But that was it, full stop., The book, which measures about 12 by 14 inches and weighs 26 pounds, is housed in an unprepossessing early 20th-century brown leather binding. Copied out on roughly 400 large parchment sheets, it contained the complete text of the Hebrew Bible, written in square letters similar to those of the Torah scrolls in any synagogue today. to the first century A.D. Then came what scholars describe as nearly 700 years of silence, with only a few fragments of text surviving. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Codex Sassoon has long held a revered and fabled place in the pantheon of surviving historic documents and is undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history, Richard Austin, Sothebys global head of books and manuscripts, said in a news release on Wednesday announcing the auction. "We loved the brand, hated the business model," CEO says of bankrupt company whose assets Overstock recently purchased. There are older religious manuscripts, like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex, which is missing many pages, but the Codex Sassoon is the oldest and most complete. In 2021, a rare copy of the U.S. constitution sold for $43 million. Since Sassoon (who died in 1942) purchased the Codex, it has appeared at auction only twice, both times at Sothebys: In 1978, when Sassoons heirs sold it to the British Rail Pension Fund for around $320,000 ($1.5 million today), and in 1989 when it fetched $3.2 million, or nearly $8 million today. The manuscript was exhibited at the ANU Museum in March as part of a worldwide tour before the auction. The buyer of the item,. The biblical text, with its calligraphic flourishes, was written by a single scribe. In November 2019, for instance, Hindman set a world record for a first edition by Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species, which sold for $564,500, and this year, just one week before the Codex Sassoon triumph, Hindman sold five Jane Austen books for $300,000. The auction house believes that the Codex Sassoon is almost a century older than the earliest complete Hebrew Bible, the Leningrad Codex. While the leather binding is relatively modern (Sassoon added it nearly a hundred years ago), and some pages have been mended, the book is largely the same as it was in the 10th century. For Sale: The World's Most Expensive Hebrew Bible. Ask for Sharon. It rested, jokes Liberman Mintz.). A 1,100-year-old near-complete Hebrew Bible set to break record at CODX.L - Codex Acquisitions plc - Yahoo Finance News Reports: Floridian Couple Kidnapped, Children Killed In Tennessee Crash, Codex Sassoon Hebrew Bible For Auction. The oldest known Bible is going up for auction at Sotheby's this year and the auction house expect it will go for $30 million to $50 million. Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, sold at auction for The codex was acquired in 1929 by the collector David Sassoon, who gave it the catalog number 1053 (seen on the binding). 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible sells for $38 million at NYC auction. Given its provenance and rarity, the Codex Sassoons record $30 million to $50 million presale estimate was also fueled by blockbuster sales of other historical texts, including Leonardo da Vincis manuscript, the Codex Leicester, which Bill Gates purchased for $30.8 million in 1994, and the $43.2 million copy of the Constitution that Griffin outbid the Constitution DAO to acquire in 2021. How do you read ancient scrolls too brittle to unfurl? The incident happened in an informal settlement in the city of Boksburg on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg, the South African Police Services said. 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Reporting on news of Florida couple allegedly kidnapped in Port-a-Prince Haiti, a fatal car crash on I-24 West in Tennessee, and a Hebrew scripture Bible written approximately 1100 years ago going up for auction in May 2023. Sothebys didnt reveal why Safra has chosen to sell it now. Sotheby's to Auction Oldest, Most Complete Hebrew Bible for $30M Since resurfacing in 1929, the Bible has been in private collections. The energy was palpable as new and familiar faces arrived to fill the hall with yet another formidable exhibition of stunning artists' books, fine . That title is currently held by a first edition of the United States Constitution that sold for $43.2 million in 2021 to billionaire Ken Griffin. A similar sentiment could easily be applied to JK Rowling, whose early editions despite her recent controversies are proving lucrative. The preferred method: Clean, bare hands. If its price hits the upper end of that range, it could become the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction. The auction house expects to sell it for between $30 and $50 million in May. Two centuries later, technologies such as ChatGPT can literally create literature out of nothing, leaving rare and historic books to provide a much-needed sense of continuity between the past, present and future. Read about our approach to external linking. The population of La Garenne-Colombes was 24 072 in 1999, 27 188 in 2006 and 