British Library - and other - modern comments on research and condition and colour

[Steven Avery]

These important comments were on "white parchment" in a post "timeline"

Timeline - Colour emphasis
http://www.purebibleforum.com/showpost.php?p=207&postcount=2

(In general, the timelines can use theirs own thread), here the comments can be considered separately:

On many of these quotes, it is good to utilize the special skill of "reading between the lines".

Emphasis added:

================================

2005, March 5 - Codex Sinaiticus Online Partnership Agreement

"To undertake research into the history of the Codex . . . to commission an objective historical narrative based on the results of the research which places the documents in their historical context ...."

2009 - Codex Sinaiticus Project places full manuscript digitally online.

2009 - Codex Sinaiticus Project - CSP - Gavin Moorhead

"White sheep or calves and goats will tend to produce white parchment, whereas animals with darker coats will produce parchment showing shadowy brown patterns. ... The colour of parchment varies with animal type, making process and condition or state of decline. New parchment can be near white but as it ages or is exposed to detrimental factors it will start to yellow and go brown-black if left to degrade completely. The colour change can also be influenced by the type of degradation and degree of gelatinization. (see fig. 14)"

Parchment Assessment of the Codex Sinaiticus Gavin Moorhead - May 2009
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_parchment.aspx

SA note: any day now this process of yellowing will be beginning on the supposed 1650 year Leipzig pages. In the standard science, the super-vellum is impervious to the normal processes.

Note: Fig. 14 is now the study of special study.

2009 - Codex Sinaiticus Project - CSP -Sara Mazzarino

"The Codex Sinaiticus inks have never been chemically characterized, and the type and proportions of ingredients mixed together have never been determined. Therefore, the composition of the writing media can only be roughly guessed by observing their visible characteristics and their degradation patterns. ... After more than 1600 years, it is clear that the quality of the writing medium originally used by the scribes was truly exceptional, as is the quality of the parchment. The ingredients appear to be well balanced creating a smooth and thin fluid perfect for writing on parchment. The recipe and the manufacturing technique seem to be exquisite too, revealing high craftsmanship and skilled experience for producing good quality inks. No significant degradation process seems to affect the writing media."

Report on the different inks used in Codex Sinaiticus and assessment of their condition
Sara Mazzarino
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_ink.aspx

Our comment: "truly exceptional" related to the presuppositional context of accepting the theory of 1650 years in multiple locations, with heavy use, with various notations and comments being added in many different centuries. Lots of handling in harsh conditions. When truly exceptional situations are seen, the presuppositional concepts are to be reexamined.

Conclusion
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_parchment.aspx
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_report.aspx

It is the intention of the conservators to continue the analysis of the parchment features. It is hoped that with the availability of all the documentation data, it can then be used to compare the differences in folios across all holding sites and to help draw some further conclusions. There has already been some work done on stain mapping consecutive folios that are in different locations and these will also be compared for differences in colour and dimension in the hope that any disparity can answer some of the questions that still remain.

======================

2013 - Petition for C-14 dating of Codex Sinaiticus and other ancient mss placed online

(SA Note: I believe there is far more important and effective materials testing than C-14)

======================

2014 - First known reference anywhere (by our research team) of the colour distinction between Codex Frederico-Augustanus (1844) and Codex Sinaiticus (1859), the same original-source ms.

2014, Oct 21 - CSP gives first preliminary response as to various possibilities for colour anomaly. Deliberate discoloration is not mentioned as a possibility.

2015 - "For the most part, it is still relatively supple and uniformly thin." p. 223
New Perspectives - A Physical Perspective of Codex Sinaiticus: An Overview from British Library - Gavin Moorhead, Sara Mazzarino, Flavio Marzo, Barry Knight

Gavin Moorhead ... initially there were plans to do a detailed study of the colour variance between parchment leaves, but for reasons of time and finances this was not followed through on, and instead the information was put up on the Sinaiticus website in the hope that researchers might be able to make some use of it.

