Bible of Tewodros II. First page showing mirror inside front cover with an illustration of Saint George. Written on vellum, tooled leather binding, 8 volumes. Wellcome Library, London, number 62892.

Ethiopian manuscripts are known to have reached Europe as early as the fifteenth century, perhaps even earlier, through Egypt, Ethiopian pilgrims to the Holy Land and through members of the Ethiopian monastery of St Stephen of the Abyssinians in Rome.^[1] Subsequently, travellers, missionaries, military personnel and scholars contributed to the development of collections outside Ethiopia. In Europe, the three biggest collections of Ethiopian manuscripts are in Rome (Biblioteca Apostolica Vatican), in Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and in London (British Library). These three organisations together hold about 2,700 manuscripts. Oriental collections of nearly all significant European libraries also have Ethiopian material, with some still pursuing a policy of acquisition.^[2]

Monasteries and modern institutions in Ethiopia have, meanwhile, maintained extensive collections and in some cases are still centres of manuscript production. Parchment (berānnā) was used for Ethiopian manuscripts from the time of the Four Gospels books of Abbā Garimā.^[3] Apart from Islamic manuscripts, paper only came into general use twentieth century.^[4]

There are eighty eight languages in Ethiopia according to Ethnologue,^[5] but not all support manuscript cultures. The majority of manuscripts are in Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia.

Catalogues of individual collections were written in the nineteenth century, with a key work for the disposition of Ethiopian MSS more widely prepared in 1995 and published by Robert Beylot and Maxime Rodinson.^[6] Since that time, an online inventory has been developed that documents items labelled as “Ethiopian manuscripts’’ in libraries all over the world. This "Inventory of Libraries and Catalogues of Ethiopian Manuscripts" was created in 2008 and is maintained since then by A. Wion, C. Bosc-Tiessé and M.-L. Derat from CNRS (Paris). The list of institutions below is a partial selection of the most prominent and best known collections, giving special attention to the individual researchers involving in forming the collections and those scholars who wrote the catalogues.

Accademia dei Lincei, Rome[edit]

The Accademia dei Lincei in Rome holds the collection of 138 manuscripts formed by Carlo Conti Rossini. The catalogue prepared by Stefan Strelcyn includes 30 further manuscripts in the Fonds Caetani.^[7] The oldest manuscripts in the collections date to the fifteenth century with some having a provenance of Debre Damo.

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris[edit]

Miracle de Notre Dame and Saint Ildefonso, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ethiopien 60 fol. 7v

The collections in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, held primarily in the Département des Manuscrits, have been subject to several cataloguing campaigns. In 1877 a catalogue was published by Hermann Zotenberg and gave an account of the 170 manuscripts then in the collection.^[8] The Ethiopic holdings were subsequently enlarged by the three collections, those of d'Abbadie, Casimir Mondon-Vidailhet,^[9] and Marcel Griaule which increased the number at BnF to more than 970 manuscripts. Zotenberg's work was accordingly followed by a catalogue of the Mondon-Vidailhet collection prepared by M. Chaine.^[10] The Griaule collection was published by Stefan Strelcyn.^[11] The BnF has the largest single collection of magico-medical scrolls in France, with over 160 specimens in the Griaule collection.^[12]

Bodleian Library, Oxford[edit]

The early collections in the Bodleian Library at Oxford came from James Bruce, and consisted of 25 Ethiopic manuscripts purchased by the library in 1843. The collection soon grew to 33 manuscripts and these were catalogued and published in 1848 by August Dillmann.^[13] Since the mid-nineteenth century the collection has expanded to 130 items. A notable addition in 2002 was an illustrated seventeenth-century manuscript of a Marian text, Arganona Weddase (‘Harp of Praise’) (MS. Aeth.e.28).^[14] The uncatalogued manuscripts were revisited in 2007 by Steve Delamarter and Damaqa Berhāna Tafarā.^[15]

British Library, London[edit]

Folio from an illustrated Bible, Annunciation to Zechariah, British Library Add. MS 59874.

