Owner of Irish hotel to sell ‘most influential book in human history’ for estimate of up to $50m

Jacqui Safra, who co-owns the Parknasilla hotel and Rossdohan Island, in Co Kerry, is bringing arguably “the most influential book in human history” to auction in May, at an estimate of between $30 million and $50 million, or about €28.5 million and €46.5 million.

The billionaire Swiss-Lebanese investor, who owns the Sneem attractions with the businessman Tony Daly, has strong connections with Ireland. He also owns Garnish Island in Kerry (not the Bantry Bay Garnish Island), which he purchased in the 1990s. He keeps a very low profile in Kerry, and is said to use the name JE Beaucaire locally, a name adopted from cameo film roles in earlier life, including in Woody Allen’s Radio Days.

Now the collector is selling the Codex Sassoon, “a foundational cornerstone to civilisations and communities around the globe and arguably the most influential book in human history”, according to Sotheby’s in New York.

The earliest, most complete Hebrew Bible extant is composed of 24 books, divided into three parts, the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Writings. The Hebrew Bible is the foundation for Judaism and other Abrahamic faiths, including Christianity, which refers to these texts as the Old Testament.

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This codex, or manuscript in book form, takes its name from its most prominent owner, David Solomon Sassoon, “who assembled the most significant private collection of Judaica and Hebraica manuscripts in the world”, according to catalogue notes.

Carbon dating has confirmed that the book is from the late ninth or early 10th century, which makes it contemporaneous with the Aleppo Codex, now in the Israel Museum. But the Sassoon Codex is “significantly more complete”, according to catalogue notes, as two-fifths of the Aleppo Codex was lost in the 1940s. They are the only two such complete codices from the 10th century to have survived into the modern era.

Sotheby’s says the Codex Sassoon could become the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction, surpassing the $43 million record set in 2021 by a first printing of the United States Constitution.

One of the oldest Christian Bibles is the Codex Sinaiticus, “the earliest extant manuscript to contain the complete New Testament and the oldest and best witness for some of the books of the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament”. Over time it was divided between libraries in Egypt, Germany, England and Russia. The British Library, in London, now holds the largest part of it; in 1933, to raise money for his second five-year plan, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sold many Russian-held sections of the Bible to the library for £100,000.

The Codex Sassoon, which has remained virtually hidden from public view for centuries, is on view in London until Tuesday, February 28th.