THE AFRICAN BOOK
Africa has the oldest and most diverse book culture of any continent. Here, in just 6 tweets, is why.

One of only 4 independent inventions of writing on earth - hieroglyphics - is African, as is the first surviving 'book': the Egyptian Book of the Dead. 1/6
The best preserved Roman writing tablets - by far - are all from Africa, as are ALL the earliest New Testament manuscripts on papyrus, and ALL the earliest surviving apocryphal Gospels. The New Testament is an African text. 2/6
The Arabic script was read and written by far more people in Africa than it ever was in the Middle East, and the great libraries at Timbuktu, Chinguetti, Ouadane and other Saharan oases are amongst the most important early manuscript repositories on earth. 3/6
The Ge’ez language in the independent Christian kingdom of Ethiopia gave birth to an illuminated manuscript tradition that flourished earlier - from the 6th century - and continued as living practice longer - until the 20th century - than anything comparable in Europe. 4/6
The first African printing was from woodblocks in Egypt in the 10th century (amuletic 'tarshes'), 5 centuries before Gutenberg. The first printings of any text from the Qur'an and the first printing of any text from the Bible - Psalm 91 - both occurred in 10th century Egypt. 5/6
Movable type printing reached Africa in 1516 with the first Hebrew printing in Morocco. This was 23 years before printing reached Central America (Mexico), 38 years before Russia, 65 years before South America (Peru), and 122 years before North America (in Massachusetts). 6/6
6 more reasons to celebrate Africa's incomparable book culture:
The Greek Septuagint, the first and by far the most important translation of the Old Testament, was made in Africa. It was translated by 72 Jewish scholars in Alexandra between the 3rd and the 2nd century BC. 7/12
Papermaking in sub-Saharan Africa is older than it is in Europe. Sea-faring Arab merchants brought the knowledge of papermaking to Madagascar around the 10th century, and taught it to the Antemoro people of SE Madagascar. Antemoro paper is still made there today. 8/12
The Old Nubian language is attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It was used throughout the kingdom of Makuria (today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt). The language - and its distinctive script - is preserved in more than a hundred manuscripts. 9/12
The extraordinary Cameroon polymath Ibrahim Njoya not only invented an indigenous African script, but also gave rise to an independent uniquely African manuscript tradition. This is a portrait of King Mbouombouo, plate 33 from the original folio "Histoire des Bamoun". 10/12
Since 1830, at least 27 African scripts have been invented in West Africa alone. In fact, over the last two centuries, no other region on earth can rival West Africa for the dynamism of its indigenous writing traditions. This is the Vai script of Liberia, created in 1832. 11/12
The great Namibian artist John Muafangejo blended personal, political & religious themes with lengthy & tightly integrated woodcut texts. The results - unique in the 20th century - are reminiscent of 15th century European blockbooks, at once book and art at the same time. 12/12

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More from @incunabula

6 Sep
European civilization is built on ham and cheese, which allowed protein to be stored throughout the icy winters.

Without this, urban societies in most of central Europe would simply not have been possible.

This is also why we have hardback books. Here's why. 1/ ImageImage
Cheese meant female sheep & cows were usually more valuable than male ones which were accordingly slaughtered young as they were not worth feeding through the winter. The skins of these young animals was used to make vellum, giving us the basic material of the European book. 2/ Image
Vellum tends to buckle & ripple, it doesn't lie absolutely flat like paper. So it was bound between heavy wooden boards to keep it flat - this is the origin of the hardback book, a book format - expensive, hard to make, & prone to damage - almost never seen outside Europe. 3/ Image
Read 48 tweets
5 Sep
An exquisite Syriac miniature Gospel manuscript, just 64 x 50 mm, likely written in Aleppo in the late 17th century.

144 folios of microscopic Syriac script in brown ink. Some titles in Hebrew, and two Arabic inscriptions at the beginning and end of the manuscript. 1/
The ms also contains a series of intriguing diagrammatic designs & carpet pages. Made up of 5 squares across and 7 squares high, these grids have been outlined in red ink. Inside most of the corners of the individual squares are small golden circles with black outlines. 2/
This manuscript has been in Europe since the 18th century. On the front pastedown is the armorial bookplate of the Rev. Sir George Lee (1767-1827), 6th (and last) Baron Hartwell, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire. 3/
Read 7 tweets
3 Sep
On August 24, Norwegian police seized 100 cuneiform inscriptions and other antiquities from the collection of Martin Schøyen, apparently at the behest of the Iraqi government. Included is his "Tower of Babel" stele.
Morgenbladet report here (sub. needed):
morgenbladet.no/kultur/2021/09…
This is Schøyen MS 2063, the so-called "Tower of Babel" stele.
schoyencollection.com/history-collec…
It will be interesting to read more about this from other sources, and indeed to hear - as we likely will in due course - from Martin Schøyen himself. Norwegian press reports on Martin Schøyen are not infrequently slanted to present him & his collection in an unfavourable light.
Read 7 tweets
31 Aug
The answer is on your sandwich: central European civilization is built on ham and cheese, which allowed protein to be stored through the winter. 1/4
Cheese meant female sheep & cows were usually more valuable than male ones which were accordingly slaughtered young as they were not worth feeding through the winter. The skins of these young animals was used to make vellum, giving us the basic material of the European book. 2/4
Vellum tends to buckle & ripple, it doesn't lie absolutely flat like paper. So it was bound between heavy wooden boards to keep it flat - this is the origin of the hardback book, a book format - expensive, hard to make, & prone to damage - almost never seen outside Europe. 3/4
Read 38 tweets
8 Aug
The Tigray People's Liberation Front [TPLF] has seized control of Lalibela, a holy site for millions of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, and home to 11 of the famed medieval rock churches that were carved out of solid bedrock 9 centuries ago.
edition.cnn.com/2021/08/06/afr…
"Fighters from Ethiopia’s Tigray region have seized control of Lalibela, a Unesco World Heritage site and home to famous rock-hewn churches, as the nine-month conflict spreads beyond the north of the country."
ft.com/content/0dcd8b…
"The deputy mayor of Lalibela, Mandefro Tadesse, told the BBC that the town was under the control of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), residents were fleeing and he was concerned about the safety of the historic churches."
theartnewspaper.com/news/tigray-fo…
Read 8 tweets
7 Aug
It's fascinating the way PRINTED 20th century Ethiopian liturgical books so closely follow the style and layout of the still living Ge'ez manuscript tradition, in the same way that the first Western incunables in the 15th century mirrored their manuscript predecessors. 1/
Orit - Octateuch - Ge'ez & Amharic, 1970. 2/
The Liturgy - Anaphora of the Ethiopian Church - Ge'ez & Amharic. 3/
Read 6 tweets

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