What: An early 19th century copy of the Faus Manfasawi of Abba Michael
Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Provenance: Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847
Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript
What: An 18th century copy of the Fetha Nagast, or Justice of Kings. “Name of owner, Walda Maryam, f. 3 a, which was also the name of the scribe.”
Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Provenance: Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847
Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript
What: A late 17th century manuscript starting with the Chronology of Glyorgis walda ‘Amid or ‘al-Makin, followed by the Homilies of Severus of ‘Esmunain on Christian doctrine and a tract in Amharic on the three Persons of the Godhead and their Union.
Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Provenance: Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847
Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript
What: An early 18th century manuscript of The History of the Jews ascribed to Joseph ben Goryon. “Foll. 1 and 2, in a different hand, contain: The Lord’s Prayer, The Creed and The hymn to the blessed Virgin Mary.”
Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Provenance: Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847
Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript
What: Fragments including pictures, bible books, Miracles of Mary, letter to Tewodros, Amharic documents with his seal, hymns, prayers, charms and inventories. Is this a collection of ripped/partial manuscripts picked up at Maqdala?
Where: The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Provenance: Listed as part of the “Magdala collection” in William Wright’s Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1847
Does not appear in British Library’s online catalogue or list of digitised manuscript
What: A 16th century collection of the vast majority of the books from the Old Testament, including records of property sales. According to a note inside, it was “taken from King Theodore at the storming of Magdala”.
Where: Cambridge University Library, West Rd, Cambridge CB3 9DR
According to the catalogue page: “The date of the work is written in the first colon at the end of 2 Kings: the 27th year of Särs’ä Dəngəl’s reign, i.e. 1588-1589 CE. Because of its precise dating – a rarity in the Ethiopian tradition–this manuscript arguably constitutes the most important post-medieval witness to the Old Testament in Ge’ez, clearly demonstrating the ongoing revision of the text on the basis of an Arabic version around that time.”
The library has scanned in the pages here – https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01570/1
Provenance: A note on the inside front cover reads: “Abyssinian Bible. Taken from King Theodore at the storming of Magdala by the officers of H.M. Madras engineers and presented by them to Captain Sotham(?) of H.M.H. transport “Middlesex” June 1868”.