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the formula is printed in No. VII of the Fourth Set (Pl. XII), it would seem probable that the top of it is the line which adjoins the formula of the Fourth Set; for on this supposition it would lie on the page in the same direction as that formula. It would also seem probable that it commences on the right-hand side, and must therefore be read from the right to the left; for that half of the formula, which appears on the page of No. VII of the Fourth Set, is, on the above supposition, its right-hand half, and it seems reasonable to assume that, when only one-half could be printed, it was the initial half that was printed. Moreover in certain pages of book No. IV (see below the detailed description) it is always what on the above theory is the left-hand side of the formula which appears in the middle of the page; and this circumstance points to the same conclusion, as it seems also reasonable to assume that, as usual, the reader was intended to commence reading from the margin of the page. But unfortunately this argument is weakened by the fact that in books Nos. I and III, where occasionally only a portion of the formula is printed, it is indifferently either one or the other of its two outer lines that is omitted. The fact is that the force of all such arguments depends on the assumption that these block-print books were intended for reading. If they were not meant for reading, but intended for the mechanical use of merely turning the pages, it was obviously quite immaterial which portion of the formula was printed whenever the space did not suffice to print the whole.

No. I. Book.

Belongs to M. 3. Purchased from Badruddin. Size, 8x51". Number of forms, 37; the first and last forms, however, consist of two sheets each, placed within one another, and pasted together 16 to form thick covers, as in No. II of the Second Set. Paper, variety IIIb. Fairly clean. Printing, indifferent. Riveted with three copper pegs.

Contains recension Va, printed six times on each page, in a column which runs parallel to the longer side of the book, and stands regularly upright and reversed on alternate pages. The latter rule is not observed on 10 pages out of a total of 142 pages, and these pages, therefore, represent clearly mere accidental lapses of the printer. On a few pages, the formula is only found five-times repeated; but on many pages the sixth repetition, standing too close to the top or bottom of the page, is incomplete, one of the three lines of the formula being omitted. This omitted line is sometimes one, sometimes the other of the two outer lines, so that no conclusion can be drawn as to what is the initial and what the final line of the formula.

16 In the initial cover the paste has given way, and the leaves are now separate.

No. II. Book.

Number of forms, 22, the
Paper, variety IIIb. A few
Riveted with three copper

Belongs to M. 9. Size 7x53". seventh form consisting of only one leaf. leaves damaged by burns and fatty stains. pegs, the guards on one side consisting of large fragments of the plaque, shown on Plate IV, fig. 1.

Contains recension Va, printed, as a rule, in two columns on each page; the columns consisting, as a rule, each of four repetitions of the formula, and running parallel to the narrower side of the book. On a few pages there are only three repetitions in the column; the formula accordingly occurs, as a rule, eight times, and exceptionally six times, on every page. The columns are placed in the same direction on every page, that is to say, line 1 of the formula always stands alternately near the outer and inner edges of the page, so that in reading the book, it does not require to be turned round. There is only one exceptional page (evidently a misprint) in which the columns are reversed. Thus

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As the space is barely sufficient to accomodate the whole breadth

of the columns, it happens that occasionally the terminal letters on one side (a, a, a, a) of the formula, at other times those on the other side (d, d, d, d) are omitted. It is thus impossible to use these omissions as a test for determining the initial and final sides of the formula. The eleventh form is a total exception: on it the text is printed in one column, which consists of six imprints of the formula, and runs parallel to the longer side of the book.

Belongs to M. 7. Number of forms, 52.

No. III. Book.

Found at Aq Tala Tüz. Size, 111×6". Paper, variety IIIc. Initial and final leaves damaged; otherwise well preserved. Riveted with three nails; guards round pieces, as shown on Plate IV, fig. 3.

Contains recension Va, printed in one column on each page, running parallel to the longer side of the book, and consisting of (as a rule) seven, or (sometimes) eight impressions of the formula. When

there are eight repetitions on the page, the space barely suffices for them; and accordingly sometimes one, sometimes the other of the outer lines of the formula is omitted, the same as in No. I. The columns stand upright and reversed on alternate pages; though there are many misprinted pages, about 12 per cent. of the total.

No. IV. Book.

