The Career of Moses Shapira, Bookseller and Antiquarian

ABSTRACT This article takes a look at the career of Moses Shapira, the notorious bookseller, antiquities dealer, and possible forger of 19th-century Jerusalem. Despite Shapira’s fame among scholars, his career is little discussed beyond the episodes of the Deuteronomy strips and, to a much lesser extent, the ‘Moabite pottery.’ By surveying his career as a whole, I will put these episodes into a clearer context, shedding additional light on Shapira’s methods and motivations. In addition, since we have more information by far on Shapira’s career than on that of any other seller of antiquities in Late Ottoman Palestine, understanding his career provides important insights into how the antiquities trade in Palestine operated at the time.