From Ancient Egypt through Europe and Columbus' America to the golden sands of the Arabian Peninsula. For the first time in one place and at one time we gathered great historical works that shaped civilizations and were the foundations of science and technology in the modern world. We will guide you through the world of printing techniques from ancient times to the 18th century. You will learn about Egyptian hieroglyphs, Leonardo's mirror writing and an unknown language that is a mystery to mankind. You will touch papyrus, paper created using techniques from a thousand years ago and "medieval" parchment.
This escapade begins in the ancient Egypt of Ramses II, where the most beautiful Book of the Dead known to mankind, Papyrus of Ani, was written.
Through Christopher Columbus's Deck Log, along with other key documents from his expedition, it leads to the New World and the most groundbreaking voyage in the history of civilization.
It then runs on cards of Voynich manuscript, known as the most mysterious manuscript of all time, into an unknown mysterious place with no name or latitude, full of unidentified plants, strange female figures and astronomical and astrological constellations. It then follows the Codex Leicester, the world's most expensive manuscript, to beautiful 15th-century Florence as seen through the eye of the eccentric Leonardo da Vinci. It lifts its gaze to the starry sky of Frombork, where Nicolaus Copernicus proved the Earth's orbit around the Sun – De
Revolutionibus is the most important scientific, groundbreaking treatise in human history.
Eventually it leads to Mainz, where the clumsy hands of Johann Gutenberg assemble the first printing press - the Gutenberg Bible - the oldest incunabula.
As if that wasn't enough, the journey ends on the golden sands of the Najd desert, where the Polish Count, "Goldenbearded Emir", discovers for the Western world the secrets of the Orient and the breeding of pure-bred Arabian horses - Rzewuski's Manuscript - the richest and one of the most important written monuments describing the world of the Arabian Peninsula 200 years ago (Polish National Library).
Ani papyrus probably the most famous papyrus in the British Museum. Dated to the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, this is an exceptionally well-preserved Book of Exodus, commonly known as the Book of the Dead. Italic hieroglyphs and beautifully drawn and colored vignettes make the papyrus one of the most spectacular Book of the Dead scrolls ever found. Some believe that Sir Wallis Budge stole the papyrus and cut it into several pieces in 1888 before donating it to the British Museum. However, this is unlikely because Budge did not sell or make money on papyrus. Instead, he had it kept for posterity at the British Museum. Perhaps at that time he feared that this beautiful papyrus would be destroyed and wanted to publish it. Unfortunately, Budge’s actions at a time when techniques were not developed enough to reassemble the pieces compromised the integrity of this artifact.
For the first time we present a facsimile edition of The Book of the Dead, on authentic natural papyrus.
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Parchment book bound in leather, originally consisting of 136 double-sided veline pages (i.e. 272 pages; 120 pages have survived to the present day), 15 by 22.5 cm (6 × 9 inches), covered with drawings, diagrams, and unintelligible writing. It owes its name to its Polish discoverer, Michał Wojnicz, a famous antiquarian and collector who in 1912 acquired the manuscript from the Jesuits at the Villa Mondragone in Frascati near Rome. To this day, the manuscript is regarded as one of the most mysterious medieval handwritten relics because its author, writing and language remain unknown.
Research on the parchment on which the manuscript was written, conducted by radiocarbon dating between 2009 and 2011 at the University of Arizona, showed that it was written between 1404 and 1438. An artistic scientific copy of the most mysterious 15th-century manuscript in history.
The piece of work is an artistic, scientific copy of the original, manually trimmed and finished with a scalpel. Natural binding made of natural calf parchment. Cards made of pergamenata perfectly imitating parchment. The piece of work is an extremely demanding project, to which the publisher devoted a lot of work so that the final book in structure, color, smell and touch fully reflects the appearance of the original. The copy is undoubtedly a true work of art and a testament to the extraordinary craftsmanship of the artists and specialists involved in its creation.
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Christopher Columbus’ Journal - a manuscript by Bartolomé de Las Casasa The Journal describes the first trip to the New World in which Christopher Columbus went and it should be emphasized that, just as he is the most important source of knowledge about the discovery of America, it is also probably the most famous ship’s log of our civilization.
Columbus’ letter to the rulers of Spain
On February 15, 1493, while returning from his first voyage of discovery, while still aboard the La Niña caravel, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter that played a key role in spreading knowledge about his journey. Columbus’ Letter was the first known document to report the discovery of the “islands of India”.
Map of Christopher Columbus
In 1925, at the meeting of the International Congress of Geographers in Cairo, the famous French historian of exploration and cartography Charles de La Ronciere presented with great enthusiasm a sailing map, originally acquired by the French National Library in the 19th century, the authorship of which he attributed to Christopher Columbus.