The founding Ethiopic collections in the British Library—74 manuscripts—came from the Church Mission Society and the materials that had been assembled by Karl Wilhelm Isenberg and Johann Ludwig Krapf, missionaries and linguists who travelled to the country between 1839 and 1842.^[16] However, some of the collection has an earlier provenance, for example, Extracts from the Chronicle of Axum, written on paper in about 1810 with the book plate of George Annesley, 2nd Earl of Mountnorris.^[17] In 1847 the Trustees of the British Museum published a catalogue of the Ethiopian manuscripts that were then under their care. This catalogue was prepared by August Dillmann and included 88 items.^[18]

The British Library collections grew in 1868 when 349 manuscripts came after the British Expedition to Abyssinia against emperor Tewodros II.^[19] A catalogue of the enlarged collection was prepared by William Wright (orientalist) and published in 1877.^[20] Nine decades later, Stefan Strelcyn reviewed the manuscripts that had come to the British Library after 1877 and published a catalogue of them.^[21] The catalogue lists 108 items (some with multiple parts) and covers the general range of Ethiopian literature from Biblical texts to magical and divinatory writings.

The transfer of the India Office collection to the British Library in 1982 brought 6 further manuscripts to the collection, first acquired in 1842 by the India Museum in East India House.

A further collection of 39 manuscripts came to the British Library from Roger Wenman Cowley (1940-1988). Cowley spent 15 years in Ethiopia as an Anglican missionary and teacher, during which time he assembled a collection of Biblical commentaries in Amharic.^[22] His MSS consist of copies on paper commissioned by Cowley and executed during the years 1967-77 (except for numbers 19-61, 32, 37, 40-42 and 44 which are copies made at different times in the twentieth century). Cowley used this material in his book Ethiopian Biblical Interpretation, published in 1988. ^[23]

Cambridge University Library, Cambridge[edit]

The Ethiopic collections at the Cambridge University Library were catalogued by Edward Ullendorff.^[24] The individual colleges at Cambridge also hold Ethiopic manuscripts and have given digital access to some of them.^[25] The uncatalogued manuscripts were revisited in 2007 by Steve Delamarter and Damaqa Berhāna Tafarā.^[15]

Chester Beatty Library, Dublin[edit]

The Chester Beatty collection of 58 Ethiopian manuscripts includes illustrated gospel books, psalters and devotional works. Chester Beatty purchased some of the collection at auction in London in the 1930s and bought the rest in the 1950s and later.^[26] The manuscripts were studied and published by Cerulli in 1965.^[27]

Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh[edit]

The Edinburgh University Library has a small collection of Ethiopic manuscripts acquired from a variety of sources. These are as follows: Or. MS 461-462 Acts of St. George according to Theodotus of Ancyra, with 20 illustrations, between boards; Or. MS 477, Or. MS 644, Or. MS 649, Or. MS 651, Or. MS 654, Or. MS 655 Psalms, Or. MS 656, Psalms, Or. MS 673 Gospels, portion (?), scroll format.^[28]

Gunda Gunde Monastery, Tigray Region[edit]

The Gunda Gunde monastery is located in the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone of the northern Tigray Region in Ethiopia. It is known for its prolific scriptorium, and library of Ge'ez manuscripts. This collection of over 220 volumes, all but one dating from before the 16th century, is one of the largest collections of its kind in Ethiopia. The Gunda Gunde Manuscript Project, based at the University of Toronto, seeks to preserve a digitized manuscript collection of the monastery's holdings.^[29]

Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Minn.[edit]

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library is located at and sponsored by Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The library holds a substantial number of photographs, images and digital copies of Ethiopian manuscripts and is host to the Ethiopian Study Center.^[30] The library is also the home for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library.^[31]

Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa[edit]

The Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa has a collection of approximately 1500 manuscripts, still largely uncatalogued as of 2012.^[1] However a team led by Alessandro Gori undertook a listing exercise with regard to the Arabic materials and published the results in 2014.^[32]

John Rylands Library, Manchester[edit]

The John Rylands Library owns 45 items on parchment and paper, dating from the 1600s and later. The majority (31 items) came to the library from the Crawford collection, purchased in 1901.^[33] In addition to a copy of the Fetha Nagast (Ge'ez: ፍትሐ ነገሥት) (Ethiopian MS 13) and a deed of Dawit III (Ethiopian MS 28), the collection includes a number of magic scrolls (Ethiopian MSS 29-34).

The first catalogue of the collection was prepared by Stefan Strelcyn and published in 1974.^[34] The manuscripts were revisited and published in 2007 by Steve Delamarter and Damaqa Berhāna Tafarā.^[15]

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles[edit]

Gospels, Canon Table Page, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS102.

The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired a single manuscript of the Gospels dating to the early sixteenth century in 2008.^[35] A number of the folios are visible online through the museum's website as well as Wikicommons.

