Excerpt from Greek Papyri in the British Museum, Vol. 2: Catalogue, With d104s

HE present volume of the Catalogue of Papyri differs in some points of detail and arrangement from the first. The first volume dealt with the papyri acquired by the Museum up to the year 1890, and every such papyrus, with the exception of the merest scraps (and not excepting some even of them), was included in it, both in the texts and in the accompanying atlas of facsimiles. Since that date, however, the number ofpapyri discovered in' Egypt has increased to such an extent that it is no longer either possible or desirable to publish the texts of all in full. In the present volume, therefore, which covers the acquisitions of the Museum from the beginning of 1891 to the middle of 1895, a selection has been made, and only the texts of the more perfect and important papyri are given in full. By way of compensation, however, the numerical table prefixed to the texts, which in the first volume gave merely the briefest possible description of each papyrus, has been enlarged into a full descriptive catalogue, so as to provide an adequate amount of information with regard to those papyri of which the full texts are not printed 1. In all, about 410 papyri are included within the range of this volume; and the texts of 262 distinct documents are printed in full. A Similar principle of selection has been applied to the facsimiles, the best and most important papyri only (especially those which have precise dates) being selected for reproduction.

The scope of this volume has been determined, so far as the lower limit of time is concerned, by the 'date (may, 1895) at which the British Museum received its share of the Petrie Papyri. To have included descriptions of these (amounting to about'120 in all), together with the texts of those which have not hitherto been published, would have swelled considerably the $126 of a volume already much larger than its predecessor. The Petrie papyri, therefore, together with all subsequent acquisitions of the. Museum, are excluded from its survey. It so happens, however, that nearly all the. More important papyri acquired Since the date at which it closes have already been, published elsewhere; the Petrie Papyri in the two volumes edited by Prof. Mahaffy 2, and a large proportion of the more recent acquisitions in the two volumes edited by Messrs. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt 3. With a few exceptions, therefore, all the Greek papyri in the British Museum are now accessible to scholars.

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