Juan de la Cosa World Map
Map of the World made in 1500 by Juan de la Cosa - a Spanish cartographer and traveler, companion of Christopher Columbus in the first expedition, for which he rented his own ship - La Gallega, renamed Santa María. Juan participated as a pilot in both Columbus’ first and second expeditions.
The man credited with inventing the first practical printing method was Johannes Gutenberg. The fruit of his mind has been recognized as Germany’s greatest contribution to civilization, and every surviving copy of his masterpiece of typographic art - the so-called 42-line Gutenberg Bible - is worth a fortune.
The ‚Polish’ copy of the Gutenberg Bible from Pelplin is one of about 180 copies of the two-volume Bible printed by Gutenberg between 1452 and 1455. To date, 48 works by the Mainz master of „black art” have survived in the world, 36 of them on paper and 12 on parchment. Only 20 of them are complete.
The copy of which we present a facsimile is unique and unusual in the world to the extent that it contains the so-called „typesetter’s error”, i.e. a metal typeface printed on one of the pages which probably fell out of the printer’s hands.
The beautiful and elaborate facsimile binding is a faithful copy of the one made by Henry Coster of Lübeck in the 15th century.
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The Codex Leicester, also briefly known as Codex Hammer, is a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex is named after Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester, who purchased it in 1717. The manuscript currently holds the record for the highest sale price of any book, as it was sold to Bill Gates at Christie’s auction house on 11 November 1994 in New York for USD 30.802.500 (equivalent to USD 52.000.000 in 2018).
The Codex consists of 18 sheets of paper, each folded in half and written on both sides, forming the complete 72-page document. It was handwritten in Italian by Leonardo, using his characteristic mirror writing and supported by copious drawings and diagrams.
At one time the sheets were bound together, but they are now displayed separately. After Gates acquired the Codex, he had its pages scanned into digital image files. It has been unbound with each page individually mounted between glass panes. It is put on public display once a year in a different city around the world.
The replica is undoubtedly a unique and perfect work that fully reflects the features, character and spirit of the original. Made by hand extremely laborious and complicated technique of paper sculptures. In the process of finishing cards, appropriate varnish methods and unique techniques were used to give the work the right color, smell and structure.
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Up till now scientists have been wondering how it happened that one man working alone away from big universities abolished the ancient geocentric theory. How did he manage to persuade the modern world that heliocentric system justifies the view in the sky?
De Revolutionibus, Copernicus’ autograph in other words, is the most valuable manuscript in Poland. This is a work of life of Nicolaus Copernicus including a lecture on heliocentric theory. The period of work is dated on the years 1515-1540. The book was written by Copernicus hand in Greek and Latin in a font known as humanistic cursive. The work at first welcomed with great interest by church and university rulers, in 1616 was introduced to the list of banned books as endangering contemporary worldview. Today (since 1956) the original manuscript is held in Jagiellonian Library beyond the range of common view.
It was scheduled by UNESCO in 1999.
Jewerly Setting
Front of the book, obverse, shows the image of Nicolaus Copernicus known from City Hall in Toruń (oil hand-painting) and a visualisation of Copernicus’ solar system. The book is decorated with over 320 gems. The meteorite used in the book is Muonionalusta, the oldest ever found on Earth, dating back to 4.6 billion years, which was found in Sweden in 1906.
The setting is entirely covered with the most precious 24 carat gold.
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There are monuments of Polish literature, thanks to which Poland is known worldwide. Copernicus, Chopin and Rzewuski left behind a legacy valued on every continent, regardless of world trends. The latter is known that when describing the Arab culture – never before or since – presented in such details and in the context of the history of the Arabian horse, he made famous not only the country which he came from, but above all, the world of the Arabian Peninsula.
200 years have passed since Rzewuski began writing the fascinating history of the Arabian horse breeding. Therefore, Manuscriptum Publishing House took the effort to create a faithful, scientific copy (in the form of Jewelry Book) of one the most beautiful of the 3 volumes. This precious facsimile is covered in jewelry binding full of gold and gem stones, emphasizing the value of the original.
The original copy of this beautiful manuscript consists of 352 pages and 218,000 words contains 65 charming sketches of the Count and more than 100 other illustrations and maps. There’re a lot of portraits of Bedouin tribes in Arabia, its history, customs, culture and excellent description of the unique nomadic lifestyle. In total, more than 400 color drawings, which constitute a source of research on local culture and customs, which is also of great value for the Saudis. There are also notes, of Bedouin music 200 years old, as well as a list of some tribes. Today the Rzewuski’s manuscript is the heritage of the Arabian horse, a unique source of information for anyone interested in it.
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