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Tag Archives: papyrus
Taking Care of Papyrus Scrolls in Antiquity
The digital edition of a new book has recently become available: The volume is the result of a workshop back in 2022 in which I was fortunate enough to participate. It was a somewhat unusual seminar in the sense that … Continue reading
Posted in Book Trade in Antiquity, Voluminology
Tagged Book History, papyrology, papyrus, papyrus-rolls
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The Sarcophagus of the Muses from Isola Sacra: Manuscripts and Readers
I’ve written before about the reopening of the museum at Ostia Antica in 2024. One of my favorite displays there involves material from what is now known as Tomb E 200 from Isola Sacra–an interesting sarcophagus with equally interesting contents. … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeological context, desks, Ostia
Tagged archaeology, art-history, history, Ostia, papyrus, Roman history, Rome
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Pumice, Parchment, and Papyrus
In the latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (2024, just out–table of contents here), I have an article on the use of pumice on papyrus (AAM here). Here is the abstract: Papyrological handbooks published in … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeological context, Book Trade in Antiquity, Voluminology
Tagged books, history, papyrus, Papyrus rolls, Pumice, writing
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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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The Crosby-Schøyen Codex, the Length of kollēmata, and Dates of Codices
The upcoming auction of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex prompted me to revisit the edition of the codex and think a bit about the book’s construction. One datum that didn’t really register with me before I started making papyrus rolls is the … Continue reading
Posted in Bodmer Papyri, Codicology, Papyrus Making, Schøyen Collection, Tura Papyri, Voluminology
Tagged Book History, codex, Codicology, papyri, papyrology, papyrus, Papyrus rolls
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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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The Upcoming Sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex (Just How Old is this Book?)
It has been an unusually busy news week for Coptic codices. I posted a few days ago about the Mudil Psalms codex, and then yesterday several news outlets reported that Christie’s will be auctioning off the Crosby-Schøyen codex, a papyrus … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Codices, Codicology, Crosby-Schøyen Codex, Maguid Sameda, Radiocarbon analysis, Schøyen Collection
Tagged antiquities, antiquities-trade, auctions, Codicology, coptic, history, manuscripts, papyrology, papyrus, rare-book-trade, rare-books
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Another Question About Those Possible Stands for Holding Open Papyrus Rolls
In a post back in 2021, I highlighted some interesting artifacts discussed in a 2001 article by Susan Wood. It’s a fascinating piece that focuses on two decorated ivory plaques with curious sets of holes found at Pompeii. The image … Continue reading
The Potential Early Papyrus Codex at Graz
Back in June 2023, several news outlets picked up the story of “the Graz mummy book.” A team at the University of Graz led by Theresa Zammit Lupi had identified P.Hib. 113, a papyrus extracted from mummy cartonnage and published … Continue reading
Posted in Book binding, Codices, Codicology, Ink, Mummy cartonnage, P.Hib. 113
Tagged archaeology, Book History, bookbinding, books, cartonnage, egypt, history, mummy, papyrus
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Manufacturing a Papyrus Roll
Over the years, I’ve had many occasions to talk about the manufacture of papyrus rolls. I typically describe them as fairly simple artifacts–several individual sheets of papyrus pasted together to form a roll. And a papyrus roll is relatively simple … Continue reading
Posted in Book Trade in Antiquity, Papyrus Making, Voluminology
Tagged ancient-egypt, books, egypt, papyrus, papyrus-rolls
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Variant Readings 