First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt

Explore some of the world’s earliest surviving biblical papyrus books.

The surviving remains of early biblical papyrus books are amazing artefacts of the past. The Chester Beatty’s current exhibition First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt focuses on the internationally important collection of manuscripts known as the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. Dating from the 2nd to 4th century AD, these ancient pages reveal a world of book production and early Christian scholarship in Roman Egypt.

These papyrus fragments have much to tell us about the material histories of writing and bookbinding, textual histories of translation and transmission, and later object histories of ownership, publication and display. Explore their fragmented histories through the lens of scribes and bookbinders, authors and readers, scholars and collectors throughout the centuries. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the past through the histories of these ancient books.

Featuring some eighty objects from Roman Egypt, this exhibition includes pages from some of the earliest surviving biblical papyrus books alongside early Coptic bindings, ostraca (pieces of pottery used for writing), related papyrus fragments, illuminated Coptic manuscript pages and loans from the National Museum of Ireland