Size, 12 × 8". Number

Belongs to M. 8. Found at Kiang Taz of forms, 20. Paper, variety IIId. One outer form damaged by burns; entire surface of all leaves greased with fat. Riveted with three copper pegs. Printing commences, contrary to the usual rule, on the second page of the first form, but stops, as usual, on the ante-antepenultimate page. Print throughout almost illegible, owing apparently to the greasy surface of the paper.

Contains recension Va, printed in two columns on each page, running parallel to the longer side of the book, and containing each nine impressions of the formula; there being accordingly 18 impressions on every page. On some pages the columns are printed both upright; on others one column stands upright, the other reversed. Thus

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These two arrangements seem to have been observed quite promis

cuously; thus: on 1st form upright and reversed throughout,

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On those pages where the impressions are placed in opposite directions, it is always the left-hand sides of the formula (as seen on Plate

XII) which stand in the middle of the page, adjoining each other. The right-hand sides are near the outer and inner edges of the page; and as the space is rather limited, occasionally the terminal letters on those sides are omitted.

No. V. Book.

Belongs to M. 8. Found at Kiang Tuz. Size, 13 x 8". Number of forms, 20. Paper, variety IIId. Entire surface of all leaves greasy; no burns; the two outside leaves slightly damaged. Print throughout rather difficult to read. Riveted with two copper pegs only. The first (or covering) form is wrongly folded.

Contains recension Va, printed in two columns on each page, which run in right angles to each other, the inner parallel to the longer, the outer parallel to the shorter side of the book. The former consists of ten (exceptionally nine) impressions of the formula, the latter of six, arranged in two lines; the total number of repetitions on every page being 16 (exceptionally 15). The inner columns stand regularly upright and reversed on alternate pages. The outer columns, as a rule, have the third line of the formula (as shown in Plate XII) turned towards the inner column; but on 21 pages (out of a total of 76) the formula is turned the other way, being probably misprints. The two positions are shown in the subjoined diagrams.

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Belongs to M. 8. Found at Kiang Tuz. Size, 13 x 8". Number of forms, 20. Paper, variety IIId. All surfaces more or less greasy; a few burns; large piece torn out of the fourth leaf. Print indifferent, and rather difficult to read. Riveted with two copper pegs only.

Contains recension Va, the arrangement of which is exactly the same as in No. V, except that the inner column consists, as a rule, of nine, and only exceptionally of ten impressions of the formula.

No. VII. BOOK.

Belongs to M. 8. Found at Kiang Tuz. Size, 16 x7". Number of forms, 20; some of them worn through at the back into separate leaves. Paper, variety IIId. Fairly clean and well preserved. Riveted with three copper pegs.

Text printed in one column on each page, running parallel to the longer side of the book, and consisting of twelve impressions of the formula. As a rule the columns stand upright and reversed on alternate pages, there being only 13 exceptions (in a total of 74 printed pages), probably misprints.

No. VIII. BOOK. (Plate XI.)

Belongs to G. 7. Size, 8×51". Number of forms, 32. Has exceptionally seven blank pages both at the beginning and end of the book; that is, printing commences on the 8th page from the beginning, and stops on the 8th page from the end. Paper, variety IIIb. Book in rather bad preservation, and print so faint as to be illegible in many pages. Bound with two twists of paper.

Contains both recensions, Va and Vb, but the latter only on the outside pages of forms 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 30, and on the inside pages of forms 14, 23, 29,17 also on the first (outside) page of form 24; altogether on 25 only out of a total of 114 pages. Curiously enough on the fourth (outside) page of the 24th form there are printed two formulas of the First Set.

Both recensions are printed in two columns on each page, running parallel to the narrower side of the book, and consisting each of three (very exceptionally four) impressions in the case of recension Va, and of two (exceptionally three) impressions in the case of recension Vb. The space is not sufficient for the exceptional number of impressions; accordingly in those exceptional cases one or two lines, from either extremity, are omitted. As a rule the columns stand turned in opposite directions on alternate pages, as shown in the margin.

abcd

a b c d

abcd

abcd

ab c d

abcd

a b c d
a b c d

a b c

d

a b c

d

a

b c

d

a

b c d

Page 4 of form 24 is a curiosity. It is shown on Plate XI. The leaf is badly damaged by burns. On one side (page 3) it shows the formula of the Fifth Set in the usual arrangement of two columns, with two impressions in each, running parallel to the narrower side of the book. On the reverse side (page 4) formulas C and E, in the recensions Ig

17 These too become outside pages, if the fold of the forms is turned the other way.

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