Manuscript Notes
A Manuscript Catalogue Can Identify a Passage by Its Opening Words
Use opening and closing words in a manuscript catalogue as locating clues, while checking which work, passage and physical leaves the entry actually describes.
Ideas worth reading closely
Notes from the reading room
Ideas in Context
“Not Found in This Source” Is a More Useful Note Than “Never Existed”
Keep the limits of historical evidence visible by distinguishing an unsuccessful search, a missing passage and a claim that something never existed.
Ideas in Context
Similar Passages Raise a Question; They Do Not Prove Borrowing by Themselves
Compare similar passages without jumping straight to a claim of dependence. Record wording, context and translation choices before evaluating a relationship.
Reading Room
A Bibliography Is a Route into a Text, Not a Reading Achievement
Turn a specialist bibliography into a manageable reading plan by separating editions, translations and studies, then marking what you have actually consulted.
Ideas in Context
An Inscription Can Be Evidence Without Being a Final Answer
Read a date, name or note in a manuscript as evidence to interpret, keeping its wording, location and possible copying history visible.
Manuscript Notes
A Manuscript Shelfmark Is a Better Bookmark Than a Screenshot Name
Keep an institution’s manuscript identifier with your notes so a saved image remains connected to its catalogue record and the object it represents.
Manuscript Notes
The Apocryphon of James: A Modern Title and a Surviving Witness
The Apocryphon of James shows why a familiar published title, the date of a manuscript and the proposed date of composition need separate notes.
Ideas in Context
Reading the Dialogue of the Savior Without Filling Every Name Gap
The Dialogue of the Savior offers a useful distinction between names in a text and fuller identifications proposed by readers and scholars.