The Crosby-Schøyen Codex, an important early Christian book containing five distinct texts all copied by the same scribe, is going up for auction in June at Christie’s in London. If you have a spare £2-£3 million, don’t miss this opportunity to own a key example of the birth of Christian culture and literature.
Most news coverage of this 1700-year-old book focuses on claims that it includes the oldest complete text of two biblical books: Jonah and I Peter. But the ancient manuscript is all the more fascinating if you look at the other documents it includes, the social and political context that produced it and the theology it reveals.
The codex, currently owned by Norwegian collector Martin Schøyen, contains 104 pages and was found in Egypt in 1952 among some other manuscripts buried in a jar in the sand. The book is made of papyrus and written in Coptic, an Egyptian language in which many important early Christian texts are preserved.
