When the NWT was first produced there was a lengthy discussion in the Foreword on the basis for using God's name in the New Testament. It said this about the Fouad Papyrus:
[The recently found remains of a papyrus roll of LXX] contains the second half of the book of Deuteronomy. Not one of these fragments shows an example of Kurios or Theos used instead of the divine name, but in each instance the tetragrammaton is written in Aramaic characters. By permission of its owners we have reproduced photographs of fragments of the papyrus roll that our readers may examine these occurrences of the tetragrammaton in such an early copy of the LXX. a Authorities fix the date for this papyrus at the 2d or 1st century B.C.
a The papyrus belongs to the Societe Royale de Papyrologie du Caire. It bears the Inventory Number 266, and forms part of the collection of Fouad Papyri, of which Nos. 1-89 were published in 1939 in one volume (P. Fouad I, 1939). The nearest parallel in date to P. Fouad Inv. No. 266 is P. Rylands iii. 458, of the 2d century B.C., which also contains fragments of the second half of Deuteronomy; but its scanty remains unfortunately preserve no use of the divine name or its equivalent.
See our pages 13-14 for photographic illustrations of some fragments of P. Fouad Inv. No. 266 of Deuteronomy LXX, which we have numbered...Reproduced by permission of the Royal Society of Papyrology, of Cairo, Egypt.
Although these fragments were mentioned in 1944 by W.G. Waddell in an article The Tetragrammaton in the LXX (Journal of Theological Studies, 45, pp.158-161) the photographic illustrations were not all reproduced. In fact it was only in 1980 that a photographic edition of these scrolls was produced (Three Rolls of the Early Septuagint. Genesis and Deuteronomy by Zaki Aly and Ludwig Koenen). So where did these photographic illustrations in the Foreword to the NWT come from?
In the back of my mind I have a vague recollection that they were taken by special pioneers who were then in Cairo at the behest of the Watchtower Society. But I'm not sure how accurate this is and would love to know the story behind it. As far as I am concerned, if that is the case it is the greatest scoop the WTS have ever had and I am surprised at how little there is written about it. Does anyone know?