Antiquarian Book - page from a centuries-old Ethiopian Coptic manuscript

A rare, double-sided handwritten leaf from an old Ethiopian Coptic Bible in Ge'ez.
This manuscript measures approximately 23 cm x 15.5 cm.
An important ancient Ethiopian religious manuscript leaf, written in the Ge'ez script (the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church). The manuscript leaf presumably dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. The entire piece has been preserved in its original state. This ancient manuscript leaf is written on both sides on goatskin/parchment, in black and red ink, entirely in the classical Ethiopian script – Ge'ez – which today survives exclusively as a church language. Ge'ez dates back to 3000 BC, and in the 5th century, the entire Bible was translated from Greek into Ge'ez. The so-called Garima Gospels constitute the oldest illustrated Christian Bible in the world; these were written in Ge'ez in the 6th century and are still located in an Ethiopian monastery. The leaves were cut from goatskin and folded in half. A rare collector's item, ideally suited for collectors of Oriental manuscripts, Christian art from Africa, religious ethnography, or old books.