Barbati Ch. On the Numbering of Quires in the Christian Sogdian and Syriac Manuscript Fragments in the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection (St. Petersburg) // Written Monuments of the Orient, 2(8) 2018. P. 92—133.
The present contribution serves two purposes. First, it highlights the quire
numbering system as reflected in the Christian Sogdian (in East Syriac script) and Syriac
manuscript fragments from the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection
(St. Petersburg). The main aim of this part is to offer a tentative typology of the numbering of
quires. It shows that not only the Syriac manuscript tradition of the Church of the East, but
also the Christian Palestinian Aramaic manuscript tradition offers important clues for
understanding this material. Second, this study inserts itself into a trajectory of Manuscript
Studies that combines codicology and palaeography with history and cultural history in order
to shed light on the social aspects of the production and consumption of manuscripts, and on
the dissemination of particular technical aspects between Mesopotamia and Central Asia
during late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.