History of Joseph the Carpenter

The History of Joseph the Carpenter (Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari) is a compilation of traditions concerning Mary (mother of Jesus), Joseph, and the Holy Family, probably composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late sixth or early seventh centuries, but surviving only in Coptic and Arabic language translation^[1] (apart from several Greek papyrus fragments^[2]). The text bears witness to the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary.

It is one of the texts within the New Testament apocrypha concerned with the period of Jesus' life before he was 12.

^ Bart D. Ehrman, Zlatko Pleše The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations Oxford University Press, US 2011 p 158, quote "In its present form, the History of Joseph the Carpenter is thus a compilation of various traditions concerning Mary and the "holy family," most likely composed in Byzantine Egypt in the late sixth or early seventh century."
^ G. T. Zervos, History of Joseph (prior to the Fourth Century A.D.). A New Translation and Introduction, in James H. Charlesworth (1985), The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, ISBN 0-385-09630-5 (Vol. 1), ISBN 0-385-18813-7 (Vol. 2), pp. 467-468. Quote: "The History of Joseph is partially extant on several Greek papyrus fragments which are preserved in the British Museum; the Bodleian Library, at Oxford; and the Louvre. Descriptions and complete transcriptions of the two fragments belonging to the British Museum have been published in Milne's Catalogue of the Literary Papyri in the British Museum (pp. 187-190) under numbers 226 and 227 (hereafter referred as A and B, respectively). Milne's transcription has been reproduced in A.-M. Deni's Fragmenta Pseudoepigrapharum Quae Sunt Graeca(PVTG 3; Leiden, 1970; pp. 235f.). Facsimiles of A verso and B recto may be found in F. G. Kenyon's Greek Papyri in the British Museum (London, 1893; vo0l. 1, pp. 225, 227, under numbers 113 [13a] and 113 [12b]. [...] Transcriptions of three more papyrus fragments belonging to the History of Joseph and, in all probability, to the same manuscript of this document as A and B have been published by W. M. Lindsay The Athenaeum (Number 3019; Sept 5, 1885; p. 304). [...] The fact that they are written in the same scripts and have a common place of origin (Fayum of Egypt) support the possibility that fragments A, B, C, D, and E originally belonged to the same manuscript. A single unpublished papyrus fragment, which represents a different copy of our document, is preserved in the Louvre under catalogue number E. 7738a (hereafter F). [...] F, for the most part, does not preserve enough writing to add significantly to the text of our document. However, the recto of this fragment contains some lines which occur also in B recto and can therefore be used to correct and supplement the text of that document.

[1] Bart D. Ehrman, Zlatko Pleše The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations Oxford University Press, US 2011 p 158, quote "In its present form, the History of Joseph the Carpenter is thus a compilation of various traditions concerning Mary and the "holy family," most likely composed in Byzantine Egypt in the late sixth or early seventh century."

[2] G. T. Zervos, History of Joseph (prior to the Fourth Century A.D.). A New Translation and Introduction, in James H. Charlesworth (1985), The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, ISBN 0-385-09630-5 (Vol. 1), ISBN 0-385-18813-7 (Vol. 2), pp. 467-468. Quote: "The History of Joseph is partially extant on several Greek papyrus fragments which are preserved in the British Museum; the Bodleian Library, at Oxford; and the Louvre. Descriptions and complete transcriptions of the two fragments belonging to the British Museum have been published in Milne's Catalogue of the Literary Papyri in the British Museum (pp. 187-190) under numbers 226 and 227 (hereafter referred as A and B, respectively). Milne's transcription has been reproduced in A.-M. Deni's Fragmenta Pseudoepigrapharum Quae Sunt Graeca(PVTG 3; Leiden, 1970; pp. 235f.). Facsimiles of A verso and B recto may be found in F. G. Kenyon's Greek Papyri in the British Museum (London, 1893; vo0l. 1, pp. 225, 227, under numbers 113 [13a] and 113 [12b]. [...] Transcriptions of three more papyrus fragments belonging to the History of Joseph and, in all probability, to the same manuscript of this document as A and B have been published by W. M. Lindsay The Athenaeum (Number 3019; Sept 5, 1885; p. 304). [...] The fact that they are written in the same scripts and have a common place of origin (Fayum of Egypt) support the possibility that fragments A, B, C, D, and E originally belonged to the same manuscript. A single unpublished papyrus fragment, which represents a different copy of our document, is preserved in the Louvre under catalogue number E. 7738a (hereafter F). [...] F, for the most part, does not preserve enough writing to add significantly to the text of our document. However, the recto of this fragment contains some lines which occur also in B recto and can therefore be used to correct and supplement the text of that document.

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