Thanks for those of you who responded to my question concerning Hebrew MSS
(both here and personally). It seems that this isn't something that is very
well known. I have Tov's most recent edition of Textual Criticism of the
Hebrew Bible, but only in one place does he suggest a possible number of
MSS, and that is only of the Masoretic Text.
I contacted Dr. Tov personally, and he graciously took the time to answer my
question. For those interested, here is his answer:
before 1500 ce we reckon with some 6000 masoretic mss, 200 fragmentary
dss, and a large number of fragmentary texts from the cairo genizah.
for the latter i have no number, i trust you will find the sources (if
you would pressure me i would say 200-500, but this is a mere guess)
Thanks
Jimmy Doyle
[b-hebrew] Number of Hebrew MSS,
Jimmy Doyle, 03/29/2007