The oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible, more than a thousand years old, will be auctioned in May for up to $50 million, auction house Sotheby’s announced on Wednesday.
The Codex Sassoon, named after its most famous owner, David Solomon Sassoon, the greatest collector of Hebrew and Jewish manuscripts of the 20th century, who died in 1942, dates back to AD 900 and represents “the most complete Hebrew Bible”.
Valued at between $30 and $50 million, it could be one of “the most expensive manuscripts ever sold,” underlines France-Presse (AFP) agency Richard Austin, responsible for old books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s.
The auction takes place in May, during the classic spring auction season for contemporary, modern and impressionist paintings, organized by the giants of the New York sector: Sotheby’s, owned by French-Israeli tycoon Patrick Drahi, and Christie’s, its competitor controlled by the ‘ holding’ Artémis of the French billionaire François Pinault.
Asked about the potential buyers of this work, Austin stressed that the list of buyers is “a bottomless pit” since this is a “founder of civilization” document.
“It is difficult to find a text that has had more influence than the Bible in human history,” he stressed.
This Bible in Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament, which also contains passages in Greek and Aramaic, “belonged to important collectors in the 20th century,” he added.
The Codex Sassoon predates the two known texts of this type, from Aleppo, Syria, and Leningrad, present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia, but its date was scientifically established only recently, when its present owner, who is unknown, bible to science and carbon testing.
The auction house describes the document as “the fundamental link in Jewish history” that made it possible to bring the oral tradition of ancient times to the Hebrew Bibles of today, as it is “a reference in the history of mankind.”
In an “exceptional” state of preservation, the Codex Sassoon contains numerous inscriptions, notes and other notes made by its previous owners or by the communities that used it for marginal prayers, testifying to its path in the history of the humanity. Sotheby’s stressed in a statement.
Source: DN
