3-074-484 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Alleged text of Deuteronomy, 1883. '...a supposed discovery of...a very ancient hitherto unknown text of the earlier chapters of the Book of Deuteronomv, brought to London by Mr. Shapira, a Jewish dealer...These fragments of manuscript are offered for sale, and a very large sum of money - hundreds of thousands of pounds - would naturally be expected for them. They are now at the British Museum, where Dr. Ginsburg, one of the highest authorities upon the special points of investigation concerned in determining their genuineness, is engaged in a most careful scrutiny; while M. Clermont-Ganneau, the eminent French Orientalist, appointed by the French Government...declares them to be "the work of a modern forger"...Our Artist, Mr. W. Simpson...has been permitted to make a drawing...The alphabet is exactly the same as that of the well-known Moabite Stone...[of which] we have given a copy...and with it are the Hebrew and Roman equivalents...Aleph, Beth, Gimmel, Daleth, He, Yau, Zain, Heth, Teth*, Yod, Caph, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Ain, Pe, Tsade, Koph, Resh, Shin, Tau'. The shame brought about by accusations that he was involved in forgery drove Shapira to suicide in 1884. Recent scholarship says that the Shapira Scroll may have been authentic. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.