Category Archives: Palaeography

Palaeography, Codicology, and Assigning Dates to Early Christian Codices: A Review of God’s Library

Posted on September 12, 2018 by

Over at The Textual Mechanic blog, Timothy Mitchell has posted a review of God’s Library. I’m happy to say that the review is mostly positive, although Mitchell does mention some “glaring problems,” “contradictions,” and “circular argumentation” that he detects in … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Palaeography | 2 Comments

God’s Library: Publication Day

Posted on August 21, 2018 by

So, it’s August 21. This is the official publication date for God’s Library (I’m not entirely sure what that means, because the book has been shipping from the publisher for a couple weeks now already). Thanks again to everyone involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Book binding, Book covers, Codices, Find Stories, Manuscript Collections, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis | 6 Comments

E. C. Colwell on P52

Posted on July 27, 2018 by

Back in 2005, I wrote an article on P.Ryl. 3.457, or “P52,” the small papyrus fragment of chapter 18 of the Gospel According to John kept at the Rylands Library in Manchester. I argued that the date generally assigned to … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Codices, Palaeography, Rylands Papyri | 9 Comments

Some Observations on the “Provisional Dating” of P.Oxy. 83.5345

Posted on May 28, 2018 by

I want to dwell a little bit on one of the lines from the Egypt Exploration Society’s statement on P.Oxy. 83.5345: “This is the same text that Professor Obbink showed to some visitors to Oxford in 2011/12, which some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Palaeography | 12 Comments

P.Oxy. 31.2604: Writing Exercises and Palaeography

Posted on May 23, 2018 by

Elijah Hixson has drawn attention this morning to a new volume of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri series that is set to appear. Elijah focuses on a potentially interesting new copy of the Gospel According to Mark, but I must admit that … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Palaeography | 4 Comments

P.Ryl. 1.1: A Datable Papyrus Codex of Deuteronomy in Greek

Posted on February 13, 2018 by

In a previous post, I discussed the phenomenon of papyrus codices made from reused documents. Among this group is a very interesting item in the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester. In fact, it was the first piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Chester Beatty Papyri, Codices, Palaeography, Rylands Papyri | 7 Comments

The Yale Genesis

Posted on February 3, 2018 by

Among the ancient Greek manuscripts in the Beinecke Library at Yale University is a fragment of a leaf of a papyrus codex containing the book of Genesis. It constitutes another interesting case of palaeographic analysis, both for the variety of … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Codices, Maurice Nahman, Palaeography, Yale Papyri | 4 Comments