Very Early Manuscripts and Books from Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books
- by Michael Stillman
The three living meet the three dead, from the G and H Book of Hours.
Item 9 is Antiquitates Judaicae (antiquities of the Jews) by Flavius Josephus, an illuminated manuscript on vellum in Latin created 1440-1470 of the first century text. Josephus was the Jewish warrior forced to surrender to the Romans, who was spared to be an interpreter and slave. After having a timely prophecy which came true, that Vespasian would become emperor, Vespasian freed him. Now a Roman, Josephus still wrote about his birth people in two books, this being one. To Christians this is an important book for two short passages, one generally accepted as genuine, the other questioned as possibly being a later Christian addition. They mention Jesus, nothing new about him, but this is a rare nonbiblical mention of him, helping to establish that Jesus was a real person, not an invention of his followers. The illuminated title page features an intricate, highly detailed border that took no small amount of effort to create. 380,000 € (US $445,290).