National Archives and Library of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa[edit]

National Archives and Library of Ethiopia has a collection of approximately 835 manuscripts, at present largely uncatalogued.^[1]

Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey[edit]

The core collection of Ethiopic manuscripts at Princeton University was formed by Robert Garrett who collected 113 items in Ge’ez and Amharic and donated them to Princeton University Library in 1942. The collection is fully catalogued online.^[36] Included in the collection are Psalters, Miracles of Mary, Prayer books, Homilies of Michael, Synaxaria, Anaphora of Addai and Mari, Missals and Gospels. Divination texts are also part of the collection. One of the Miracles of Mary is among the oldest and probably dates to the seventeenth century; the other materials mostly date to the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Garrett acquired most his Ethiopic manuscripts from Enno Littmann who led expeditions to Tigray Region and Axum in 1905 and 1906.^[37]
The Princeton collection has continued to grow through gift and purchase, and is especially strong in magico-medical srolls of which there are now more than 500 specimens.^[38]

Of historiographical interest is the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch (Ge'ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ mätṣḥäfä henok).^[39] The Princeton manuscript, according to a stamp on the old binding, belong to Rev. H. C. Reichardt who was in charge of the Damacus mission of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews from 1875 until his resignation in 1881.^[40] The manuscript was one of several used by Robert Henry Charles (1855-1931) in his study of the Book of Enoch, and has since been commented on by Erho and Stuckenbruck.^[41]

Schøyen Collection, Oslo[edit]

The Schøyen Collection of Ethiopian material was studied and published by David Appleyard.^[42]

UCLA, Los Angeles[edit]

The Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles had a core collection 64 Ethiopian manuscripts in Ge'ez, Agaw and Amharic.^[43] Many were purchased by Wolf Leslau on the library's behalf during his research expeditions to Ethiopia in the 1960s. Subsequently, the library has acquired the extensive collection of Gerald and Barbara Weiner; this consists of 139 manuscripts and 110 scrolls.^[44] The Library has made over 50 of their manuscripts visible online in digital format (see link below).

UCLA, Charles E. Young Research Library, Weddasé Maryam, late 19th century, Ms. 3.

University of Oregon, Museum of Natural and Cultural History[edit]

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon has a small number of manuscripts in its collection pertaining to Ethiopian history and material culture. Most of the objects were gifted by Jayne Bowerman Hall as a tribute to her husband William O. Hall, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia from 1967 to 1971.^[45] A catalogue of the collection was published in 2000.^[46]

Biblical Manuscript in the MNCH University of Oregon, showing the Baptism, Shelf Mark 10-844 b.

Vatican Library[edit]

In the 1990s, private collections of considerable size have been published and acquired by the Vatican Library.^[47]

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore[edit]

Leaf from Gunda Gunde Gospels, Walters Art Museum, W850199R

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland has a small collection of manuscripts and Ethiopian art. Digital catalogues of some of this material is available, notably Walters Ms. W.768, Ethiopic Psalter with Canticles, Song of Songs, and two hymns in praise of Mary.^[48] Ethiopian Gospels WDL13018 is available entire through Wikicommons.

Wellcome Collection, London[edit]

Magico-medical scroll, Wellcome Collection, Or MS IX.

The Wellcome Collection was catalogued by Stefan Strelcyn and his Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London, published in 1972, is available online through the Wellcome Library.^[49] The Wellcome originally had a collection of 34 manuscripts, acquired between 1913 and 1930. They retained 16 magico-medical scrolls and 1 divinatory manuscript; the remainder were transferred to the library of the British Museum in 1970 and 1971 and are now in the British Library.^[50] According to Strelcyn, the Wellcome material "constitutes and good and very representative collection of this kind of Ethiopian literature."^[51] The scrolls are dated to the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries based on Strelcyn's assessment of the palaeography.

See also[edit]

• Ethiopian chant


• Ethiopian historiography

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main


• 
  SGD Digital Collection: Previously Unknown and Uncatalogued Ethiopian Manuscripts in North America

Complete manuscripts[edit]

• 
  British Library, Illustrated Gospels dating to the late 1600s (Or. MS 481). Note: To see the manuscript click through from this page at the bottom to Turning the PagesTM.


• 
  Cambridge, Trinity College, Pslater (B.13.9).


• 
  Princeton University Library, Book of Enoch, Mäṣḥafä Henok (C0744.03, Garrett Ethiopic Manuscripts, no. 42).


• 
  UCLA Library, Digital Collections, a selection of 51 manuscripts visible online.


• 
  Walters Art Museum, Illustrated Gospels dating to the 1500s (Walters MS W850).