFolio 84r: floral and interlaced micrography frames the enlarged opening word and extends across both the upper and lower margins.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 132 rectoFolio 132r: animal and floral forms surround the enlarged opening word, above a lower band of linked micrographic rosettes.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 172 versoFolio 172v: an architectural micrographic frame encloses the enlarged opening word, with a second arcade-like composition across the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 203 rectoFolio 203r: animals and human figures emerge from the Masoretic writing around the opening word and in the broad lower frieze.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 239 rectoFolio 239r: a small creature and a chain of angular ornaments crown the text, while the lower Masorah becomes a wide braided lattice.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 243 versoFolio 243v: birds and other creatures occupy the upper micrographic band, paired with elaborate interlace across the foot of the page.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 245 rectoFolio 245r: an animal procession spans the upper margin, a figurative scene surrounds the opening word, and knotwork fills the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 249 versoFolio 249v: animal-headed micrographic forms crown the page above a lower panel of linked knots and roundels.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 250 rectoFolio 250r: a lively upper frieze and a dense lower interlace turn the Masoretic apparatus into the page’s principal ornament.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 251 rectoFolio 251r: a long winged creature stretches across the upper margin, balanced by an angular micrographic braid below.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 254 rectoFolio 254r: tower-like floral forms crown an enlarged opening word, with linked micrographic medallions across the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 255 rectoFolio 255r: birds and vegetal forms frame the opening word above a lower band of large interlocking knots.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 256 versoFolio 256v: repeated tree-like forms crown the text and a broad angular lattice grows from the lower Masorah.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 258 rectoFolio 258r: bird-like forms ornament the upper edge, while floral micrography encloses the opening word and expands into a lower interlace field.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 259 versoFolio 259v: an architectural canopy rises above the opening word, with one of the manuscript’s densest micrographic knot panels below.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 265 versoFolio 265v: floral crowns and a framed opening word are paired with a broad lower band of interlaced Masoretic writing.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 268 rectoFolio 268r: luxuriant floral micrography surrounds the enlarged opening word, while an arcade of figures and plants occupies the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 270 versoFolio 270v: hanging vegetal forms crown a framed opening word, above a large lower composition of braided knots.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 309 rectoFolio 309r: a braided upper border and figurative ornament around the opening word are balanced by a broad geometric lattice below.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 324 rectoFolio 324r: large spiralling floral forms crown and frame the opening word, with a rosette-filled micrographic band at the foot.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 335 versoFolio 335v: at the Proverbs–Song of Songs transition, three micrographic human figures reorganize eight Masoretic lists into a studied figurative composition.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 338 rectoFolio 338r: paired creatures and foliage surround the opening word, above a lower band of repeated floral knots.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 343 rectoFolio 343r: animal and vegetal micrography frames the opening word, while an arcade of tiny figures runs along the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 345 versoFolio 345v: creatures and vines crown the text, and interlocking floral medallions surround the enlarged opening word and fill the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 352 rectoFolio 352r: a monumental architectural and figurative micrographic frame rises around the opening word, above angular knotwork at the foot.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 363 rectoFolio 363r: an animal frieze crowns a framed opening word, with a broad field of linked micrographic knots below.Contains indexed biblical text→
British Library Or. 2091 (Prophets and Writings)Folio 380 versoFolio 380v: animals and plants surround the opening word and extend into the upper margin, balanced by a large angular knot lattice below.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Canonici Or. 37 (Pentateuch)25rFolio 25r: tiny words of the Masorah magna form an elaborate geometric design in the lower margin.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Laud Or. 324 (Pentateuch and Onkelos)89rFolio 89r: a Masoretic scribe shaped the minute Masorah magna into a facing pair of dragons.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Canonici Or. 38 (Former Prophets)80vFolio 80v: the lower Masorah magna traces repeated fan-like geometric forms.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Canonici Or. 39 (Latter Prophets)12vFolio 12v: minute Masoretic writing forms angular and diamond-shaped ornament below the biblical columns.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Canonici Or. 137 (Pentateuch, Onkelos, and Haftarot)167vFolio 167v: the opening of Numbers is surrounded by micrographic animals, hybrid creatures, and vegetal forms.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Marshall Or. 1fol. 1vFolio 1v: a full-page Masoretic composition uses tiny writing to form animals, human figures, plants, and geometric ornaments.No indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Marshall Or. 1fol. 64rFolio 64r: the interlaced, hexagram-like geometric shape in the lower-right part of the page is the micrographic art. It appears at the transition from the end of Genesis to the beginning of Exodus; the book opening itself is not what is classified as artistic micrography.Contains indexed biblical text→
Bodleian MS. Bodley Or. 80455rFolio 55r: a representative Psalms page where the larger Masorah also forms micrographic decoration.Contains indexed biblical text→
Complutense Hebrew Bible (BH MSS 1, 13th century)Folio 1v · Library of Congress scan 0006Folio 1v: at the opening of Genesis, minute words of the Masorah magna form vegetal and geometric ornament around the biblical columns.Contains indexed biblical text→Sources & method.
Masoretica depends on manuscript repositories, photographers, editors, and open-data projects. Scans and page indexes are credited below. Page text comes from UXLC, the Codex Sinaiticus Project transcription, Miqra according to the Masorah (MAM), diplomatic manuscript transcriptions from BIMA / Corpus Masoreticum, the DT-UCPH Samaritan Pentateuch, and lxx-morph, with Greek-to-Hebrew verse-number equivalences from STEPBible TVTMS. The text drawer names the source used for each manuscript.
Verse highlights combine manuscript page indexes with kraken models, repository OCR or transcriptions where available, and conservative text alignment and confidence checks. Alexandrinus uses Party for Greek HTR recognition. Party's input lines come mainly from Internet Archive data, with kraken repairing sparse pages; reliable Internet Archive DjVu OCR matches are retained. Other linked sources include the BiblIA Hebrew model, the Samaritan model, Greek minuscule and Sinaiticus line-segmentation models, and the official Sinaiticus page-and-line data. Approximate locations are explicitly marked. Repository access terms determine whether a scan can be embedded; Vaticanus opens only in the Vatican Library viewer.
All scans remain with their repositories and are only displayed here for passage navigation, cropping, and verse highlighting. Image rights and credits are stated in each manuscript sidebar.
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Dershowitz, Idan. “Masoretica: Manuscript Explorer.” Accessed 1 August 2026. https://www.masoretica.org/.For a specific manuscript page, use its Cite button for the complete Masoretica and holding-institution citations. Pages using BIMA also include a BIMA citation, license link, and description of changes.