AA.VV. - Manoscritto Devozionale e Liturgico Ge‘ez - 1750

ETHIOPIAN MANUSCRIPT: ILLUSTRATED ON PARCHMENT IN GE'EZ, THE LANGUAGE OF PARADISE
Ancient Ethiopian manuscript in Ge'ez.
It presents itself as an authentic practical book, conceived to accompany the daily practice of prayer more than for formal preservation. The small format, the thick and irregular parchment, the visible stitching, and the heavy wear of the pages indicate a long functional life, probably in a monastic or priestly setting. The compact writing, punctuated by red rubrication and signs of textual articulation, suggests a liturgical or para-liturgical text intended for reading aloud and memorization. Here the value of the book resides less in its material integrity than in the stratification of traces left by use: folds, darkening, empirical restorations, and stains are an integral part of its historical identity.
Market value
Small-format Ethiopian manuscripts in Ge'ez, especially those with original or antique bindings and evident signs of use, are today objects of growing interest in the international market. Value does not depend on formal “beauty,” but on authenticity, structural coherence, and the readability of the text. Specimens like this, clearly not modernized or reconstructed, are particularly valued by collectors of extra-European manuscripts and by institutions interested in the history of Eastern Christianity, and they fall in the range of 1,000 to 2,000 euros.

Physical description and condition
Manuscript on parchment, small format. Traditional Ethiopian binding with visible stitching and passing cords. Text arranged on a single column in Ge'ez script, with red rubrics for incipit, sections and liturgical references. Pages browned, with halos, stains, folds, abrasions and ancient restorations; margins are wavy and irregular. In ancient books with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present and not always noted in the description. Pp. 46.

Full title and author
Devotional and liturgical manuscript in the Ge'ez language.
Ethiopia, 19th century.
Various Authors

Context and Significance
Ethiopian book culture is distinguished by an extraordinary continuity of material and form. Even in later eras, the book remains manuscript, built according to ancient models and conceived as a functional object, not monumental. Manuscripts like this were often carried with them, read daily, sometimes used as apotropaic objects or objects of spiritual protection. The text is inseparable from the support: the worn parchment, the visible stitching and empirical repairs tell a story of lived religious practice, not mere textual transmission.

Biography of the Author
Not applicable. The texts in Ge'ez are the result of a long collective tradition that interweaves biblical, patristic, and local sources, transmitted within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Printing history and circulation
Entirely handwritten, probably from the mid-18th century. Book production in Ethiopia remained predominantly manual until the contemporary era. The circulation of these volumes occurred in ecclesiastical, monastic, and family settings, often outside official or library circuits.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
British Library, Ethiopian Manuscripts Collection
Vatican Library, Ethiopian Manuscripts
S. Uhlig, Ethiopian Manuscripts
E. Ullendorff, The Ethiopians
Descriptive catalogs of Ge'ez manuscripts from the major European libraries