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Category Archives: Individual Manuscripts
A New Article on Carl Schmidt and the Antiquities Trade
The coptologist Carl Schmidt (1868-1938) was very active in the antiquities trade. His name is associated with the purchase of many well known manuscripts, including one I’ve discussed here. An important new article on Schmidt has appeared in a journal … Continue reading
New Work on Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209)
2024 has been a good year for the study of Codex Vaticanus. Peter Head at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog just posted a notice of an important new study of the inks in the codex: The article is available open … Continue reading
Posted in Codex Vaticanus, Codicology, Ink
Tagged Codex Vaticanus, Codicology, iron gall ink, manuscripts
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Additional Items from the Schøyen Collection on Sale
Thanks to Alexander Schick for the tip: Earlier this year, Christie’s offered on auction several pieces from the collection of Martin Schøyen. Among the pieces sold was the so-called Crosby-Schøyen codex. Still no word on who bought the book or … Continue reading
Roberta Mazza’s Stolen Fragments
I’ve just finished reading Roberta Mazza’s excellent new book, Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts (Stanford: Redwood Press, 2024). This is a well organized and highly readable book. It tells a story–equal parts … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Bruce Ferrini, Dead Sea Scrolls, Dirk Obbink, Fakes and Forgeries, Green Collection, Lee Biondi, P.Sapph. Obbink, Scott Carroll
Tagged Antiquities Market, archaeology, Bible, books, egypt, history, museum-of-the-bible, papyri, papyrology, roberta-mazza, sappho
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Tiny Inscriptions: The Capitoline Tabula Iliaca
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about miniaturization in the ancient Roman world, especially as it applies to books. For instance, according to Pliny the Elder, “Cicero records that a parchment copy of Homer’s poem The Iliad was enclosed in a nutshell” … Continue reading
Posted in Capitoline Museum, Cologne Mani Codex, Inscriptions
Tagged history, homer, iliad, miniatures, Rome, tabula-iliaca, tabulae-iliacae
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Digital Images of Codex Bobiensis Online
I’m not sure when this happened, but the surviving folia of Codex Bobiensis (or Bobbiensis, CLA 4 465) have been photographed and the images made available online here. Codex Bobiensis is a copy of the Gospel According to Mark and … Continue reading
Posted in Codex Bobiensis
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A Correction and a Codicological Mystery in P.Bodmer 13
I only recently learned of the death, about a year ago now, of Stuart G. Hall (1928-2023). It sent me back to an article that we wrote together. In 2015, I stumbled across grainy black and white photographs of what … Continue reading
Posted in Bodmer composite codex, Bodmer Papyri, Book binding, Codices, Codicology
Tagged codex, Codicology, papyrology, papyrus
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Stichometry 3: Counts for Galatians in Greek Manuscripts
In an earlier post, I set out the evidence used to establish that for ancient Greek and Latin prose writing, a stichos (or versus) was generally equal to 16 syllables. In a subsequent post, I drew attention to the discussion … Continue reading
Posted in Codex Sinaiticus, Stichometry
Tagged Bible, galatians, greek-manuscripts, New Testament, papyrology, Stichometry
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The Sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex and its Cost Over Time
The auction of several items from the collection of Martin Schøyen took place yesterday in London. The highlight of the sale was the so-called Crosby-Schøyen codex, which sold for just over the high end of the estimated price range at … Continue reading
Hugo Ibscher and the Cover of the Berlin Akhmimic Proverbs Codex
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 Book binding, Book History, bookbinding, Codices, history, papyri, papyrus, papyrus-codices, quires, single-quire-codices
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Variant Readings 