DEPARTMENT OF MSS. 31 



14. The following publications, in addition to those 

 mentioned above, have been issued during the year : — 



Facsimiles of Biblical Manuscripts in the British 

 Museum, with descriptions and transcripts. 



Facsi7)%iles of Royal, Historical, Literary, and other 

 Autographs, with descriptions and transcripts. Fifth Series. 



Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum : 

 Facsimiles in gold and colour, with descriptive text. Second 

 Series. 



15. Acquisitions. — The number of Manuscripts and Docu- 

 ments acquired during the year is : — 



General Collections of MSS. - - - - 244 



Charters and Rolls - - ^ - - - 907 



Detached Seals, Casts, &c. - - - - 203 



Papyri - - - - _ _ _ _ 107 



Egerton MSS. ...... 2 



The acquisitions during the past year have been of 

 considerable interest and importance. 



The first in point of age is a collection of about a hundred 

 Greek Papyri, discovered at Oxyrhynchus and some of the 

 villages of the Fayum, in Egypt, by Messrs. Grenfell and 

 Hunt (excavating on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund) 

 in the course of the years 1895-1899. They range in date 

 from the 1st cent. B.C. to the 7th cent, after Christ, and 

 include a portion of the Gospel of St. John, of the 3rd cent., 

 a hitherto unknown ode of Sappho, of the same date, a 

 fragment of an unknown Comedy (1st cent.), and portions 

 of Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, 

 Xenophon, Plato, and Demosthenes. The non-literary 

 papyri, which form the greater part of the collection, are of 

 considerable palseographical interest, and have been selected 

 with a special view to the requirements of the Department 

 in this respect. The texts of most of these papyri have 

 been printed in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, vols. I. and IL, 

 and Fayum. Towns and their Papyri, edited by Messrs. B. P. 

 Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (1898-1900). Presented by the 

 Egypt Exploration Fund. 



Two other literary acquisitions, of later date but of 

 peculiar interest, deserve special mention. The first of these 

 is the MS. of Philip Massinger's drama, " Believe as you 

 List," written throughout by the author's own hand. The 

 MS. first came to light in 1844, but had not until now been 

 recognised as autograph. The identification of the hand- 

 writing was only made on its appearance in an auction-room 

 during the past' year, when the volume was acquired 

 for the Museum. With the exception of two masques of 

 Ben Jonson, also in the Department, this is the only extant 

 holograph drama by one of the great brotherhood of 

 Elizabethan playwrights. 



