A page-turner at the Milwaukee DSS exhibit

TURNING A PAGE in the Masoretic Bible at the Milwaukee Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is a complicated procedure:

A real page-turner, literally for scrolls

By Jackie Loohauis-Bennett of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: March 20, 2010

The Milwaukee Public Museum is turning the page on its "Dead Sea Scrolls" exhibit. And an expert is traveling 8,000 miles to make the turn.

The pages of the Masoretic Bible, the oldest existing version of the Hebrew Bible, will be carefully turned on Friday to put a new section of the text on public view at the museum. Comprising the Torah - the first five books traditionally attributed to Moses - the beautifully bound Bible dates to the 10th century. Its pages are the earliest known biblical writings after the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls themselves.

The Masoretic Bible is on loan from the British Library, and on Friday, Robert Davies, the library's registrar, will travel from Britain to carefully turn the Bible's ancient pages. The procedure will be closed to the public and take place after museum hours.

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An individual page can be exposed to light safely for only a limited time.

Background to the exhibit is here, and keep following the links.