======================

German Leipzig Study Planned

2015 - German study on materials of Sinaiticus, using Leipzig ms, had been planned for April, 2015. This would be the first such materials scientific study on any Sinaiticus materials, including vellum and ink.
2015 - New director of the conservation department at Leipzig cancels the planned study. (Information from Dr. Ira Rabin.)

======================

David W. Daniels uses Internet media to bring forth the Sinaiticus authenticity issues

2015, Dec - David W. Daniels, Chick Publications, produces youtube video series - starting with - Is Sinaiticus Fake? The first emphasis is on the white parchment anomaly.
(separate quotes and index needed.

======================

sinaiticus.net website

2016 - first comprehensive public analysis, Mark Michie performing web-service
beginnings of outreach and responses, including internatational support

======================

Elisabeth Fritsch-Hartung - Leipzig image specialist (now working elsewhere)

"the pages were in a very good state according to conservation standards."

======================

 

[Steven Avery]

We combined another thread: descriptions of parchment, which had this one Skeat quote:

Here we will store the various descriptions of the parchment. And in another thread we have a number of discussions of the colour, such as "yellow with age" and that is planned to come here too.

2. STATE OF PRESERVATION
The vellum is generally in good condition, retaining its 'life' and toughness except where, as on some of the edges of the leaves, it has been wet. In those places it is brittle and liable to crack. On most of the edges there were numerous short slits, and the inner margins of many leaves were badly slit and damaged. Nearly all the inner margins had been contracted by the application of hot glue to the back in the course of successive bindings. A good many leaves were rather badly cockled all over, and some were locally contracted where spots of water appear to have fallen on them; where these spots fell on the writing, the ink has run. There are also a number of brown stains, perhaps due to drops of oil or grease from the lamps and candles of pious readers in the past. The occasional flaying-marks, i.e. accidental punctures in the skin, which develop into oval or circular holes in the process of manufacture, have as a rule been covered over with thin vellum shavings. p. 71 Skeat and Milne

Brown stains .. hmmm. Would it be very difficult to discern an oil stain from a coffee stain?

Clearly, all this is the leaves in Britain, not related to the CFA.

 

[Steven Avery]

Skeat has a comment about acid making holes in the parchment, without any details. This does not match up well with Jongkind, CSP, etc. Skeat used that to conclude that the ink was metallic. (See the perforations mentioned by Tischendorf in his quasi-palaegraphical sections.)

The CSP site has a pic from one fascinating spot that looks like a hole, and Sara from the CSP helped us with that. Information on these two aspects wlll be placed on this thread.

=========================

The Palaeography of Greek Papyri (1899)
Kenyon

3. It is impossible to argue the question [of the dating of Sinaiticus] ... since its decision rests largely upon details not properly palaeographical, such as the presence or absence of certain divisions of the text of the New Testament (the Eusebian canons, the Ammonian sections, the Euthalian divisions of the Acts); but it may be stated that the palaeographical evidence does not require any departure from the dates which have become traditional. (pp. 120-21)

While Kenyon was actually considering an earlier date, note the two points emphasized.

 

[Steven Avery]

palaeographic dating -jelly propped up with jelly

Brent Nongbri's context here is the papyri, however read Bernard Janin Sage (P. C. Sense) on the problem of dating the great uncials and you see the application (even before going into authenticity):

Using one palaeographicaliy dated papyrus to assign a palaeographic date to another undated papyrus results in, to borrow a phrase from Peter Parsons, "only jelly propped up with jelly".

The Limits of Palaeographic Dating of Literary Papyri: Some Observations on the Date and Provenance of P.Bodmer II (P66)
https://www.academia.edu/6755662/Th...n_the_Date_and_Provenance_of_P.Bodmer_II_P66_

In addition to giving jelly dates, such interdependent palaeographic (especially script-based) dating of manuscripts is very susceptible to ms. 2437 style forgery. And any other non-authenticity elements.

