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the guards being large pieces of a broken-up plaque (see Plate IV, fig. 1). In almost perfect preservation. Paper, varieties IIIb and IIIc mixed.

Text printed in the three columns on each page; each column consisting of nine impressions of the formula, which accordingly is repeated 27 times on every page, or 3,726 times in the whole book (i.e., 27 x 138 printed pages). The columns run parallel with the longer side of the book, and stand regularly upright and reversed on alternate pages; that is, upright on pages 4, 6, 8, etc., and reversed on pages 5, 7, 9, etc. The pages 4, 6, 8, etc., of course, are left-hand pages; and when the book is turned right round, in order to bring the reversed formulas into the upright position to read them, the pages 5, 7, 9, etc. now become left-hand pages. It follows, therefore, that on reading this book, all the left-hand pages must be read first, and afterwards all the right-hand pages,-which latter pages, of course, on turning the book round to read them, also become left-hand pages. Accordingly whichever way the book is placed for the purpose of reading, it is always the left-hand pages that must be read.

This book is distinguished from all others, in having a finely executed sketch of a head on the fourth page of the 15th form; see Plate XVII. The sketch is placed horizontally across the page, so that the bottom of it is turned towards the inner margin of the page. From the fact that the columns of the print curve round the sketch, it clear that, it was drawn on the page, before the latter was printed on. The head seems to me to show Arian features, and is sketched with much artistic skill.

No. II. Book.

is

Belongs to M. 7. Found at Aq Tala Tuz. Size, 15 x11". Number of forms, 17. Bound with three twists of paper. Well preserved; a few slight burns and stains. Paper, variety IIIb. Printing not quite distinct. It commences, as usual on the 4th page, but ends on the penultimate page (ie., on the 3rd page of the last form).

Text printed in three columns on each page; each column consisting, as a rule, of six impressions of the formula, which accordingly is repeated 18 times on every page. On two pages there are 64 impressions, and on one page only 5. The columns stand regularly upright and reversed on alternate pages; that is, upright on the right-hand pages 5, 7, 9, etc., and reversed on the left-hand pages 4, 6, 8, etc. Accordingly this book must be read differently from book No. I; that is, in whichever way it is placed for reading, its right-hand pages must be read. There are only five pages which do not conform to the regular order; these are p. 4 of form 3; pp. 1 and 4 of form 10, and p. 2 of form 15; and these, clearly, are mere lapses of the printer.

Belongs to M. 6.

No. III. BOOK.

Purchased from Badruddin. Size, 22 x 13". Number of forms, 19; all (with the exception of forms 7 and 8) cut through at the back, into separate leaves. Very well preserved; only very few and very slight burns and stains. Paper, variety IIIb. Riveted with four copper pegs.

Text printed in three columns on each page; each column consisting of eight impressions of the formula, which, accordingly, is repeated 24 times on every page, or 1,680 times in the whole book (i.e., 24 × 70 printed pages). The columns run parallel with the longer side of the book, and stand regularly upright and reversed on alternate pages; exactly as in No. II; that is to say, whichever way the book is placed, the right-hand pages must be read. There are only four exceptional. pages, due to blundering of the printer; viz., pp. 2 and 3 of form 6; p. 4 of form 9, and p. 1 of form 19.

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Belongs to M. 7. Found at Aq Talā Tūz. Size, 10×7". Number of forms, 30. Bound with three twists of paper. Paper, variety IIIb. Extensively marked with water and fat stains; no burns. Print rather difficult to read, owing to the stains and defective inking. Final blank leaf lost.

right

Text printed, as a rule, in three columns on each page; each column consisting of two impressions of the formula, which, accordingly is printed six times on every page. The columns run parallel to the narrower side of the book, but do not stand upright and reversed on alternate pages, but keep the same direction on every page, that is, on the left-hand pages the head of the columns is turned outside, and on the right-hand pages, inside, as shown in the diagram left on the margin. Hence in reading the book, it does not require turning round. There are a few exceptional pages, on which the imprints take reversed positions, but these are clearly blunders of the printer or binder. There are, however, seven pages, on which the arrangement is altogether different; viz., p. 4 of form 1; and pp. 1 and 4 of forms 6, 10, 18. On these pages the text is printed in two columns, running parallel to the longer side of the book, and each column contains four impressions of the formula, which, accordingly, is repeated eight times on each of these pages.

abc abc abc

abc abc abc

abc abc abc

abc abc abc

p.

6 p.

Belongs to M. 3. Number of forms, 45.

No. V. BOOK.
Purchased from Badruddin.
Riveted with three copper pegs.

Size, 11 x 61".

Paper, variety

IIIc. Fairly clean; a few fatty stains and small burns; the two outside leaves torn to shreds. Print almost illegible, owing to defective printing.

Text printed exactly as in book No. IV, save that the exceptional arrangement of the text in two columns never occurs.

No. VI. Book.

Belongs to M. 7. Found at Aq Talā Tūz. Size, 8×5". Number of forms, 26; but the first form is in shreds, and the last form is misplaced through a blunder of the binder, standing fifth in the present series. Riveted with three copper pegs. Many large fatty stains and a few burns. Paper, variety IIIb. Print almost illegible, owing to defective inking.

