The six biblical manuscripts that reside in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC are historically significant artifacts for tracing the early history of the transmission of the writings that make up the New Testament and the Septuagint. The manuscripts, all purchased in Egypt at the beginning of the twentieth century by Charles Freer, date to the third through fifth centuries and include codices of the four Gospels, Deuteronomy and Joshua, the Psalms, and the Pauline Epistles, as well as a Coptic codex of the Psalms and a papyrus codex of the Minor Prophets, which, until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, was the earliest Greek manuscript of the Minor Prophets known. The ten essays in this volume are a notable collection of fresh scholarship with long-term value for the study of what is a small but highly valuable treasure trove of biblical manuscripts. The contributors are Malcolm Choat, Kent D. Clarke, Kristin De Troyer, Timothy J. Finney, Dennis Haugh, Larry W. Hurtado, J. Bruce Prior, Jean-Francois Racine, James R. Royse, Ulrich Schmid, and Thomas A. Wayment. Book jacket.

"With Kindest Regards records the extraordinary friendship between the American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and his most significant patron, Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919). By the time the industrialist from Detroit met the artist in 1890, Whistler was as notorious for his irascibility as he was famous for his artistic productions. Freer, however, would always maintain that he had never met a truer, nobler man. Their correspondence reveals a warmth and generosity in Whistler that has gone largely unobserved." "The eighty-nine letters, telegrams, cablegrams, and calling cards chronicle the growth of Freer's Whistler collection, the largest and most important in the world. Linda Merrill sets the correspondence in context and traces the contacts between the two men during their long acquaintance. She observes how the previously unpublished letters cast new light on Freer's aesthetic education and expand the history of Whistler's later years. Even Freer's outstanding collection of Asian art began with the keen interest in Japanese art he shared with Whistler." "Illustrated with works from the Freer collection and vintage photographs from the Freer Gallery Archives, With Kindest Regards makes important original documents accessible for the first time, augments the legends of Whistler's personality, and reveals the foundation of Charles Freer's legacy to the United States."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919) made his money as a railroad-car manufacturer. A discerning collector