On display as you enter the section are a 12^th-century manuscript of the Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius of Caesarea and a 15^th-century manuscript of Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus. The latter was printed in Paris and contains paintings worthy of those of their model, Jean Fouquet.

The section also features an invaluable treasure: the famous Bodmer papyri – 900 pages in all. Their discovery in the mid-20^th century revolutionized the world of theology and philology. At the heart of the collection is the 2^nd-century codex of The Gospel According to Saint John. There are also a number of apocryphal gospels and Gnostic texts.

The impressive collection of original Bibles includes:

• a Syriac Peshitta
• a Byzantine Evangeliary
• 13^th-century Latin Bibles
• a Sephardic Tanakh
• an Esther Scroll
• a Polyglot Bible produced in Alcalà de Henares
• a Luther Bible
• a King James Bible
• Erasmus’ New Testament
• a Biblia pauperum
• a Lubeck Bible
• a woodcut of an Ars moriendi from the Reformation
• … and the jewel of the collection: the only Gutenberg Bible in Switzerland.