Unknown Gospel Manuscript Images Online
June 29th, 2009 by Andrew Bernhard under Unknown Gospel. No Comments.
In launching this site, it escaped my memory that Wieland Wilker has images of the Unknown Gospel of Egerton Papyrus 2/Cologne Papyri 255 posted on his Papyrus Egerton 2 Homepage:
- Fragment 1 (↓) with Cologne Papyrus 255 (↓)
- Fragment 1 (→) with Cologne Papyrus 255 (→)
- Fragment 2 (→)
- Fragment 2 (↓)
- Fragment 3 (→)
- Fragment 3 (↓)
These images of Egerton Papyrus 2 are from:
Bell, H. Idris, and T.C. Skeat. Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and Other Early Christian Papyri. London: Oxford University Press, 1935.
The images of Cologne Papyrus 2 are from:
Gronewald, Michael. “Unbekanntes Evangelium oder Evangelienharmonie (Fragment aus dem ‘Evangelium Egerton’).” In Kölner Papyri VI, 136-45. Cologne: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1987.
Wilker has presented the images in a manner that is very helpful for study. His layout facilitates easy comparison between a modern edition of the text and the original manuscript.
However, I must also note my continuing amazement at the new material that is being posted online by libraries and museums that house ancient manuscripts. The posting of images of The Unknown Gospel provides a perfect example of what I hope to see much more of in the future.
The University of Cologne provides quality images of Cologne Papyrus 255 (→) and (↓) on its site, and the British Library’s site also provides a quality image of Egerton Papyrus 2, Fragment 1 (↓), Fragment 2 (↓), Fragment 3 (↓)*. Moreover, the British Library also includes a phenomenal interactive zoomable image (made possible by flash). This is about as good as it gets without studying the physical manuscript under a microscope . . . and I speak from experience with this particular manuscript.
Links to all the manuscript images mentioned in this post have been added to the Other Early Christian Gospels Resource Center, as have both publications.
* The reason that all three fragments are included in a single image by the British library is that they are securely mounted together in glass: the image is just a photograph of the glass mount. I will continue looking for images of the reverse sides of the manuscript fragments on the British Library site. I just haven’t found them yet.
