Schoyen Collection
Encyclopedia
The Schøyen Collection is the largest private manuscript
collection in the world, mostly located in Oslo
and London. Formed in the 20th century by Martin Schøyen
, it comprises manuscripts of global provenance
, spanning 5,000 years of history. It contains more than 13,000 manuscript items; the oldest book is about 5,300 years old. There are manuscripts from 134 different countries and territories, representing 120 distinct languages.
The variety of manuscripts—geographic, linguistic, textual and material—even more than its size makes the Schøyen Collection unique. The collection has a website with many items illustrated and described.
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
collection in the world, mostly located in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and London. Formed in the 20th century by Martin Schøyen
Martin Schøyen
Martin Schøyen is a Norwegian businessman, traveller, historian, paleographer and collector of books.He started collecting books in 1955...
, it comprises manuscripts of global provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
, spanning 5,000 years of history. It contains more than 13,000 manuscript items; the oldest book is about 5,300 years old. There are manuscripts from 134 different countries and territories, representing 120 distinct languages.
The variety of manuscripts—geographic, linguistic, textual and material—even more than its size makes the Schøyen Collection unique. The collection has a website with many items illustrated and described.
Some manuscripts
Among the most notable manuscripts of the collection are the following:- MS 1 (ca. 1300), a fragment from a codexCodexA codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
of French sermons, in a binding produced by Manuale del Navarro, acquired in 1955 - MS 035, Codex Sinaiticus Zosimi Rescriptus, a palimpsestPalimpsestA palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
on vellumVellumVellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...
from Mount SinaiMount SinaiMount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran... - MS 193 (3rd century AD), The Crosby-Schøyen Codex, biblical manuscript in the Coptic language; it contains: Jonah, 2 Maccabees, 1 Peter, "Peri Pascha" of MelitoMelito of SardisMelito of Sardis was the bishop of Sardis near Smyrna in western Anatolia, and a great authority in Early Christianity: Jerome, speaking of the Old Testament canon established by Melito, quotes Tertullian to the effect that he was esteemed a prophet by many of the faithful...
, and an unidentified Homily - MS 2064 (21st century BC), Ur-NammuUr-NammuUr-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule...
's law-code, a SumerSumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian text. - MS 2650 (4th century AD), Codex Schøyen, the oldest Gospel of MatthewGospel of MatthewThe Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
in Coptic dialect - MS 2781 (2000–1600 BC), a BabylonianBabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
calendar. - MS 4457 (1865-1879 AD), CheyenneCheyenneCheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
Chief Little ShieldLittle ShieldLittle Shield was a chieftain of the Northern Cheyenne from 1865-1879. He is known for creating a collection of ledger drawings accounting the Indian wars along the Nort Platte river...
's Ledger Book recording the Indian War of the Platte River in 1865. - MS 5236, an ancient Greek block print from the 6th century BC
- TutankhamunTutankhamunTutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
's signet ring - Some ancient Buddhist manuscripts, taken from Afghanistan to preserve them from the Taliban.
- Since 1994, the Schøyen Collection has acquired 60 Dead Sea ScrollsDead Sea scrollsThe Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
fragments from 15 different scrolls.