Large 27 cm – African Ethiopian Coptic bible or manuscript – Ethiopia. – 1850

Large Ethiopian Coptic bible or manuscript - Ethiopia.This manuscript measures approximately 27.5 cm x 21 cm x 7.5 cm and 2.4 kilo.This manuscript is dated mid of the 19th century and comes with a certificate of authenticity.This ancient manuscript with 352 pages or 176 leaves is written on both sides on goatskin/vellum in black and red with 14 pages with a multi-coloured top, 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, i.e. a relief print applied with a red-hot handmade iron stamp. The leaves were cut from goatskin and folded in half. From each goatskin came 2 sheets and therefore 8 pages, For this book 22 skins were used.