The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 1
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 2
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 3
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 4
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 5
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 6
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 7
The Apocalypse of Esdras - photo 8

The Apocalypse of Esdras

Lot 23
11.06.2024 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 20 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1214888
Lot 23 | The Apocalypse of Esdras
Estimate value
£ 20 000 – 30 000
The Apocalypse of Esdras
The Apocalypse of Esdras, in Ge'ez, decorated manuscript on vellum [Ethiopia, c.1350-1450]
Perhaps the oldest surviving manuscript of the Apocalypse of Esdras.

205 x 280mm. 128 leaves, complete, mostly in gatherings of 8, modern European pencil foliation followed here, two columns of 22 lines written in black ink in Ge'ez in a large and elegant square script, some simple marginal signs and more complex caesura marks, three harägs, or ornamental top pieces in black, red and yellow marking the three major divisions of the text (slight water damage at the bottom of each leaf). Bound between 18th-century plain wooden boards.

Provenance:
(1) The manuscript has no colophon, but David Appleyard places the script firmly within the tradition of 'The Square Script' of Uhlig's period II (mid-14th to mid-15th century).

(2) Sam Fogg, London, acquired in December 1993 by:

(3) The Schøyen Collection, MS 1748.

Contents:
The Apocalypse of Esdras, Book I, beginning 'In the third year after our city of Zion fell I was in Babylon, I Sut'el who am called Ezra', ff.1-46v; Book II, beginning 'And Josiah brought the paschal lamb unto his God in Jerusalem and slaughtered the lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month', ff.47-83; Book III, beginning 'In the first year of the reign of Cyrus King of Persia when [his] word was done and he commanded through the mouth of Jeremiah, Cyrus the King of Persia rejoiced in his heart [...]', ff.83-127v; blank f.128.

The Apocalypse of Esdras is one of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament, the complete versions of which are best preserved only in the Ethiopian translations. The various books of Esdras are conventionally known by the numbers given to them in the medieval Latin Vulgate Bibles, which is the opposite order in which they are copied in the present manuscript.

Book I in the present manuscript, Apocryphal 2 Esdras 3-14, is not in the Septuagint and is called 4 Esdras in the Vulgate. Christians added chapters 1-2 and 15-16 of the work as known in Latin. It is an apocalyptic vision ascribed to the 5th-century character central to the two other books, a complaint about the subjugation of the Jews to the Romans, projected back into the situation of the capticity in Babylon. It must have existed in Greek, likely as a translation from Hebrew, but neither the Hebrew nor the Greek versions are extant except for late retroversions from Latin. According to Appleyard, this manuscript is 'as old or older than any of those previously used to edit the Ethiopic text'.

Book II, Apocryphal 1 Esdras, is 1 Esdras in the Septuagint and 3 Esdras in the Vulgate. It is an adaptation of the canonical Ezra using parts of Chronicles and Nehemiah, along with a new story about Darius' bodyguard and the wisdom of Zerubbabel.

Book III has the incipit of the canonical Ezra and includes the canonical Nehemiah (Vulgate 1 and 2 Esdras). It is a late part of the Jewish Scriptures, which describes the return of the Israelites from Babylonian exile and the rebuilding of the Temple and city wall.

There are around 21 manuscripts known of the first Book in the present manuscript, mostly dating from the 17th-19th centuries, but the remaining texts are not well represented.




Literature

Collins, J.J. and D.C. Harlow, eds., Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview, 2012, fig. 22.
Place of origin:Africa
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
11.06.2024 – 11.06.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>