442 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



PALAEOGRAPHY. 



Lowe, E. A., Oxford, England. Associate in palccography. (For previous 

 reports see Year Books 9-16, 19.) 



As a result of investigations conducted in connection with the 

 "Bobbio Missal" and the new "Pliny Fragment," the research work of 

 the past year has been in the field of uncial manuscripts. These re- 

 searches require minute and extensive examination of all the extant 

 material. As soon as possible it is proposed to gather the ascertainable 

 facts and to publish them in the form of a preface to a collection of 

 plates entitled "Dated Uncial Manuscripts." It is impossible to 

 work upon uncial manuscripts without including in one's investigation 

 the manuscripts in half-uncial. Uncial and half-uncial manuscripts 

 were written between the fifth and ninth centuries and in the course 

 of these centuries various marginal annotations were added. The 

 types of writing used in the margins constitute the raw material out of 

 which early minuscule scripts were formed. The notes taken on these 

 marginalia should prove valuable for a study of the history of early 

 minuscle writing. 



All these investigations require the aid of travel and photography. 

 The generous policy of the Institution has enabled the writer to visit 

 the most important centers for uncial manuscripts. During the winter 

 and spring researches were carried on in Paris, Lyons, Turin, Verona, 

 Bologna, Florence, and Rome. The weeks spent in Paris, Lyons, 

 Verona, and Rome were particularly profitable, as these cities are rich 

 in our oldest manuscript material; Lyons and Verona can boast of 

 still possessing books that were written within their walls fourteen 

 centuries ago. In Milan it was my good fortune to decipher and iden- 

 tify a very ancient fragment, recently acquired, of the first book of the 

 ^neid with a Greek translation opposite the Latin. The fragment is 

 unique. The writer's thanks are due to the officers of all the libraries 

 visited for various courtesies and permission to get photographs. 

 During the past year short articles were published in the "Berliner 

 Philologische Wochenschrift," "The Classical Quarterly," and "The 

 English Historical Review." "A Sixth Century Fragment of the Let- 

 ters of Pliny the Younger" is now in press. 



