261117 - Rare Antique Ethiopian Travel Coptic bible or manuscript - Ethiopia.
A rare handwritten Travel Bible or Manuscript in Ge’ez.
This manuscript measures approximately 8 cm x 7.5 cm and 250 cm long with 2 wooden covers.
Important ancient Ethiopian religious manuscript written in Ge’ez script (traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church).
The manuscript appears likely to date from the late 18th or early 19th century. The whole has remained in its original state of conservation.
This ancient manuscript is written on both sides on goatskin/vellum in black and red 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.
A rare collector's item, ideal for collectors of Oriental manuscripts, Christian art from Africa, religious ethnography, or ancient bibliophilia.