27 001 in 2007. Paging through the codex, Mintz pointed out symbols later scribes had added in the margins, marking the start of the different portions to be read in the synagogue each week. 1,100-year-old Codex Sassoon, one of worlds oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, will be donated to museum in Israel. MARISA MAZRIA KATZ: In the middle of a windowless room in Sotheby's Upper East Side auction house, crowds swarm a 26-pound book that looks straight out of an old master's painting, with crinkled, yellowed parchment covered in thick, black Hebrew script. Privacy Statement In January, Safra sold two paintings by the Italian 17th-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi through an Old Masters auction at Sothebys New York. Napoleon into exile on the island of St. Helena in 1815. which saw some $65 billion in total sales in 2022. printed four centuries ago for nearly $8 million. For the Codex Sassoon, the May auction is the latest stop on its extraordinary thousand-year journey, which began with a wealthy patron, some 200 pieces of sheepskin and more than a years work for a single scribe. | READ MORE. La Garenne-Colombes - Map of France Another system of accent marks, the teamim, function as musical notes, and also indicate how to parse a sentence. Hause is particularly passionate about books by Austen and their potential to increase in value. Oldest Nearly Complete Hebrew Bible Heads to Auction Safra was the seller on Wednesday. This type of codex, with its more user-friendly format, Mintz said, was meant for study.. Dating to cira 900 A.D., the 1,100-year-old manuscript is known as the Codex Sassoon, named for its eminent modern owner, David Solomon Sassoon, an important collector of Judaica and Hebraic manuscripts. It is one of only two surviving codices from that period of history that comprise almost the entire Hebrew Bible, Sothebys says. The auction house Sotheby's says the Codex Sassoon was purchased by former U.S. It also gives a window into the history of the Levant in the Middle Ages, with inscriptions and markings that trace its ownership and travels through time. Codex is what you call an ancient manuscript - and Sassoon for the name of its most famous owner, collector David Solomon Sassoon. The next best comparison is the Leningrad Codex, the most complete early Hebrew Biblebut that was written almost a century later. (The priciest was Maimonides Moreh Nevuchim, or Guide for the Perplexed, for which he spent the equivalent of $91,000 on and is now owned by the British Library). The manuscript was exhibited at the ANU Museum in March as part of a worldwide tour before the auction. The 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38.1 million, which includes the auction houses fee, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in New York. Without a doubt, the vast majority of the priciest works sold are ecclesiastic in nature, like the Codex Sassoon mostly, as Harrington notes, because religious texts were the first true printed matter. The oldest most complete Hebrew Bible has been bought at Sotheby's New York for $38.1m (30.6m), becoming the most valuable manuscript sold at auction. | Haunted, Abandoned and Hella Creepy, Aubrey O'Day: I had sex with Donald Trump Jr. 'in a gay club bathroom'. Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, set to fetch $30-50m Check out pictures of the sacred . It used to be that million-dollar or multi-million-dollar results were unusual in the manuscript market, but its become much more frequent, Austin said. Hand to God: When it comes to touching ancient texts, the gloves come off, says Sharon Liberman Mintz of Sotheby's. When Hause took over the Hindman book department in 2017 following nearly a decade at Christies, sales averaged just $750,000 each year. It is nearly a century older than the Leningrad Codex, which is the oldest, fully complete Bible. Anu means "we" in Hebrew, according to the organisation's website. The Codex Sassoon, the oldest almost complete Hebrew Bible, is headed to auction where it is expected to fetch between $30-50 million dollars, The New York Times reports. The other major shift in the market has been the rise in sales by major auction houses rather than private dealers. The pension fund sold the Codex Sassoon 11 years later to Jacqui Safra, a banker and art collector, bought it in 1989 for $3.19 million ($7.7 million in todays dollars). Protected in a simple brown leather binding added during the 20th century, the book weighs 26 pounds and measures 12 by 14 inches. Because the Codex Sassoon has survived through the ages in near-complete form containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, with only about 15 pages of biblical text missing it provides critical insight into the development and spread of Abrahamic religions as well as the broader transition from oral to literary traditions, Sothebys said. Its one of the worlds greatest treasures. Sharon Liberman Mintz, a senior Judaica specialist at Sothebys, says of the Codex Sassoon, which goes up for auction in May. Should big tech be able to read people's messages? J.