The Antiquarian Object in Print: The Codex Alexandrinus and Cross-Confessional Hellenism in Seventeenth-Century England

Abstract

Focusing particularly on the scholarly editions of the Codex Alexandrinus (an important early manuscript of the Septuagint) printed in Oxford during the 1630s by Patrick Young, this article argues that the often-derided antiquarian “reverence” for textual artifacts became a way to express otherwise controversial ideas of cross-confessional unity. By centering on Young’s fascination with capturing the visual qualities of the codex (alongside parts of its text), the article suggests that he sees the reproduction of ancient material objects as uniquely able to transcend confessional, cultural, and even temporal boundaries—to become vessels of a kind of archival coexistence. Antiquarianism’s distance from historical constructions of chronology thus enables different forms of knowing the past. Moreover, the significance of both collecting and printing textual artifacts to Young’s project suggests that an understanding of antiquarianism as guided by passive custodianship alone neglects its long tradition of active creation.