Contents and Arrangement Expanded View

Collection Overview

Creator:
Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
Collector:
Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
Title:
Princeton Ethiopic Manuscripts
Repository:
Manuscripts Division
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/xd07gs74n
Dates:
1600s-1900s
Size:
95 items
Language:
Geez Amharic

Abstract

An open collection of bound Ethiopic manuscripts with texts in Ge'ez and occasionally in Amharic.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Description:

This is an open collection of Ethiopic codices (bound manuscripts), which are chiefly written in Ge'ez (sometimes called Ethiopic), the scholarly and liturgical Afroasiatic language of Ethiopian Orthodox Church, as well as five related items. Many of the Ge'ez manuscripts have varia or marginalia in Amharic; two texts are mostly Amharic. Included among the Ethiopic manuscripts are 16 Psalters, 7 Miracles of Mary , 6 Images , 4 prayer books, 3 Homilies of Michael , 3 Synaxariums , 2 Anaphoras of Mary , 2 antiphonaries, 2 Missals , 1 Gospel of John , and 1 collection of divination texts. Worthy of special note are the variant Miracles of Mary and a rare Cycle of the Kings .

Most of the manuscripts in this collection date from the nineteenth and twentieth century. But at least ten are probably from the eighteenth century, and at least one (Miracles of Mary) is probably from the seventeenth. Precise dating of Ethiopic manuscripts remains difficult. Texts are written in black and red ink on parchment; one manuscript is paper. The manuscripts are bound in a traditional style reminiscent of early Coptic Christian codices in Roman and Byzantine Egypt, for which reason they are sometimes characterized as "Coptic." The quires of the manuscripts are sewn with unsupported link-stitch and then laced into rough-hewn wooden boards, sometimes covered in leather, often blind-tooled. A number of manuscripts are in leather carrying cases, which allowed them to be worn over the shoulder or hung up on pegs in walls.

Arrangement

Arranged in manuscript number order, by accession. Numbers 29 and 67-71 are unassigned.

Collection History

Acquisition:

These manuscripts were acquired individually by gift or purchase. Since the 1990s, Bruce C. Willsie (Princeton Class of 1986) has donated the following manuscripts: nos. 37, 40-53, 58-64, and 72-85. Manuscripts nos. 86-103 were donated by Lowell Heskin in 2016 (MASC 2016-54).

Sponsorship:

This cataloging project was made possible through generous support from the David A. Gardner '69 Magic Project, Princeton University.

Processing Information

The present finding aid was prepared in June-July 2009 by Kesis Melaku Terefe , Virgin Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church in Los Angeles, with assistance of Prof. Wendy Laura Belcher , Department of Comparative Literature and Center for African American Studies, Princeton University. This cataloging project was made possible through generous support from the David A. Gardner '69 Magic Project, Princeton University.

In 2022, restrictions on manuscripts No. 54, 57, and 65 were lifted as part of a restrictions review project.

In 2022, manuscripts nos. 86-95 were added to the collection.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.

Credit this material:

Princeton Ethiopic Manuscripts; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/xd07gs74n
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184

Find More

Related Materials

In addition to Princeton Ethiopic codices, the Library also has a collection entitled Garrett Ethiopic Manuscripts (C0744.03), gift of Robert Garrett (Princeton Class of 1897). There is one Ethiopic manuscript in The Scheide Library (Manuscript 119).

The Library also has three substantial collections of Ethiopic magic scrolls . Professor David Appleyard, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, compiled the online checklist of these scrolls, with support from the David A. Gardner '69 Magic Project, Princeton University.

Bibliography

Ephraim Isaac, "Princeton Collection of Ethiopic Manuscripts," Princeton University Library Chronicle 42:1 (Autumn 1980), pp. 33-52. Richard Pankhurst, "Secular Themes in Ethiopian Ecclesiastical Manuscripts: V.: A Catalogue of Illustrations of Historical and Ethnographic Interest in Princeton University Library and Art Gallery," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 22 (November 1989), pp. 31-64. Don C. Skemer, "Princeton's Ethiopic Manuscript Collections at 100," Princeton University Library Chronicle 71:3 (Spring 2010), pp. 461-466.

Subject Terms:
Manuscripts, Ethiopic.
Psalters - -Ethiopia.