1. This is the third post in a series in which I document new biographical material related to the collector Friedrich Grote (you can find the first two posts here and here). This post is about two letters by Grote that Vincent Engelhardt (Leiden University) found in the Central Archive of the Berlin State Museums… Continue reading New Materials on Grote (Part 3)
Category: Provenance
New Materials on Grote (Part 2)
1. In July, I published a long article on the biography of the collector of Sinaitic manuscripts Friedrich Grote (1861-1922).1 Grote can be described as one of the most underestimated manuscript collectors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He played a central role in the dispersion of the handwritten cultural heritage of St… Continue reading New Materials on Grote (Part 2)
Miscellaneous Identifications II: The Christian Arabic Undertext of the Mingana-Lewis Palimpsest
1. This is the second post in a series in which I document identifications associated with the work of early Christian Arabic scribes (you can find the first post here). Quite inadvertently, the material that I would like to present in this post has even led to three and not just one identification: the identification… Continue reading Miscellaneous Identifications II: The Christian Arabic Undertext of the Mingana-Lewis Palimpsest
“Simonides Is Still Alive!”: An Interview with Author Rüdiger Schaper about His Biography of a Manuscript Forger
1. Hunting for rare books, collecting mania, true forgeries, falsified history, fictional elements in biographical writing – these are just some of the topics I talked about with author Rüdiger Schaper. He has dedicated a biography to the famous forger Constantine Simonides.1 After the publication of Codex Sinaiticus by Tischendorf, Simonides went public with the… Continue reading “Simonides Is Still Alive!”: An Interview with Author Rüdiger Schaper about His Biography of a Manuscript Forger
If You Have Some Millions to Spare …: The Sale of Codex Sinaiticus Zosimi Rescriptus
1. “If you have some millions to spare, the bidding starts in less than an hour!” In this and similar ways, many colleagues drew attention on social media to Christie’s Live Auction 23056 on 11 June, which was entitled: “Manuscript Masterpieces from the Schøyen Collection”. This auction comprised 62 lots. Among them were enormously important… Continue reading If You Have Some Millions to Spare …: The Sale of Codex Sinaiticus Zosimi Rescriptus
Collecting Clues: A Forged Colophon and the Trade in Sinaitic Manuscripts
1. Imagine an old manuscript falls into your hands. You realise it is valuable and you want to turn it into money. You may even know someone potentially interested in buying the manuscript. Its monetary value is directly related to its age. The only problem is you don’t know exactly how old the manuscript is.… Continue reading Collecting Clues: A Forged Colophon and the Trade in Sinaitic Manuscripts
Membra Dispersa Sinaitica: Looking Back on One Year
1. Today is the 6th International Provenance Research Day, which provides a good opportunity to look back on the first year of Membra Dispersa Sinaitica and give a kind of annual report of the project. I should emphasise here that it is (so far) not supported by any external funding and is run on my… Continue reading Membra Dispersa Sinaitica: Looking Back on One Year
Miscellaneous Identifications I: A New Fragment by the Scribe Antony David of Baghdad
1. The collection of Arabic manuscripts from St Catherine’s Monastery is of particular importance for our understanding of early Christian Arabic manuscript production. According to André Binggeli, it functions like a prism through which we must look at the production of manuscripts not only on Mount Sinai, but also in other places with which the… Continue reading Miscellaneous Identifications I: A New Fragment by the Scribe Antony David of Baghdad
New Materials on Grote (Part 1)
1. Recently, I came across an online auction that was held almost a year ago to sell three curious photographs and a court document. The Amsterdam auction house Zwiggelaar offered the material as lot 1492 on 6 December 2022. The description states, among other things: “Depicts Grote, notorious collector of Christian Oriental manuscripts” (fig. 1).… Continue reading New Materials on Grote (Part 1)
Stray Leaves from an Ancient Triodion
A guest post by Georgi Parpulov* 1. A triodion is a liturgical book containing hymns for the church festivals of the “movable” cycle, i.e. those whose date changes from year to year depending on the date of Easter. The earliest surviving manuscript of this kind seems to be MS Athens, National Library of Greece, 626, copied… Continue reading Stray Leaves from an Ancient Triodion