The essays collected in this volume are dedicated to the study of two particular Samaritan manuscripts of the Pentateuch. These are the first scholarly accounts of each of these texts. The first two articles are an introduction to a manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch that the author acquired through a third party in Sidon, Syria. This manuscript can be dated to 1232 CE. The final essay regards a manuscript of the Hebrew Pentateuch, which was sent to him by the High Priest of the Samaritans in Nablūs, Syria. The second manuscript can be dated to 655 CE. At the time that these essays were written these were two of the very earliest clearly datable copies of the Pentateuch known to exist. In these three essays, Rev. Watson discusses the physical, historical and literary features of the manuscripts.

Reverend W. (William) Scott Watson (1862-1944) was a missionary to Syria with the Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. He was also an avid collector of manuscripts. He was a graduate of the College of the City of New York, where he was awarded a Ward medal. His other publications include “Bab el-Iarab: An Outline of Arabic Syntax,” “A Syriac-Arabic Narrative of Miracles of Jesus,” and “An Arabic Version of the Epistle of Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy.”