The John Rylands Library will exhibit on public display one of its most extraordinary treasures from 15 July 2026, bringing visitors face-to-face with the oldest surviving copy of Homer’s Odyssey in book form anywhere in the world.
The display, The Manchester Odyssey, opens just two days before the worldwide release of Sir Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated film The Odyssey.
Copied in Egypt in the 3rd century CE, when readers were beginning to abandon scrolls for bound pages, this rare, 1,700-year-old parchment manuscript tells the story of Odysseus’ homecoming and the long-awaited reunion with his family. The manuscript has recently been showcased internationally through a unique collaboration with Universal Pictures, bringing the Library’s special collections to a global audience in an unprecedented way.
Professor Christopher Pressler, University Librarian and Director of The John Rylands Library, and Dr Jeremy Penner, Curator of African and Near Eastern Manuscripts, travelled to New York and London to participate in international press junkets for The Odyssey, presenting the manuscript alongside the film’s cast and filmmakers. The collaboration marks a groundbreaking moment for a university library, placing a 1,700-year-old manuscript at the heart of a major contemporary cultural event.
The public display in the Collections Gallery at The John Rylands Library will allow visitors to explore the story of the manuscript, its extraordinary survival across seventeen centuries, alongside other rare and fascinating items that tell the story of the Library’s unique collections.
