Category Archives: Codices

BnF Copte 135E and Codex Construction

Posted on September 27, 2020 by

After a recent conversation about early Coptic codices with Alin Suciu, I spent some time with the several distinct manuscripts catalogued under the designation “Copte 135” at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the so-called Akhmim Papyri. There are some really … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Codices, Codicology | Leave a comment

The Cotton Genesis

Posted on May 10, 2020 by

I was reminded this week about one of the wonderful early Christian manuscripts that really didn’t get the treatment it deserved in my book God’s Library–the so-called Cotton Genesis. This small parchment codex was part of a collection amassed by … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Codicology, Cotton Genesis | 2 Comments

Publication of the Tchacos-Ferrini Mathematical Codex

Posted on January 2, 2020 by

I see that later this month we can expect the publication of the Tchacos-Ferrini mathematical codex (LDAB 10719, now dubbed by the editors P.Math.). This codex travelled the antiquities market along with a papyrus codex of Exodus in Greek, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Codicology, Find Stories, Tchacos-Ferrini Codices, Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus Codex, Tchacos-Ferrini Math Codex, Tchacos-Ferrini Pauline Epistles Codex | Leave a comment

Arthur Hunt, Harold Idris Bell, and Edward Maunde Thompson on the Date of Codex Sinaiticus

Posted on October 8, 2019 by

When it comes to the question of assigning palaeographic dates to Greek literary manuscripts of the Roman period, British papyrologists in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries seem to show some different tendencies. One of the most respected of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Codex Sinaiticus, Codices, Palaeography | 8 Comments

Palaeographic Dating: Graphic Difference Does Not Always Mean Chronological Difference

Posted on September 22, 2019 by

In a few days, I hope to complete a post on the date of Codex Sinaiticus. It has been educational for me to revisit the arguments for the dating of this codex. One quotation that I found especially eye-opening was … Continue reading →

Posted in Codex Sinaiticus, Codices, Palaeography | 5 Comments

A New Article on Palaeographic Dating of Codices

Posted on August 18, 2019 by

The latest issue of Journal for the Study of the New Testament contains a group of articles that emerged from an SBL session in 2016 arranged by Roberta Mazza on problems of dating ancient manuscripts. In addition to Roberta’s introductory … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Codicology, Palaeography | 5 Comments

The Date of P.Köln 10.406 (P118)

Posted on May 23, 2019 by

One of the habits of papyrologists and New Testament scholars that I’ve tried to highlight over the last decade is the practice of dating the handwriting of ancient manuscripts by comparing them to other samples of handwriting that are themselves … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, P.Bodmer II, Palaeography | 1 Comment

P.Bodmer 58 and Ancient Instructions for Preparing Parchment

Posted on May 14, 2019 by

While the Bodmer Papyri are best known for the subset of Greek and Coptic codices that Martin Bodmer acquired from Egyptian sources through the Cypriot dealer Phocion Tano in the 1950s, there are other early Christian materials in the collection … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Bodmer Papyri, Book binding, Codices, Monastery of Epiphanius, Thomas Phillipps | 7 Comments

Newsreel Footage of Codex Sinaiticus from 1933

Posted on February 13, 2019 by

The major portions of Codex Sinaiticus that now reside in the British Library were bound into a volume by Douglas Cockerell after the leaves were closely studied by H.J.M. Milne and T.C. Skeat in their classic book, Scribes and Correctors … Continue reading →

Posted in British Museum, Codex Sinaiticus, Codices, Videos | 5 Comments

On the Dispersion of Libraries

Posted on December 26, 2018 by

I’ve had the break-up of libraries on my mind lately for several reasons. At one level, this phenomenon is never far from my thoughts. For years now, I’ve been working on the somewhat scrappy remains of what must have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Chester Beatty Papyri, Chester Beatty Pauline Epistles, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 9 Comments