Գիրք պատմութեան հայոց արարեալ յոհաննիսի . . . կաթողիկոսի ամ[ - Lot 5

Գիրք պատմութեան հայոց արարեալ յոհաննիսի . . . կաթողիկոսի ամ[ենայն] հայոց [YOVHANNĒS CATHOLICOS DRASXANAKERTC'I, Livre de l'histoire d'Arménie composé par Yohannēs . . Catholikos of all Armenians (10th century)] Ottoman Empire, late 18th century Armenian manuscript written on various types of azure laid paper (thin and coated or thicker), 276 pp., 24 lines per page, text in notrgir script in black ink, apparently by several hands, with variants from another manuscript. Original pagination in ink and foliation (138) in pencil. Date and names of copyists not mentioned. Owner's mark on the first page of text, hidden under a glued leaf. Stamp (p. 225), part of the leaves (pp. 15-30) with Pedemonte watermark. Bound in period speckled tan basane, smooth spine decorated with gilt roulettes, gilt roulette framing the boards, blue speckled edges, period and regional dominoté paper endpapers. (Binding worn, one page restored). Handwritten size: 20.5 x 15.2 cm; written area: 15 x 9.5 cm Provenance: E.J. Brill Ltd, Leiden, Netherlands. Catalog no. 534 Caucasica, 1983, cat. 910; Acquired 1983 This "History of Armenia", written in the 10th century by Yovhannēs Drasxanakertc'i, is the best source chronicling the end of Arab rule in Armenia and the reign of the first three Bagratid rulers. There are three complete editions printed in the 19th century: Jerusalem 1843, Moscow 1853, Jerusalem 1867 (Patricia Boisson-Chenorhokian, Yovhannēs Drasxanakertc'i. History of Armenia. Introduction, translations and notes. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, vol. 605, Subsidia Tomus 115, éditions Peeters, Leuven, 2004, p. 1 and 54-55). This manuscript, probably copied in the Constantinople region, is one of the three oldest surviving copies of Drasxanakertc'i's text. There are only two known older copies, one dated 1685 in the Library of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem (no. 375), the other dated 1689 in the Matenadaran in Yerevan (Armenian no. 1896). The present manuscript has the advantage of adding variants from another manuscript to the basic text.