The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible

In this chronicle that reads like a historical mystery, journalist Tigay follows the life of Jerusalem-based antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira (1830–84), a purveyor of fake biblical artifacts who claimed to have found the world's oldest Bible. The author traces Shapira's trail across countries in Europe, then Australia and Israel in an effort to locate the ancient scrolls. Ultimately accused of forging the documents, Shapira fled to the Netherlands, where he later committed suicide. Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, scholars wanted to compare both sets of scriptures but were unable to locate Shapira's collection. In this globe-trotting narrative, Tigay's talents for tracking down Shapira's scrolls and verifying them as inauthentic makes for a wonderfully entertaining read and places the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls in historical context.