MS in Greek on papyrus, Egypt, 3rd c., 1 fragment, 4x4 cm, single column, 7 lines (originally 30 lines) in Greek uncial. Context: Found with MS 2634/2 as pastedown in a book cover, Egypt, ca. 4th c. Only 2 other papyri of the text are known: P. Antin. 13 (4th c.) and P. Oxyrunchus 6 (5th c.).

Provenance: 1. Pastedown in a book cover, Egypt (ca. 4th c.); 2. Antiquity dealer, Cairo (1969); 3. Dr. Anton Fackelmann Sr., Wien, Austria, MS 44/1 (1969-1986); 4. Anton Fackelmann Jr., Steyr, Austria (1986-1998).

Commentary: Oldest witness to the Greek Acta Pauli et Thecla.

Published: M. Gronewald in: ZPE 28(1978) pp. 274-275.

Exhibited: Bibelmuseum, Münster, since 1986.

MS palimpsest on vellum, Syria or Egypt. Text 1 (underlying text): in Syriac, 5th c., 4 ff. 15x23 cm, originally ca. 30x23 cm, 2 columns, 14 lines (originally ca. 28 lines), Syriac estrangela book script. Texts 2-5 (overlying text): In Arabic, Mt. Sinai, ca. 900, 23x15 cm, single column, (22x12 cm), 23-25 lines and 12 long lines in Arabic naskhi book script in old Sinaitic ductus.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1990, green cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Context: Part of Codex Arabicus, MS. Sin. Ar. 514, the famous trilingual quintuple p alimpsest, still at Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai. After Codex Sinaiticus (4th c.) left the library in 1859, Codex Arabicus is, with Codex Syriacus Rescriptus (5th c.), the oldest and most important codex in the monastery.

Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai (6th - 19th c.); 2. Friedrich Grote, Germany (ca. 1900); 3. Walther Adam, Magdeburg and Goslar, S 5 (1918/30-1964); 4. Carl Wilhelm Adam, Goslar (1964-1987); 5. F. Dörling, Hamburg 1.6.1987:35; 6. Wolfgang Görigk, Germany (1989); 7. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.

Commentary: Text 1 is with 4 other Syriac MSS of the 5th c., the earliest extant. The Greek original, sometimes erroneously ascribed to Melito of Sardes, is lost. Mary's departure from this world and assumption into Heaven was first mentioned by Epiphanius in the 370ies. It was condemned as a heretical work in the 6th c. Nevertheless this famous story has been venerated in the Catholic church ever since, and the theme, as coronation of the Virgin in Heaven, has been used over and over again by the world's greatest painters, particularly in the late medieval period and the renaissance. The doctrine was finally dogmatically defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 Nov. 1950.

The text is quite specific about its origins and dissemination: " This was written concerning the six books, each book by two of the apostles. – These books were written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin, and the apostles deposited it with Mar John -. Because we apostles are twelve, it is fitting that twelve copies should be written of this book of my Lady Mary, and that a copy should go with each of us -." (Book 4), and "This volume was translated from Greek into Syriac at Ephesus; and was written out and sent to Mount Sinai; and from Mount Sinai it was transcribed and sent to Jerusalem" (Book 1). This 1st book also quotes a letter from Cyrus, bishop of Jerusalem, sent to the brethren at Mount Sinai "We have made inquiries in Jerusalem concerning the book of the departure of my Lady Mary, but we have not found it. We have found, however, an autograph note of James written thus: The six books which were written about the death of my Lady Mary in the year 345 (=33/34 AD), John the young used to carry them, and Paul and Peter and John the young know where they are, because they went along with them from Jerusalem –". The presence of this oldest witness of the text in Codex Arabicus, right from Mount Sinai, adds some credibility to the account in the text, and calls for some re-evaluations of its origins.

Texts 2-3 are all the earliest extant. Text 5 is unique. This part of the palimpsest contains the lowest layer of script (no. 1) and the uppermost (no. 5). The 5 layers are: 1. Syriac 5th c., 2. Syriac 6th c., 3. Greek ca. 600, 4. Arabic ca. 700, and 5. Arabic ca. 900.

There are 20 MSS from Mt. Sinai in The Schøyen Collection. Besides the monastery's own famous library (4300 MSS), only British Library (8 MSS) and The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (60 MSS, mostly fragments), have comparable holdings. Assfalg: Syrische Handschriften, pp. 215-20, No. 114, S 5.

See also MS 2752, Bible: Jesus saying: Hail my most chosen Apa Chamoul, Egypt, ca. 550-650

MS in Sahidic on vellum, Egypt, 9th c., 1 partial f., 19x22 cm, 2 columns, (17x18 cm), 20 lines remaining in a clubbed Coptic uncial, 7 2-to-3-line initials in red and black.

Context: From a hoard of more than 9000 early Coptic leaves discovered by G. Maspero in 1883 at Deir el-Abiad, the site of the White Monastery near Sohag. Most of the hoard is now in Bibliothèque Nationale, but also in Pierpont Morgan Library, Cambridge University Library and Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Provenance: 1. White Monastery, Sohag, Egypt (9th -19th c.); 2. Bruce Ferrini, Akron, Ohio (1994); 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London, cat. 16(1995):20.

