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The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible
by Chanan Tigay
A gripping account of one man's quest to find the oldest Bible in the world and solve the riddle of the brilliant, doomed antiquities dealer accused of forging it.
In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira--archaeological treasure hunter, inveterate social climber, and denizen of Jerusalem's bustling marketplace - arrived unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the world's oldest Bible scroll. Written centuries earlier in the barren plains east of the Dead Sea and stashed away in caves, the mysterious scrolls called into question the divine authorship of the scriptures, taking three thousand years of religious faith and turning them upside down. When news of the discovery leaked to the excited English press, Shapira became a household name. But before the British Museum could acquire them, Shapira's nemesis, French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced his find as a fraud. Humiliated, Shapira fled the country. Six months later he was dead.
With the discovery of the eerily similar Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, investigators reopened the case, wondering whether the ill-fated merchant had, in fact, discovered the first Dead Sea Scroll, decades before the rest. But by then Shapira's scrolls had vanished.
Tigay, award-winning journalist and son of a renowned Bible scholar, set out to find the scrolls and determine Shapira's guilt or innocence for himself. The globetrotting hunt that follows vibrates with the suspense of a classic detective tale. Weaving meticulous research into fast-paced storytelling, Tigay spins a remarkable tale of history and theology; intrigue and scandal; greed, ambition, and the struggle for authenticity. With a brilliant eye for detail, Tigay takes us from restricted storerooms at the Louvre to musty English attics to a flooded Jordanian gorge--and to the German countryside where he meets Shapira's aggrieved descendants.
At once historical drama and modern-day mystery, The Lost Book of Moses brings to life 19th century London and Jerusalem and a cast of rogues, reverends, and relic hunters at whose center sits Moses Wilhelm Shapira, a flamboyant, ingenious, and ultimately tragic personality.
"Starred Review. An intriguing and wide-ranging tale... A work of broad appeal, for the history buff and mystery lover alike." - Kirkus
"A dynamic and satisfying account of a strange, remarkable man whose discovery could turn the world of biblical scholarship on its head." - Publishers Weekly
"Tigay takes us on a gripping personal quest and plunges into the uncertainties of ancient scripture and a tour of the murky underworld of artifact thieves, forgers, and traders." - T. J. Stiles, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and author of Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America
"Who would have thought that this tale of manuscripts, scrolls and notebooks could be such an engrossing one? Chanan Tigay tells a good story, and evokes the characters at its center to bring a fascinating piece of history to life." - Adam Hochschild, finalist for the National Book Award and author of King Leopold's Ghost and To End All Wars
"A enthralling historical mystery... Tigay unfolds a compelling narrative of passions, delusions, deceptions and death, an epic of frailties and faith worthy of the Old Testament itself. " - Jason Roberts, National Book Critics Circle Finalist, A Sense of the World
"The Lost Book of Moses is masterfully told, shot through with wit and insight and infused with deep knowledge of Biblical scripture." - Scott Wallace, author of The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes
"In The Lost Book of Moses, Chanan Tigay takes a fascinating headfirst dive into a cadre of obsessives pursuing a lost treasure linked to one of the great, elusive, and possibly criminal figures of early biblical archaeology." - Matti Friedman, author of The Aleppo Codex
This information about The Lost Book of Moses was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Chanan Tigay is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Middle East, 9/11, and the United Nations for numerous magazines, newspapers, and wires. Born in Jerusalem, Tigay holds degrees from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania and was a recent Investigative Reporting Fellow at U.C. Berkeley. He is a professor of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.
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