260258 - Old African Ethiopian Coptic bible or manuscript - Ethiopia
Rare Ethiopian Coptic bible or manuscript in leather priest bag - Ethiopia.
This manuscript measures approximately 20 cm x 25 cm and 23 cm x 18 cm with leather bag.
This manuscript is dated mid of the 19th century and comes with a certificate of authenticity.
This ancient manuscript with 216 pages or 108 leaves is written on both sides on goatskin/vellum in black and red with 8 pages with handpainted coptic paintings and 5 little hand painting coptic paintings, all in classical Ethiopian script, known as Ge'ez, which survives today only as a church language. Ge'ez dates back to 3000 years BC and in the 5th century the entire Bible was translated from Greek into Ge'ez. The so-called Garima Gospels form the world's oldest illustrated Christian Bible, was written in Ge'ez in the 6th century and is still in an Ethiopian monastery.
The wooden endpapers of the Bible offered here are made of almond wood and for this copy covered with red dyed sheepskin and provided with a handmade blind embossing. The leaves were cut from goatskin and folded in half.