One of the oldest books is expected to sell at auction for more than 2.6 million dollars

One of the oldest Christian books, the Crosby-Schoen Codex, dates from about 250-350 AD era, containing the First Epistle of Peter and the Book of the Prophet Jonah, is estimated at 2.6-3.8 million dollars at Christie's auction in London this June.

A book from Egypt, which was written at the dawn of Christianity and is considered one of the oldest existing books, will be put up for auction in London in June, UNN writes with reference to Reuters.

Details

According to Christie's, the Crosby-Schoen Codex, written in Coptic on papyrus around 250-350 AD and created in one of the first Christian monasteries, is estimated at $2.6-3.8 million.

“This is the period, the transitional period, when the papyrus scroll begins to transform into the form of a codex,” said Eugenio Donadoni, Christie's senior specialist in medieval and renaissance manuscripts. “So the books as we know them today. And what we have in this book, are the earliest known texts of two books of the Bible”.

104 pages (52 letters) were written by a single scribe over 40 years in a monastery in Upper Egypt and preserved behind Plexiglas. The codex contains the first epistle of Peter and the Book of Jonah.

Donadoni attributed its preservation to Egypt's arid climate, adding that only a few books from the 3rd and 4th centuries have survived to this day. concentrated in Egypt in these very climates,” he said.

The codex is on display at Christie's in New York from April 2 to 9, and will be auctioned in London on June 11.

Addendum

The codex was discovered in Egypt in the 1950s and purchased by the University of Mississippi, where it remained until 1981. Norwegian manuscript collector Dr. Martin Schoen acquired it in 1988 and is now auctioning it off with some other items from his Schoen Collection, one of the largest private collections of manuscripts in the world.

One ​​of the oldest books in existence is expected to fetch over $2.6 million at auction https://t.co/W5Rux7VloY pic.twitter.com /QPg4993MBW

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 3, 2024