The standard critical edition of the Nag Hammadi Library (and the Gospel of Mary, which was found in a different ancient book). These 5 phone book-sized volumes are the equivalent of [[James M. Robinson]]'s [Nag Hammadi Library in English] (or [[Marvin W. Meyer]]'s newer translation [Nag Hammadi Scriptures] except that they have the original Coptic on each facing page -- with scholarly introductions, descriptions of the manuscripts, footnotes of textual variants (on the rare occasion when other manuscripts of these texts exist), indexes of borrowed Greek words, transcriptions of the scrap papers made into paper-mache boards to stiffen the leather covers, and English translations.

One may read across two pages from Coptic to English. If you cannot find (or afford) the [Nag Hammadi Codices] volumes ($500 each with photographs of the original manuscripts and brief introductions) these careful transcriptions copy and number each line of each page, are the product of painstaking peer-reviewed scholarship, and are an essential tool for study of the four largely Gnostic libraries found at in the mid-1940's near the village of Nag Hammadi in Egypt. (Not to be confused with the Dead Sea Scrolls which were tubular, older, Jewish, and not in any form of Egyptian.)

Brill, the publisher, occasionally puts this set on sale: if you do not go to professional conferences, ask your Coptic or Religion professor if they could help you purchase the books at a discount (you will likely have to wait until the end of the year). While you have your checkbook out, if you buy these volumes a copy of [[Walter Crum]]'s [Coptic Dictionary] and [[Walter Bauer]]'s [Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament]] are both musts, as is a good contemporary Coptic Grammar ([[Bentley Layton]]'s is a good place to start) -- and [[Gregory Sterling]]'s [Coptic Paradigms] and [[Richard Smith]]'s [Concise Coptic-English Lexicon] can't hurt either. (They are each light, short books which will carry you through the majority of your translation work ... until you hit a Greek loan word.)

Recommended for students of Coptic, scholars interested in Roman-era philosophy and religion, and specialists on Gnosticism, early Christianity, and the history of Judaism. If you just want to read these in English either Robinson's or Meyer's translation will serve.

-Kushana ( )

The edition of the Nag Hammadi Library in Coptic and English. A standard scholarly reference tool for the study of Gnosticism. A valuable companion to the multi-volume photographic edition of the Nag Hammadi Library published by Brill Academic. ( )