Ethiopian Coptic Bible / Prayer Book with Ge'ez Script

Thick and small, bound between dark boards, its sewing left in plain view.

This Coptic Bible or prayer book with Ge'ez script comes from Ethiopia, East Africa, and dates to the 18th century. It is ink on vellum. Ge'ez remains the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and priests, monks and devout lay people relied on handwritten vellum books like this for scripture and daily prayer. The cover is a glossy, mottled reddish brown, with small holes along one edge where the cords pass through. Thick, uneven leaves stand proud of the boards, and twine crosses the bare spine. Six inches wide, five deep and three high.

Closed, it gives away very little.