Fragments: The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri in Context

The collections of the Chester Beatty include hundreds of fragments of papyrus books containing biblical texts written in Greek and Coptic.

This collection is important for a number of reasons. Even as fragments, these works reveal critical information about the technological development of the bound book (codex) at a time when the scroll was still the predominant format for the written word. In addition to serving as important witnesses to the texts of Jewish and Christian scripture, many of these books also shed valuable light on the practices of manuscript copying and production.

This online exhibition was supported by the Irish Research Council and co-curated by Garrick V. Allen, Kelsie G. Rodenbiker and Anthony P. Royle of the University of Glasgow