Text printed in 2 columns on each page; each column consisting of two impressions of the formula, of which, accordingly, four complete and two half-impressions stand on every page. The columns run parallel to the narrower side of the book, and are arranged exactly as in Book No. IV. Here, too, as in No. IV, there are a few exceptional pages on which the imprints take reversed positions. An example, which shows also another misprinted anomaly, is given on the margin from form 11.

p.

Form 11. (margin).

2.

2 a b c

i a b c

a b c

abc

9

p. 3.

a b c

abc

cab c

a b c

It may be noted that there is a slight blank margin at the top of the pages (as indicated in the diagram), while at the bottom the print runs to the very edge. This shows the modus operandi of the printer, who commenced printing at the top of the page, though (as shown by the inner column on page 3 of the diagram) not (no margin.) always with the initial edge of the block. But when he came to printing the half-impression on that inner column, he turned the block round, apparently with the object of getting the initial portion. of the formula on to the page. It seems that, as long as the whole of the formula could be accommodated on the page, the printer did not care, in what position he placed the impression of it; but when he could only accommodate a portion of it, he was careful in printing its initial portion. This seems to be a reasonable explanation of the anomaly, and it points to what apparently must be taken to be the beginning of the formula.

No. VII. BOOK. (Plate XII.)

Belongs to M. 6. Purchased from Badruddin. Size, 11 x 8". Number of forms, 12; all cut through at the back into separate leaves. Exceptional in being bound with only two twists of paper, and in commencing its printing on the second, and stopping it on the ante

penultimate page. Paper, apparently variety IIIb. Rather rotten; several leaves mutilated; very much damaged by extensive fatty stains. and burns. Printing rather illegible on many pages; two of them (pp. 10 and 11) being altogether blank, owing to the print on the reverses (pp. 9 and 12) showing through.

Contains its own proper formula, as well as that of the Fifth Set. The latter, however, is only found on pages 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 21, 29, 32, 37, 40 and 45; and on these pages it is found in addition to the proper formula of the Fourth Set. When so found, it always occupies the outer side of the page, except on p. 14, where it stands on the inner side; see, below, marginal diagram II. On page 13, it should also have been found, but (apparently by an oversight) the space has been left blank.

I.

p. 3.

p. 2.

(broad margin).

abc

abc

a b c

abc

abc

a b c

abc

abc

abc

4321

a b c

a b c

a b c

a b c

a b c

abc

4321

(no margin).

21

Text printed in three columns on each page; each column consisting of three impressions of the formula; that is, either thrice the proper formula of the Fourth Set; or twice that formula and once the formula of the Fifth Set. As the latter formula is longer than that of the Fourth Set, and hence occupies more space, it is only found 2 times on a page; and on these pages, the lower portions of the columns overlap one another. This will be understood from the diagram I shown in the margin, in which abc, and 1234 denote the formulas of the Fourth and Fifth Sets respectively. Here, also, the same modus operandi of the printer may be noticed, He commenced at the top of the page (as shown in the marginal diagrams) where there is a broad blank margin, while at the bottom the print runs right up to the edge of the pages with the half-impression of the formula of the Fifth Set. This circumstance would seem to serve as an indication of the beginning of the latter formula; though this conclusion is not quite borne out by diagram II, which shows the exceptional page 14, above referred to. This diagram would rather seem to show that the beginning of the formula of the Fifth Set lies at its other extremity; but then both pages, especially page 15, show an anomaly in the relative

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It will further be seen from the above two diagrams that the columns run parallel to the narrower side of the book, and are arranged in a

J. 1. 16

different position from that in books Nos. IV to VI. There the heads of the columns are turned in the same direction on consecutive pages (see diagram in No. IV), while here the heads are always turned in opposite directions, against one another, that is, they are always turned reversely on alternate pages.

No. VIII. Book.

Belongs to M. 8. Found at Kiang Tuz. Size, 14x 8. Number of forms, 20. Paper, variety IIId. Surface greased, and a few burns. Printing rather indistinct. Riveted with two copper pegs.

abc abc abc abc

Contains besides its own proper text that of the Seventh Set. The latter is found only on one form, the 3rd, where it is printed, on all its four pages, exactly in the same way as the proper formula of the Sixth ist form, p. 14. Set. This formula is printed in two columns on each & ab c page, running, as a rule, parallel to the longer side a b c of the book and consisting each of five or six impressions. The columns stand in no particular order, sometimes upright and reversed on the same page, sometimes so on alternate pages, sometimes in the same position on consecutive pages. On four pages (viz., on the first and last printed pages, as well as on the 13th and 28th) the columns stand at right-angles to one another, the outer column consisting of only four impressions, as shown in the marginal diagram.

a b c

abc

a b c

FIFTH SET. (Plates XI and XII.)

This Set comprises eight books. Its text is found in two different recensions, a shorter one of three, and a longer of four lines. These I shall denote by Va and Vb respectively. Besides its own proper text, there is also found on one page of book No. VIII the text of the First Set.

The shorter recension Va is found in all the books of this set; also in No. VII of the Fourth Set. The longer recension Vb is only found in No. VIII of this set, where it occurs together with recension Va. The two recensions only differ from each other by Vb adding a fourth line to the three lines of Va.

Two distinct blocks have been used for printing the two recensions. This is shown by their enclosing lines which may be seen on the facsimiles. The block of Va measured 4×1 inches; that of Vb measured 41 x 17 inches.

There is nothing to show which is top and bottom, or right and left, or beginning and end of the two formulas. From the way in which

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