In a Monastery Library: Preserving Codex Sinaiticus and the Greek Written Heritage

McKendrick, Scot

ISBN 10: 0712349405 / ISBN 13: 9780712349406

Published by British Library, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 59K52_54_0712349405

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In a Monastery Library: Preserving Codex Sinaiticus and the Greek Written Heritage
• Publisher: British Library
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712349405
• ISBN 13: 9780712349406
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus at the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in 1859 was a major archaeological event. Created 1600 years ago, it contains the earliest complete copy of the New Testament, and, arguably, the entire Bible, making it the direct ancestor of all subsequent editions of the Bible. How this priceless treasure came to be, how it managed to survive for so long, and what’s next for this cornerstone of Western civilization is the absorbing story Scot McKendrick spins in In a Monastery Library.
The fabrication and binding of the Codex was, as McKendrick shows, a hugely ambitious project necessitating a complex, time-consuming, and costly production process. Separate leaves of the Codex now reside in Egypt, Russia, Germany, and England, and the history of its dispersal is as intriguing as the story of its origin. McKendrick ends with a look at the book’s future, detailing plans to bring the surviving pages back together and to make them available digitally. The only book to accessibly relate the dramatic tale of this rare artifact, In a Monastery Library is a bracing account of a critical piece of world history.

About the Author

Scot McKendrick is head of Western manuscripts at the British Library. His previous books include Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts, 1400–1500 and Bible as Book: Transmissions of the Greek Text, both published by the British Library.