It is neither more nor less than the oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible discovered. Next May, Sotheby’s puts it up for auction in New York, turning it into a the most valuable printed manuscript ever auctioned.
It is known as “The Codex Sassoon”named after its former owner, the famous collector david solomon sassoon. And it really is a unique piece, as Sotheby’s senior adviser is in charge of remembering, Sharon Liberman Mintz:
“This is a Bible written over a millennium ago, around the year 900, in the land of Israel or Syria,” Liberman reveals. “Prior to this, only parts of the Bible had appeared in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And after that, after that period, which ended around the first or second century of the Common Era, there are no books of the Bible, no biblical text, until the year 900. Until the end of the 9th century, beginning of the 10th century. , when this Bible was written.”
This Bible, made up of 24 books according to experts “in a surprisingly good state of preservation”, is expected to be sold at auction for a price of between 30 to 50 million euros. Potential buyers are countless, according to Sotheby’s, and range from private collectors to specialized institutions, regardless of their beliefs.
Source: Euronews Español
