Category Archives: Book covers

Decoration of the Fore-edges of Coptic Codices

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

There is a fun article in The New York Times about the growing trend among publishers of producing deluxe editions of romance and fantasy books. The article mentions different kinds of cover enhancements but focuses on decoration of the fore-edge. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Chester Beatty Papyri, Codicology, Maurice Nahman, Saqqara Codices | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cover of Nag Hammadi Codex I for Sale (with a Bowl)

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

After being down for several days due to a cyber attack, the Christie’s website appears to be back up and running. A more detailed description of the items being auctioned from the Schøyen Collection is now available. Among them is … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Book covers, Find Stories | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Hugo Ibscher and the Cover of the Berlin Akhmimic Proverbs Codex

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

In 2022, I published a short paper on the construction of the Beatty-Michigan codex of the Pauline epistles (P46, TM 61855). I suggested that the surviving page numbers in the codex might not be an entirely reliable guide to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlin Coptic Proverbs Codex, Book binding, Book covers, Chester Beatty Papyri, Chester Beatty Pauline Epistles, Codices, Codicology, Crosby-Schøyen Codex, Schøyen Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Model of P46

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Brent Nongbri

Over on the blog for my current research project (The Early History of the Codex), I have written a series of posts about making a model of the Beatty-Michigan Pauline epistles codex (P46). Making models is always a useful exercise, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Chester Beatty Papyri, Chester Beatty Pauline Epistles, Codices, Codicology, Michigan Papyri | 2 Comments

Parchment Book Covers for Papyrus Rolls

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

In a series of earlier posts, I examined some of the vocabulary used to describe papyrus rolls, especially those deluxe literary rolls described by Latin poets. One additional feature of these rolls that is sometimes mentioned is a parchment cover. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book covers, Palaeography, Voluminology | 4 Comments

The Faddan More Psalter

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

One of the most interesting manuscripts to come to light in recent years is the Faddan More Psalter, a parchment codex in a leather cover that contained the Psalms in Latin. It was discovered by a worker harvesting peat for … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeological context, Book binding, Book covers, Codices, Codicology, Faddan More Psalter | 13 Comments

God’s Library: Publication Day

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

So, it’s August 21. This is the official publication date for God’s Library (I’m not entirely sure what that means, because the book has been shipping from the publisher for a couple weeks now already). Thanks again to everyone involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Book binding, Book covers, Codices, Find Stories, Manuscript Collections, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis | 6 Comments

A Model of Nag Hammadi Codex III (and Some Thoughts on Large Single-quire Codices)

Posted on July 14, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

After I started out by making a model of Nag Hammadi Codex VI, the second Nag Hammadi book that I tried to make was Codex III. Like Codex VI, Codex III is made up of a single papyrus quire, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Codices, Nag Hammadi | 11 Comments

A Model of Nag Hammadi Codex VI

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

As I was writing my book on early Christian manuscripts, one of the most helpful things I did was take up the construction of models of ancient codices. Going through the process of assembling a codex really forced me to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Codices, Nag Hammadi | 6 Comments

Another Book Biography: The Berlin Akhmimic Proverbs Codex

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In my last post on the use of waste papyrus in covers of ancient codices, I made reference to the Berlin Coptic Proverbs codex (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 987, LDAB 107968). This reminded me that I had intended for … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlin Coptic Proverbs Codex, Book binding, Book covers, Carl Schmidt, Codices | 9 Comments