Category Archives: Manuscript Collections

The EES and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri “Card” System

One of the issues emerging from the letter and documents released by Mike Holmes regarding the sale of Oxyrhynchus manuscripts has to do with the “card catalog” system for organizing the unpublished Oxyrhynchus papyri, which was mentioned in the statement … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 21 Comments

Dirk Obbink and the Oxyrhynchus “Distribution” Papyri

There is an interesting twist with the developing story of the alleged attempt by Dirk Obbink to sell Oxyrhynchus papyri owned by the Egypt Exploration Society. It appears that he had some prior experience selling Oxyrhynchus papyri that he did … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 29 Comments

Revisiting Some of Scott Carroll Comments in Light of the “First Century” Mark Purchase Agreement

My last post looked into a couple questions raised by the recently released purchase agreement between Hobby Lobby and Dirk Obbink regarding so-called “First Century” Mark. In this post, I want to explore how these new revelations might demystify some … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 17 Comments

The “First Century” Mark Purchase Agreement: Some Initial Questions

The letter and documents provided by Mike Holmes in my previous post appear to provide confirmation of what many have suspected since the publication of P.Oxy. 83.5345, the so-called “First Century” Mark fragment: This papyrus and other Christian manuscripts in … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Mummies, Mummy cartonnage, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 30 Comments

“First Century” Mark, Dirk Obbink, and Hobby Lobby

I am pasting below an e-mail I and several other people received this afternoon from Mike Holmes regarding P.Oxy. 5345, the so-called First Century Mark and other Oxyrhynchus fragments allegedly sold by Dirk Obbink: [Update: For some initial reactions, see … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 36 Comments

The New York Public Library and P52

There was a rather depressing article in the New York Times about the New York Public Library a few days ago. But reading the story brought back some fond memories for me. I first visited the main branch of the library … Continue reading

Posted in Adolf Deissmann, P.Ryl. 3.457, Palaeography, Rylands Papyri | Leave a comment

P.Bodmer 58 and Ancient Instructions for Preparing Parchment

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 | 8 Comments

An Oxyrhynchus Manuscript of Romans

In light of the recent report on unpublished early Christian manuscripts from the Oxyrhynchus collection, it may be worth revisiting an old video. In 2006, the PBS television program Nova: ScienceNow presented a segment on the use of multispectral imaging (MSI) … Continue reading

Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 2 Comments

Kenyon’s Editions of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri Online

In addition to digital images of many of their manuscripts, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin has also made available the text and plates of Frederic Kenyon’s editions of the Beatty Biblical Papyri. As I have noted before, these volumes … Continue reading

Posted in Chester Beatty Papyri | 11 Comments

Pachomian Letters

Among the images recently posted online at the Chester Beatty Library are a number of copies of the writings of the Egyptian monk Pahom (usually called by his Latinized name, Pachomius) and his followers. Pachomius established a monastery near Faw … Continue reading

Posted in Bodmer Papyri, Chester Beatty Papyri | 2 Comments