-C. [2]. After the synagogue was destroyed, according to a marking in the book, the codex was entrusted to Salama bin Abi al-Fakhr, who was to return it when the synagogue was rebuilt. Please enter valid email address to continue. A recent carbon-dating by the seller reviewed and endorsed by Sothebys affirmed that, giving the Sassoon plausible bragging rights as the oldest nearly complete Hebrew Bible. Hardly a glamorous setting for one of the most valuable books in the world. The Codex Sassoon is thought to . A generation ago, Boomers were after titles like To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye. Newly flush with tech cash, younger buyers have flocked to their childhood authors like Rowling and willing to pay handsomely for her originals. The codex reflects the work of scholar-scribes known as the Masoretes, who created a system of detailed marginal notes to explain exactly how the text should be written. Andrew Tate to remain under house arrest in Romania as human trafficking case drags on, Social media star Andrew Tate charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania, England and France win again in Euro qualifiers, Swiss draw despite leading 2-0, Romanian health care workers protest for higher wages, more staff, and better working conditions. (Numbered chapters are a later, Christian innovation.). A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the worlds oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38m in New York on Wednesday. But before the Sothebys auction, it will be on public view in London, Tel Aviv, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible known as the Codex Sassoon broke a nearly 30-year-old auction record on Wednesday (16 May) when it sold for $38.1m (including fees) in a single-lot sale at. Already a renowned collector of Hebrew manuscripts, books and other Judaica, Sassoon paid 350 for it (about $21,000 today) making it the fifth-most expensive text in his 1,274-piece collection. The category encompasses everything from books and bibles to prints, maps, and other paper-bound ephemera. MAZRIA KATZ: That's Sharon Liberman Mintz. The modern-day auction of the document is noteworthy because the Hebrew Bible is the sacred, foundational text for peoples across the globe, Sharon Liberman Mintz, a senior Judaica specialist at Sothebys, said in a news release. The book, she adds, radiates both history and holiness.. How Senegal's president defused a political timebomb, Celebrating Pride in the midst of a culture war. The 1,100-year old volume carries an estimate of $30 million to $50 million, which could make it the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction. This story has been shared 125,945 times. When Sharon came to us, she said, I just saw the oldest complete Hebrew Bible, and I kept waiting for her to say in private hands or in the last 50 years, Richard Austin, Sothebys global head of books and manuscripts, said. An estimated $30 to $50 million, said Sothebys, which is handling the sale. The earliest, most complete Hebrew bible ever discovered, Sothebys said, could also become the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction. In 2021, the auction house sold a first printing of the U.S. Constitution for $43 million, setting a record for that category. In addition to the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, the Codex Sassoons pages also include ownership records and detailed notes on how words should be written and recited. ( JTA) A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible became the most expensive book ever sold Wednesday when it drew a price of $38.1 million at auction at Sotheby's in New York City. Sassoons estate was broken up after he died and the biblical codex was sold by Sothebys in Zurich in 1978 to the British Rail Pension Fund for around $320,000, or $1.4 million in todays dollars. To calculate the price estimate of the Codex Sassoon, Austin told the New York Times a committee started discussing the number two years ago. This represents the first time the text appears in the form where we can really read and understand it.. In 2021, a rare copy of the US constitution sold for $43m. (CROSSTALK) MARISA MAZRIA KATZ: In the middle of a windowless room in Sotheby's Upper East Side auction house, crowds swarm a 26-pound book that looks straight out of an old master's painting,. The codex was also an expensive object in its time, Mintz said, requiring the skins of easily more than 100 animals. A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world's oldest surviving biblical manuscripts has sold for $38 million in New York. . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. As for who might be the next owner of the Codex Sassoon, Liberman Mintz says Sothebys has received equal interest from private individuals and public institutions around the world. The field was intentionally obscured for decades, and without alternatives, collectors tended to pay too much. Public in the most literal of ways, auctions have helped combat this opaqueness while making works available to far broader audiences. Historians say a scribe wrote out the text on roughly 400 sheets of parchment in the late ninth or early tenth century.