In the Shadow of Sinai: A Story of Travel and Research from 1895 to 1897

In the Shadow of Sinai was published in 1898, five years after author Agnes Smith Lewis's sister Margaret Dunlop Gibson published an account of their first two trips to Sinai in How the Codex was Found. This longer and more-detailed sequel to her sister's book covers the latter years of their Syriac research, from 1895‒1897, but includes a brief summary of the first two visits to Sinai. In the Shadow of Sinai contains an introduction from the author, several helpful illustrations and photographs from the trip, and a complete narrative of the third and fourth trips to Sinai, from the preparations to the results of their discoveries. This entertaining and illuminating text is the essential conclusion to How the Codex was Found. AGNES SMITH LEWIS (1843‒1926) was twin sister to MARGARET DUNLOP GIBSON (1843‒1920); the Semitic scholars were often referred to as the Westminster sisters for their donations to the Presbyterian Church of England and especially Westminster College, Cambridge. Between the two of them, the women learned 12 languages and became pioneers in their field. While both sisters traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East, as well as to Mount Sinai to study the earliest Syriac version of the Gospels, most of their written works are attributed to Agnes, who wrote more than fifteen books about their studies and travels.