This Ge'ez Psalms manuscript from Ethiopia, which Gerald Studer received from a missionary to Ethiopia, was produced in the early 20th century by the monks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) using ancient Christian production techniques. The codex is hand-lettered on vellum with beautiful illustrations. Ge'ez is an ancient Semitic language that is still in use as a liturgical language by the EOTC. This picture shows one of the illustrated pages.
(Photo credit: Rachel Fonseca, AMBS)
Between 1971 and 2005, Gerald Studer donated his extensive Bible collection to AMBS. His collection included rare and unique Bibles as well as numerous multilingual Bibles.
Gerald C. Studer (1927-2013) was a pastor of a number of Mennonite congregations in Ohio and Pennsylvania and a graduate of Goshen Biblical Seminary, one of the predecessor institutions to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He was married to Marilyn (Kreider) and together they had two daughters. In addition to his extensive Bible collection, donated to AMBS, he donated book collections to other Mennonite institutions. Studer also served as an overseer of a number of congregations and a conference minister. He was the longtime president of the International Society of Bible Collectors and also served as President of the Board of Trustees of Christopher Dock Mennonite School.
