The international auction house “Christie’s” announced that an ancient Egyptian manuscript will be put for sale at a public auction to be held in London in the coming months. This manuscript, known as the “Crosby Schøyen,” is one of the world’s oldest known books.
This manuscript dates back to an early period in Christian history, written in Coptic language on parchment. It is considered one of the earliest Christian liturgical manuscripts, estimated to be between 250 and 350 AD.
The manuscript is set to be sold at the upcoming public auction in London, with an expected selling price ranging between 2.6 and 3.8 million dollars. The manuscript contains the First Epistle of Peter and the Book of Jonah, written over a period of 40 years by a single scribe in a monastery in Upper Egypt.
The preservation of this manuscript is attributed to the dry climate in Egypt. Experts say that only a few books dating back to the third and fourth centuries remain today.
The manuscript was discovered in Egypt in the 1950s, acquired by Mississippi State University, and later obtained by Norwegian manuscript collector Martin Schøyen in 1988. He is now selling it at public auction along with some other rare artifacts from his private collection.
