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6 Oct, 4 tweets, 2 min read
"Perversely, those looters' inscriptions are good legal provenance, from the market's point of view. You need only look at the auction results."

This is a long but absolutely fascinating and important thread, which hasn't had anything like the recognition it deserves.
HT @hchesner for flagging this up.
“This book was taken out of a large Joss House in "Chin Kiang Foo" - the day after it was taken. 21st July 1842. S.F.”
"Extracts from the Koran torn from the walls of the Mosque of St Sophia at the taking of the Castle of the Morea, October 1828, by W. F. Blair."

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More from @incunabula

Incunabula Profile picture
3 Oct
Come for the posture, stay for the trousers: Captain Godfrey Rodrigues' "Correct Posture - It's Meaning and It's Results", printed in Chicago, 1925. Our hero, Capt Rodrigues, was apparently known as "The Tsar of Posture", although not, alas, as "The Tsar of The Possessive Its"... ImageImage
The book recounts the philosophy of physical health (basically, don't overstrain, but take lots of long country walks while holding in your stomach) of Captain Rodrigues, who is, as you'd expect, featured prominently in all his *HAWT* glory... Image
To add spice though, various other muscled athletic men are shown, also shirtless of course - with dire warnings that they all died young due to excessive exercise and their failure to adopt Captain Rodrigues's rules of good posture... Image
Read 4 tweets
Incunabula Profile picture
3 Oct
In which country's households are you most likely to find a copy of the Talmud? Surprisingly, the answer is probably not Israel.
The country where the Talmud is ubiquitous, where it's quoted by sports stars & celebrities, where it's sold at station kiosks, is... SOUTH KOREA. 1/
Across all editions, the Talmud may be the single bestselling book title in Korea, behind only the Bible.
More than 800 different books, from more than 300 publishers, are returned when you search for “Talmud” in the National Digital Library of Korea. 2/
In 2011, the Korean Ambassador to Israel, was interviewed on Israeli TV. “I want to show you this,” he told the host. It was a paperback book with “Talmud” written in Korean and English on the cover, along with a cartoon sketch of a Biblical character with a robe & staff. 3/
Read 15 tweets
Incunabula Profile picture
2 Oct
THE CHINESE JESUS
A set of thirty Chinese Christian prints showing scenes from the Life of Jesus, likely printed at the Zikawei press in Shanghai, at the end of the 19th century. These posters were intended for use in missionary schools to promote teachings from the Bible. 1/
Six of the posters - two examples are shown here - have inset vignettes showing Chinese people as part of the biblical scene or associated tales. 2/
The remaining 24 posters depict scenes from Jesus’s life and ministry with Chinese subtitles. Generally all the figures, Jesus included, have clearly Chinese features. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Incunabula Profile picture
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
Incunabula Profile picture
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
Incunabula Profile picture
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

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