One publishing-related highlight of the Society of Biblical Literature’s 2010 meeting was the official launch of a facsimile edition of the world’s oldest Bible, hosted by Hendrickson, which co-published the collector’s work with the British Library. The Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten in Greek by scribes in the 4th century, and preserved until the mid-19th century at St. Catherine’s Monastery, an Orthodox Christian monastery on Mt. Sinai in Egypt. Parts of the codex eventually travelled to Russia, England, and Germany. Since 2002 an international partnership of four institutions has worked to make the historic text more widely available by digitizing it for online viewing and for a museum-quality print facsimile of the original.
Hendrickson’s relationship with the British Library afforded it an opportunity to play a role in the project. “It’s a testimony to today’s digital world,” said Rick Brown, Hendrickson publisher. Hendrickson has found success in the past with publishing facsimile Bibles, including The Geneva Bible: 1560 Edition and Tyndale New Testament: 1526 Edition.
The story of the project and the manuscript itself is recounted in Codex Sinaiticus: The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible by D.C. Parker (The British Library and Hendrickson, Nov.), a University of Birmingham professor who directed a British transcription team involved in the project and who was on hand at SBL to explain the project. “The main thing about it is, it’s just so beautiful,” Parker said.
