Category Archives: Manuscript Collections

A Dead Sea Scrolls Photo Shoot from the 1950s

Among the PAM negatives of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is a short sequence of photos that puzzled me when I encountered them last year. The photos occur in a sequence taken in June 1956, PAM 42.139-141. They are described … Continue reading

Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Khalil Eskander Shahin (Kando) | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Online Images of Early Christian Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Bodleian Library had made available nice color digital images of the Hawara Homer papyrus roll. They have also added images of several early Christian manuscripts. I provide links to the images at … Continue reading

Posted in Bodleian Library, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 5 Comments

Color Images of the Hawara Homer Online

Thanks to Gregg Schwendner for the alert: In 2019, the Bodleian Library at Oxford posted very nice color digital images (with a scale!) of MS. Gr. class. a. 1 (better known as the Hawara Homer), a copy of books 1 … Continue reading

Posted in Bodleian Library, Hawara Homer, Palaeography, William Matthew Flinders Petrie | 1 Comment

More Stolen Papyri to be Returned to the Egypt Exploration Society

Earlier today, the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) announced the discovery that more papyri “had been removed from the EES collection without authorisation.” This follows other related announcements over the last several months. The first announcement by the EES (25 June … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 6 Comments

Museum of the Bible Papyri in Egypt

From Egypt Today: “CAIRO – 27 January 2021: A large group of Egyptian artifacts that were in the possession of the Holy Bible Museum in Washington, USA, arrived at Cairo International Airport on January 27, as a result of the … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel | 2 Comments

New Facsimiles of the Chester Beatty New Testament Papyri

I had heard rumors a few years ago that a new facsimile edition of the Beatty Biblical Papyri was in the works. It looks like the New Testament papyri have now appeared courtesy of Hendrickson. This is exciting. The volumes … Continue reading

Posted in Chester Beatty Papyri, Codices | 10 Comments

Back When Single-quire Codices Were Strange

Since the discovery and publication of the Nag Hammadi codices, the single-quire codex format has become very familiar to papyrologists and historians of the book. It’s interesting, however, to recall that there was a time when the idea of an … Continue reading

Posted in Book binding, Codices, Codicology, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 2 Comments

More on Dirk Obbink and the Provenance of the Sappho Papyrus

The latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists was just published. It contains an article by C. Michael Sampson, “Deconstructing the Provenances of P.Sapph.Obbink.” The article brings a load of new evidence to bear on the … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 6 Comments

A New Article on P52 in New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies contains an article I wrote on P.Ryl. 3.457, a.k.a. P52, the fragmentary leaf from a codex generally regarded as the earliest surviving copy of the Gospel According to John (and indeed earliest surviving … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Bernard Grenfell, Colin H. Roberts, Eric Turner, New Testament, P.Ryl. 3.457, Palaeography, Rylands Papyri | 3 Comments

Mr. Spock and Qumran

Thanks to Stephen Goranson for drawing my attention to an episode of the television show “In Search of…” that aired on 9 February 1978. The topic of this episode, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, was the Dead Sea Scrolls. The content … Continue reading

Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls | Tagged , | 3 Comments