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Figure 11. Specimen: folio 85 (figure 14, beta-radiograph) + lower pastedown, conjoint

Numbering systems:

Quire signatures, foliation, etc.

Quire signatures

There are two types of quire signature, both of which appear in the top margin of the first leaf of the quire:

a.Near top edge, towards center. A small, neat sign written with a sharp-cut pen in dark ink, always shaped like a “7” (though clearly not intended to represent that numeral). The first appears on folio 11r (Quire II) and the last on folio 66r, the first leaf of Quire VIII. The sign is not visible on folio 1r.

Although of indeterminate date (in the absence of any palaeographically datable forms), it seems likely that this system of identical quire markings would have predated the numbered system described as (b) below. The sign at folio 21r (Quire III) is crossed out with a diagonal line (see below).

b.Top right-hand corner. An arabic numeral, plainly visible from “2” (folio 11r) to “7” (folio 56r) (none on folio 66r), written in ink and sometimes bracketed off with curved or straight lines. These were written before the folio numbers, since the latter are sometimes displaced to the left in order to allow room for them (e.g. folio 31r) and/or are separated from them by an additional diagonal line (e.g. folios 11r, 41r). The similar ink-colors, form of the numerals, and bracketing suggest that these quire numbers and the folio numbers were probably written by the same person, and, if so, without doubt, at the same time. All these quire signatures except the “2” on folio 11r have been crossed out with a diagonal ink stroke, possibly at the time of foliation; on folio 21r, the “7”-shaped quire sign is similarly crossed out.