The Bible was the most important canonical book of the Karaites but only short fragments or
individual books have been published. The present two-volume publication is a critical edition
of approximately a half of Crimean Karaim Bible. Volume I contains the transcription of sixteen
biblical books the Pentateuch i.e. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy the
Five Scrolls i.e. the Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations and Ecclesiastes as well as six
books of the Writings i.e. the Psalms Proverbs Job Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah. Volume II
contains the English translation of all biblical books provided in volume I. The transcription
is based on the most complete manuscript from Cambridge and a few other manuscripts including
the earliest ones. Therefore this is the first publication that makes large portions of the
Bible accessible to the reader. Although the oldest known datable manuscripts go back to the
seventeenth century the language of Karaim translation is more archaic. This edition is an
important source for the study of Middle Karaim and Middle Turkic languages. The edited text is
provided with numerous comments and the introduction traces the history of research. All this
is important for the study on the Crimean Karaim Bible since Ebenezer Henderson's seminal study
of 1828.
