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A Coptic Bibliography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Winifred Kammerer
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Extract

The increasing stream of scholarly and scientific publications pouring steadily from modern presses has created an imperative need for subject bibliographies in practically every field, and to this need the field of Coptic studies is no exception. Indeed the lack of complete bibliographical guidance is here even more keenly felt because Coptic had, until the first issue of the Bulletin of the Société d' Archéologie Copte, in 1935, no proper organ of expression, and articles by Coptic scholars are scattered in periodicals devoted to Egyptian, Greek and the oriental languages, to history, religion, art and many other less likely fields, as well as in the journals of learned societies of many countries. The existing bibliographical guides are incomplete, out of date, or difficult to use for one reason or another, and valuable time and effort often have been spent in bibliographical research by Coptic scholars whose labors might have been saved for more fruitful employment. With the hope of eliminating this duplication of effort, a bibliography of Coptic studies has been compiled at the University of Michigan. At present it is in card form and is housed in the Office of the Curator of MSS. and Papyri. We hope to print it when world conditions again justify such publications, but in the meantime it may be profitable to give a brief account of the project, so that criticisms and suggestions from scholars may make the work more useful to them when it does appear.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Traditio , Volume 2 , 1944 , pp. 507 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © 1944 by Cosmopolitan Science & Art Service Co., Inc. 

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References

1 Some idea of the wide range of journals in which articles relating to Coptic studies have been published may be gained from the fact that the complete files of 263 different periodical publications were examined in the compilation of the bibliography here discussed.Google Scholar

2 For current material, and generally the most important of all, we used the bibliography “Christian Egypt,” which was published in the Archaeological Reports of the Egypt Exploration Society from 1890 to 1912, and continued in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology from 1914 to date. It was contributed by Walter E. Crum from 1890-1909, by Stephen Gaselee from 1909-1916, again by Crum in 1917 and 1918, and by De Lacy O'Leary from 1922 to date. As the title implies, it covers more than just the field of Coptic studies. The principal difficulty in its use is the fact that it appeared, of course, in annual installments, and that in the earlier years a running form, with references in a separate place, was employed. It is broadly classified into large subject divisions.Google Scholar

The extensive current bibliography in the periodical Aegyptus includes Coptic items, but they are difficult to sift out from the mass of material on Egyptology and Papyrology.Google Scholar

For older and standard works, we found the following bibliographies useful:Google Scholar

Benigni, U., “Bibliotheca coptica,” Bessarione , VIII (1900-1), 43–54, 449-75.Google Scholar

Hyvernat, H., in Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Egypt,” V, 356–63.Google Scholar

O'Leary, D., in Cabrol, , Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, s.v. “Littérature copte,” IX, 1599–1635.Google Scholar

Pratt, I., Ancient Egypt; sources of information in the New York Public Library (New York, New York Public Library, 1925).Google Scholar

Pratt, I., Ancient Egypt, 1925-1941; a supplement to Ancient Egypt; sources of information … (New York, The New York Public Library, 1942).Google Scholar

Quatremère, E. H., Recherches critiques et historiques sur la langue et la littérature de l'Égypte (Paris, 1808).Google Scholar

Vaschalde, A., “Ce qui a été publié des versions coptes de la Bible,” Rev Biblique , XXVIII (1919), 220–43, 513-31; XXIX (1920) 91-106, 241-58; XXX (1921) 237-46; XXXI (1922) 81-8, 234-58; Muséon, XLIII (1930) 409-31; XLV (1932) 117-56; XLVI (1933) 299-313.Google Scholar

In addition to these general lists, there are a number of shorter bibliographies of individual Coptic scholars and special subject fields, as well as lists in some of the standard grammars such as Steindorf and Mallon.Google Scholar

3 In addition to the University of Michigan Library, we worked in the collections of the University of Chicago Library, the Catholic University of America Library, Cleveland Public Library, New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress. We are particularly grateful to Father Theodore Peterson and Father Patrick Skehan, of the Catholic University, for the generous help we received in our work in the Hyvernat Collection, as well as to the staff of the White Folk Lore Collection at the Cleveland Public Library, and of the Oriental Institute Library at the University of Chicago.Google Scholar

4 New York, Union Theological Seminary Library, Classification of the Library of the Union Theological Seminary. New York, The Seminary, 1939.Google Scholar

Lynn, J. M. Mrs. An alternative classification for Catholic books. Milwaukee) Bruce Publishing Co.; Chicago, American Library Association, 1937.Google Scholar

United States Library of Congress. Classification.Google Scholar

Also, the bibliographies listed in footnote 2.Google Scholar