Thursday, August 07, 2008

Nag Hammadi



Two weeks ago I assisted with a workshop at the Garage Annex School for Book Arts. The instructor was Julia Miller and during the workshop we constructed a model of Nag Hammadi Codex IX. The Nag Hammadi codices are the earliest surviving books in codex form with their covers intact. They were found in Egypt and are a collection of Gnostic writings from the 4th century. Each of the eleven surviving codices has a similar structure, but all have subtle and beautiful unique details. We completed one model and a sample card showing some of the leather attachments found in each of the eleven. Julia Miller has visited Egypt to view the codices in person and has done extensive research on the subject. Her knowledge is phenomenal and she is a great teacher. Now I just need to get out my copy of Philip K. Dick's Valis and re-read his sci-fi take on the Nag Hammadi codices.

2 comments:

meredeth said...

very nice looking~

Amy Borezo said...

Thanks! It was a fascinating book to work on. The young people I showed it to in my class yesterday absolutely loved this book, too. I was surprised.

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