Dear Dr. Dougherty,
Enclosed is a xerox of my report on the purchases of papyri I made
with the funds of doll. 16,500 which you provided for this purpose by
your letter of September 1st, 1981. Because of the fluctuation of the
dollar rates in the course of the last six months I spent doll. 35,51
more than I had available.
I am delighted and much satisfied by the new acquisitions, though I
did not succeed in acquiring a group of almost sensational literary
papyri (part of a lost Socratic dialogue presumably by Aischines; 2
almost complete columns from the anapaests of an unknown comedy probably
by Aristophanes; 2 columns from an anonymous history of Alexander and
the diadochs etc.) which had been offered to me by Mr. M. Facklemann
of Irenethal (close to Vienna); this lot was bought by the University
of Cologne for about doll. 40.000. The papyri I bought are of a comparable
value, and, after long negotiations, I got them at a much lower price.
I shall now see to it that they will be published by our graduate students
though I reserved one document of unusual historical interest for myself.
Until now I preferred to work on papyri and parchments belonging to
the University of Cologne and the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. Also my
students had frequently to study papyri belonging to other institutions
in Cairo and Europe. In this regard the new acquisitions will be a turning
point in our scholarly activities.
In light of my recent experiences I may add a few notes and inform
you of another group of papyri which has been offered to me.
The papyrus market in Cairo is almost dried up though one of the dealers
is said to sit on an exceptional literary papyrus; I could not reach
him during the three weeks I was in Cairo. Available is only cartonage
from mummies. Buying such cartonage is a gamble; the buyer cannot see
what is inside the layers covered by plaster and paintings. It turned
out that the head I bought consisted of only two layers of papyri which
yielded unfortunately small and incomplete fragments, partly even without
writing. Hence the head was not worth the money I had to spend for it.
Fortunately, however, I had included three other pieces of cartonage
in the same deal, and they yielded a reasonable amount of publishable
documents, so that we did not lose money on this purchase. Nevertheless,
if I had seen the papyri before buying the cartonage, I would not have
selected them. On the other hand, some of the most important literary
papyri which came to light during the last ten years including the group
which I reported above as being recently bought by cologne came from
mummies found at the same cemetary as the cartonage I bought. Only by
buying large amounts of cartonage we would have a reasonable chance
to find such exceptional pieces. Or one might purchase good and selected
pieces from Mr. Facklemann (as, in fact, I did in the case of five papyri)
who has bought the cartonage from the same source. As in this case the
risk is with Mr. Fackelmann, such pieces are much more expensive than
the cartonage.
Among Mr. Fackelmann's papyri is a group of 13 large and complete Ptolemaic
documentary papyri, all from one piece of cartonage of the same provenance
as the pieces I bought in Cairo and from Mr. Facklemann (19 x 32; 22
x 12; 33 x 10; 19 x 15; 10 x 18; 10 x 30; 11 x 35; 5 x 23; 12 x 20;
8 x 34; 8 x 10; 12 x 20; and 6 x 15 cm.). So far as I could determine
all or at least most of these papyri belong to an archive and their
content might very well be interrelated. This is a very rare opportunity,
and I know that Prof. A. Hanson is interested to buy them for Fordham
or Princeton (money is available). I have started negotiations with
Mr. Facklemann, and I assume that the final price will be in the area
of 10,000.--dollars, which if needed could be paid in two or three installments.
If the library is willing and able to finance this additional purchase,
I should give a telephone call to Mr. Facklemann. I have taken photographs
of the whole lot, and I might show them to you as soon as the prints
have been made.
I understand the financial difficulties our university is facing; I
feel nevertheless obliged to bring this exceptional opportunity to your
attention.
If you would like to see the papyri I bought with your help, please
let me know so that I may show them to you.
L. Koenen
