Africa, Ethiopia, ca. 18th to 19th century CE. A handwritten, vellum Coptic Bible in Ge'ez (Ethiopic) with a beautiful color illustration of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child in a distinctive Ethiopian style near its front page. The pages are bound between two thick, dark wooden covers and the binding is woven natural string. The names of the saints in the text are highlighted with red marks. Size: 3.8" L x 6.25" W x 6.95" H (9.7 cm x 15.9 cm x 17.7 cm)

The Ge'ez language is what most of the literature of Christian Abyssinia is written in and comes from the ancient Aksumitic Empire. Ethiopia can lay a claim to being one of the oldest Christian countries and they practice a distinctive form of the religion, embodied in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which has a large and diverse Biblical canon, much of which would not be familiar to other Christians. Books like these are difficult to date; the oldest known are from the 13th century.

Provenance: private Ventura County, California, USA collection

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#129955

The binding is fragile with the wooden covers repaired with string, and the page edges show extensive signs of wear on the edges. Some of the pages have tears and losses, although most are quite readable and the illustrated page is in nice condition.