Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, purchased for $38.1 million

[public hermit]

A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38 million in New York on Wednesday, becoming among the most expensive books ever bought.

The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former US Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses on behalf of the American Friends of ANU and donated to ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, where it will join the collection, the Sotheby’s auction house said in statement.

Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, purchased for $38.1 million

Rare, 1,100-year-old manuscript to be displayed at ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv after former US envoy to Romania submits winning bid

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[HTacianas]

A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38 million in New York on Wednesday, becoming among the most expensive books ever bought.

The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former US Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses on behalf of the American Friends of ANU and donated to ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, where it will join the collection, the Sotheby’s auction house said in statement.

Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, purchased for $38.1 million

Rare, 1,100-year-old manuscript to be displayed at ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv after former US envoy to Romania submits winning bid

www.timesofisrael.com

I wonder if they're going to allow it to be studied. That would have been around the time of the development of the Masoretic Text. It would be interesting to see what variances are in it.

 

[durangodawood]

I wonder if they're going to allow it to be studied. That would have been around the time of the development of the Masoretic Text. It would be interesting to see what variances are in it.

Youd think (well, I would), that the museum would publish digital images of the document for scholarly purposes.

 

[rambot]

Any relation to Vidal?

 

[HTacianas]

Youd think (well, I would), that the museum would publish digital images of the document for scholarly purposes.

Hopefully they will. In a few years we can all have a look at it.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I wonder if they're going to allow it to be studied. That would have been around the time of the development of the Masoretic Text. It would be interesting to see what variances are in it.

I would expect by now there would be photocopy, no?

 

[dzheremi]

Any relation to Vidal?

Actually, probably, albeit very distant! Sassoon (in a few different spelling variations) is a very well-known Iraqi Jewish last name and is shared in common with some local Kurdish people from the area around Lake Van in upper Mesopotamia (modern Turkey), which points to that area (now identified with the town of Sason, in Batman Province of Turkey) being the common origin of both the Iraqi Jewish Sassoons and the Kurdish Sassoons. The Iraqi Jewish Sassoons were treasurers to the Pashas of Iraq for a time, but eventually moved to Mumbai, India, and from there eventually to England. Vidal Sassoon, the famous hair stylist, was distantly related to the family via his father, who was born in Thessaloniki, Greece.