16th century AD. A vellum leather scroll with five membranes of Hebrew block script in twenty-one lines to each membrane, in Sefardi square script, part of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim. See Kohn, G., The Jewish Experience: A Guide to Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress, Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1986; Karp, A.J.,. From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress Washington: Library of Congress, 1991. 15.6 grams, 63cm (24 3/4"). Ex central London gallery; formerly with Bloomsbury Book Auctions, 2009. Jewish scrolls usually contain the Hebrew Torah, the Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, and comprised a large number of parchment or leather sheets from the skin of a kosher animal, i.e. an animal permitted in Jewish law. The scriptural text was handwritten with a special ink in Hebrew, without vowels and accents, by a devout, qualified scribe. Once the writing had been completed, the parchment sheets or strips were sewn together to make a very long scroll. The ends of the scroll are affixed to and wound round two wooden rollers or staves. [No Reserve]