The Prince and the Plunder

A book on how Britain took one boy and piles of treasures from Ethiopia

An illustrated 15th century manuscript of the Four Gospels given to Austria by Napier (Ath. 25)

Published / by Andrew Heavens / Leave a Comment

What: A 15th century manuscript of the Four Gospels, with tables

Where: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Josefsplatz 1, 1010 Wien, Austria

Presented to the Imperial Palace Library in Vienna by General Napier, the commander of Britain’s Abyssinian Expedition, in 1868, according to Rita Pankhurst’s  The Library of Emperor Tewodros II at Maqdala (Magdala)Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 36(1), 15-42.

Identified as Ath. 25 and linked to Napier in:

Rhodokanakis, N. (1906). Die äthiopischen Handschriften der k. k. Hofbibliothek zu Wien. Wien: In Kommission bei A. Hölder.

and

K.K. Hofbibliothek. (1902). Katalog der Miniaturen Ausstellung. Wien: Selbstverlag der Bibliothek.

It is now listed in the online database of the Austrian National Library – http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC14411522

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