Commentary: The present text is a dialogue between Christ and one or more of the apostles. The Gospel or Revelation or Questions of Bartholomew was probably written in Alexandria in Greek in the 4th c., and translated into Coptic in the 5th or 6th c.

MS in Sahidic on vellum, Egypt, 9th c., 1 f., 34x20 cm, 2 columns, (27x17 cm, column width ca. 8,5 cm), 35 lines in a superb Coptic uncial, large capitals in the margins, penwork arabesques as line-fillers.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1997, blue leatherlike folder, by Aquarius.

Context: Another fragment possibly from the same MS in Laurence Witten cat. 6, no 12.

Provenance: 1. Erik von Scherling(?), Leiden; 2. Laurence Witten, Southport, Connecticut (-1995); 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.

Commentary: This is the only known copy in a standard Sahidic version of this portion of the text. With a complete transcription, with English and Dutch translations, and comparison with the Sahidic- Fayumic Boharic texts.

See also MS 1679, Marcellus (PS): Passio sanctorum Petri et Pauli, Italy, 10th c.

MS in Latin on vellum, France, 1st half of 11th c., lower 3/4 f., 21x16 cm, single column, (15x12 cm), 18 of originally 24 lines in Carolingian minuscule, 16th c. marginalia in cursive script.

Context: Lipsius and Bonnet p.167, line 16-p. 173 line 7.

Provenance: 1. Private collection, France; 2. Quaritch, London.

Commentary: The Passio sanctorum Petri et Pauli, a 2nd c. apocryphal text is to be distinguished from the gnostic Acts of Peter and the orthodox Acts of Paul. The present text concerns Peter, Emperor Nero (54-68) and the prefect Agrippa. Remarkably it includes the famous "Quo Vadis" story, which is not included in the Bible, but is known from this and another longer apocryphal text, the Acta Petri. The words "Quo

MS in Latin on vellum, Italy, late 11th c., 2 ff., 41x26 cm, 2 columns, (31x18 cm), 36 lines in Carolingian minuscule.

Context: Used as a wrapper in a notary's office, dated 1502, in the same hand as the date 1556 on MS 253, with text: "Januen"; and "Prosesus unum D. Laurention de fili sancti in causa episcopum Antionium".

Provenance: 1. Notary's Office, Italy (1502-1556); 2. Bookbinder and restorer, Rome; 3. G L. Mazza, Rome and London

Commentary: Text 2 remains unidentified and is possibly unique

MS in Latin on vellum, England, 1st half of 13th c., 349 ff. (complete), 23x16 cm, single column, 2 columns (1st prologue only), (15x11 cm), 50-53 lines in a very small Gothic book script with contemporary and early marginal glosses, chapter numbers, running titles, and versal initials in red, larger initials in alternate red and blue with red or blue penwork decorations.

Binding: England, 16th c., blindstamped calf over wooden boards, sewn on 5 bands, brass clasps, endleaf and pastedown from a 15th c. London Court Roll, a record of cases from the Court of Common Pleas, and a 16th c. indenture in English of George Jackson.

Provenance: 1. Thomas, Prior of Augustinian Priory of St. Martin, Dover, Kent (14th c.); 2. Augustinian Priory of St. Martin, Dover, Kent (until 1534); 3. Thomas Bailey, bookseller, Holborn, London (1629); 4. Rev. Smith, London (1812); 5. Christie's 24.11.1993:14.

Commentary: A highly unusual Bible. Virtually the only example known from this period in England that is written in a single column.

Exhibited: The Church Congress Exhibition, England, ca. 1880.

MS in Ge'ez on vellum, Ethiopia, ca. 1350-1450, 128 ff. (complete), 28x21 cm, 2 columns, (19x14 cm), 22 lines in square Ge'ez book script, 3 ornamental headpieces (harägs), in black, red and yellow.

Binding: Ethiopia, ca. 18th c., plain wooden boards, chain stitches on 4 sewing stations.

Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg, London.

Commentary: Text 1: The Apocalypse of Esdras is best preserved in the Ethiopian translation. It must have existed in Greek and is thought to be a translation from Hebrew, written at the end of the 1st. c. AD, but neither versions are extant except for late retroversions from Latin. The text was not represented on any of the Dead Sea scrolls, neither were texts 2 and 4. There are known about 21 MSS of text 1, mostly 17th - 19th c. The present codex is possibly the oldest surviving MS of the text.

MS in Ge'ez on vellum, Ethiopia, late 15th c., 2 ff., 19x14 cm, 2 columns, (12x10 cm), 22 lines in Ethiopic Ge'ez, haräg in full colours in intricate patterns with marginal and intercolumnar decorations.

Provenance: 1. Mercier Collection, Paris (1980ies-1998); 2. Sam Fogg, London.

Commentary: A Complete Enoch is only known in the Ethiopic version from 6th c. In Aramaic (on Dead Sea Scrolls), Greek, Coptic, Syriac and Latin, it has only survived in fragments.

Published: Le roi Salomon et les maîtres du regard. Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1992, p. 129.

Exhibited: Musée National des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, 20 Oct. 1992 – 25 Jan. 1993.

See also MS 581, Joseph Legend, the History of Joseph and Jacob Mt. Sinai, Egypt, 14th-16th c.

See also MS 2106, Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Epistolae; comprising the spurious correspondence with St. Paul, Italy, ca. 1440