The Manuscript Tradition of Maimonides' Letter to Samuel Ibn Tibbon

Maimonides' Letter to Samuel Ibn Tibbon is preserved in one fragment in its Judeo-Arabic original version, only, but it also survives in sixteen Hebrew manuscripts and in an early printed edition. The analysis of the textual witnesses shows that four independent Hebrew translations of different sections of the Letter were produced. An additional version found in the editio princeps and related manuscripts is a combination of one of the earlier translations and one or more additional source(s), possibly a fifth Hebrew translation. Only this last version contains in the last section on the study of philosophical books a much debated reference to Ibn Rushd and to al-Farabi's Political Regime. In view of the hybrid character of the editio princeps it is necessary to study the Letter synoptically from all the witnesses. The analysis also shows that the so-called Letter probably consists of two separate pieces written at a distance of about ten days.