James Robinson, The Manichaean Codices

The Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi By James M. Robinson James Clarke & Co., LTD. Expertly researched and meticulously presented, this is the story of the 4th century Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi, their discovery, acquisition and conservation.
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Print Paperback £25.00 Buy ‘The Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi’ (PB) now ISBN: 9780227175040 Specifications: 229x153mm, 342pp Publication: February 2015
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About this Book In 1929, seven Manichaean papyrus codices of the fourth century were discovered during an illicit excavation in the Egyptian desert. Half were acquired by A. Chester Beatty, for his library, and the other half by Carl Schmidt, for the papyrus collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. With special access to the copious files, inventories and correspondence in Berlin, Robinson provides translations of German and French documents to increase access to information previously unavailable to the scholarly community. He narrates the slow and problem-ridden path of the acquisition, conservation and editing of these important works, including their movements between dealers, collectors, scholars and the military in Egypt, London, Dublin, Berlin, Schondorf, Göttingen, Warsaw, Leningrad, Los Angeles, Claremont and Copenhagen.
Contents Abbreviations Preface Abstract
Introduction: The Fate of the Manichaean Codices of Medinet Madi, 1929–1989
Part 1: The Acquisition and Initial Conservation and Editing 1. The Acquisitions of Carl Schmidt 2. The Acquisitions of Chester Beatty 3. The Conservation by Hugo Ibscher 4. Beatty, Ibscher, and Polotsky 5. The Effects of World War II
Part 2: The Conservation by Rolf Ibscher 6. The Conservation of the Material in the State Museums of the Former East Berlin 7. The Conservation of the Material in Schondorf/Göttingen/West Berlin 8. The Conservation of the Material in London/Dublin
Inventories of Individual Codices
Part 3: The Berlin Holdings 9. P15995 Synaxeis 10. P15996 Kephalaia, Volume One 11. P15997 Acts 12. P15998 Letters 13. P15999 Homilies (Berlin Part)
Part 4: The Dublin Holdings 14. The Wooden Covers 15. Codex A: Psalms 16. Codex B: Synaxeis 17. Codex C: Kephalaia, Volume Two 18. Codex D: Homilies (Dublin Part)
Collectors, Dealers, and Scholars Bibliography Index of Names
Extracts Preface » (PDF, 81 KB) Abstract » (PDF, 127 KB) Chapter 2: The Acquisitions of Chester Beatty » (PDF, 257 KB) Chapter 6: The Conservation of the Material in the State Museums of the Former East Berlin » (PDF, 229 KB)
About the Author James M. Robinson is Emeritus Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University in California, where he was founder and director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. As permanent secretary of UNESCO’s International Committee for the Nag Hammadi Codices, he edited The Coptic Gnostic Library, reprinted in five volumes (2000). Among his many publications is The Story of the Bodmer Papyri: From the First Monastery’s Library in Upper Egypt to Geneva and Dublin (James Clarke & Co, 2013).