The Askew Codex (a.k.a. ''Codex Askewianus'') is a

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

size, or 21 x 16,5 cm, held by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(BL Additional MS 5114), that contains Coptic translations of the

Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

'' Pistis Sophia'' and parts of what G. R. S. Mead referred to as "extracts from ''The Books of the Savior''." The codex was originally purchased by Anthony Askew, a London doctor and collector of old manuscripts, from a bookseller in 1772. The codex was purchased from the heirs of Askew by the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

(now the British Library) in 1785. Its origin is most probably Egypt, but it is not known where it was found or how it ended up in England. The codex contains 178 leaves or 356 pages, and is in excellent condition, with the exception of two leaves (pp. 337–344), which are missing. The complete manuscript was written by two different hands. Both hands used different inks, different page numberings and a different way to mark corrections. Both writers seem to be of the same period. Until the discovery of the

Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the Chenoboskion Manuscripts and the Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyrus c ...

in 1945, the Askew Codex was one of three surviving codices containing full copies of all of the gnostic writings that have survived until recent times; the other two are the

Bruce Codex The Bruce Codex (Latin: ) is a codex that contains Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic manuscripts. It contains rare Gnostic works; the Bruce Codex is the only known surviving copy of the Books of Jeu and another work simply called Untitled Text or ...

and the Berlin Codex.

Editions

* Moritz Gotthilf Schwartze
Pistis Sophia, opus gnosticum Valentino adiudicatum e codice manuscripto Coptico Londinensi, descripsit et latine vertit M. G. Schwartze, edidit J. H. Petermann, Berolini, 1851.
First edition of the Coptic Text with a translation into Latin. The work of Schwartze was published postum by Petermann.
Carl Schmidt; Koptisch-gnostische Schriften. Bd. I. Die Pistis Sophia. Die beiden Bücher des Jeû. Unbekanntes altgnostisches Werk (Leipzig), 1905.
First German translation, with numerous corrections of the edition of Schwartze.

Being for the most part extracts from the Books of the saviour, to which are added excerpts from a cognate literature; Englished by G. R. S. Mead. London: J. M. Watkins 921 English translation with an introduction and description of the manuscript.

References

Christian manuscripts Gnostic apocrypha Manuscripts in Coptic {{manuscript-stub