1500-Year-Old Egyptian Bible Manuscript Up for Auction... Expected to Sell for Up to 5 Billion Won

"Documents from the Early Spread of Christianity Around the Mediterranean"

An Egyptian Bible manuscript, considered one of the "oldest books in the world," is going up for auction.

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex, an early Christian manuscript written in Coptic on papyrus by a scribe from a northern Egyptian monastery over 40 years around the 3rd to 4th century. The estimated auction price is 2 to 3 million pounds (approximately 2.51 billion to 5.27 billion KRW).
[Image source=Christie's Auction House]

On the 9th (local time), the British daily The Telegraph reported that the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, a Christian liturgical book believed to have been written in the 3rd to 4th century, is scheduled to be auctioned at Christie's in London on the 11th. The estimated auction price is between 2 million and 3 million pounds (approximately 2.51 billion to 5.27 billion KRW).

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex, an early Christian document, was written in Coptic on papyrus over 40 years by a monk in Egypt and consists of 104 pages. For unknown reasons, it was buried for about 1,500 years before being discovered, and it is known to contain parts of the Books of Peter and Jonah.

Eugenio Donadoni, a books and manuscripts expert at Christie's, described the Crosby-Schøyen Codex as "one of the three discoveries of the 20th century that revolutionized Christian studies." This is because it is a material from the time when Christianity was first spreading around the Mediterranean, and it shows the early Christians who, while still deeply engaged in Jewish traditions, defined themselves as "Christians" distinct from those traditions.

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex was held by the University of Mississippi until 1981 but then passed through several hands. Since 1988, it has been owned by Martin Schøyen, a Norwegian collector of books and manuscripts. Schøyen plans to offer 61 items in the auction, including the Crosby-Schøyen Codex and a 13th-century Hebrew manuscript. He owns one of the world's largest manuscript collections, with about 20,000 copies, including over 400 related to the Bible.