Ethiopian Coptic Bible / Prayer Book with Ge'ez Script

Two splits in the board, and someone has stitched them shut.

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. Church-trained scribes copied books like this by hand for priests, monks and churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith, who used them for scripture reading and prayer. The cover is a dark, reddish brown with lengthwise cracks, crossed by small bands of pale and black thread. Sewing stations run along the spine. Thick, pale leaves show at the edge. Five and a half inches wide, two deep and seven and a half high.

Few books have been sewn quite so thoroughly.