 

[Steven Avery]

more from Gavin Moorhead - CSP

Parchment Assessment of the Codex Sinaiticus
Gavin Moorhead
May 2009
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_parchment.aspx

The conservation team discovered that, despite being over 1600 years old, the pages of Codex Sinaiticus held at the British Library consisted of a supple, high quality parchment in relatively good condition. This is difficult to put into context as the only other similar surviving 4th/5th Century parchment codices, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus are at this stage unable to be physically compared with Codex Sinaiticus. Certainly the Codex Alexandrinus is also affected by ink corrosion but all have had different histories and conditions affecting their parchment folios and ultimately the data collected by this condition assessment will enable comparisons to be made in future.

...

The parchment condition is:

• Exceptional for its age.
• Low in levels of significant degradation.
• Affected by long-term ink corrosion.
• Affected by gelatinisation.

...

It is the intention of the conservators to continue the analysis of the parchment features. It is hoped that with the availability of all the documentation data, it can then be used to compare the differences in folios across all holding sites and to help draw some further conclusions. There has already been some work done on stain mapping consecutive folios that are in different locations and these will also be compared for differences in colour and dimension in the hope that any disparity can answer some of the questions that still remain.

...

[12] Based on paleographical analysis, Codex Sinaiticus is generally dated from the mid-fourth century making it over 1600 years old

=================================

One note:

"the only other similar surviving 4th/5th Century parchment codices, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus are at this stage unable to be physically compared with Codex Sinaiticus."

Putting aside our doubts on the early dating of Vaticanus (e.g. see Bernard Janin Sage quoted on this site), there are many ancient parchment codexes that can be compared, take a range from the 4th to 8th centuries. See the pictures on the www.sinaiticus.net site of many of these codexes. (Not one matches the white parchment of the CFA. And we have not seen any that have the colour variance of the British leaves. If we did, we would encourage provenance and authenticity examination.) In terms of time, a 1300 year old ms and a 1700 year codex both have plenty of time to wear, to change colour, to be used for notes, etc.

And I am not sure why Gavin Moorhead says that Codex Alexandrinus is not available. Alexandrinus is held by the British Library, which also holds Sinaiticus. And it has been digitised. If the concern is the fragility of Alexandrinus, then that already involves a comparison. Similarly, Codex Bezae is at Cambridge, and is only considered to be about one century newer, so it would also make a superb comparison.

====================================

And as for long-term ink corrosion:

Ink corrosion - Chemistry Prof. Dr. Gerhard Banik (1998)
http://irongallink.org/igi_index22a4.html

In principle deterioration of paper by iron gall inks is largely a result of the action of the inks consisting of iron of diverse other transition metal ions, e.g. such as copper or zinc. The damage to the support material goes through various stages. Firstly fluorescence in the immediate vicinity of the ink writing under UV-light is noticeable, which is followed by a brown discoloration of the support in this area. This especially occurs in case of broad pen or brush strokes. The brown discoloration spreads through the support and very often an offsetting to neighbouring pages is observable. Finally, the degradation of paper is so severe, that whole areas, especially along the written or drawn lines, fall apart and the information is lost. In both degradation processes, the relatively flexible support - paper and parchment - becomes brittle and friable as a result of ageing complicated by the influence of apparently destructive inks. The support material suffers an extensive decline in its natural properties which finally makes its further use as an information medium impossible.

Yet note that the Sinaiticus in general, with more emphasis on the 43 leaves of the CFA which have not been tampered with, have close to zero "brown discoloration". Nor is there significant "degradation of paper", which is in good conservation, even extraordinary. The manuscript is clearly not "brittle and friable as a result of ageing", this can easily be seen in any pictures where it is being handled. Thus the photography project did not have any great difficulties in this area. There is no "extensive decline in its natural properties which finally makes its further use as an information medium impossible."

Even the British Library, with the coloured pages of wide variance, is not particularly concerned about preventing ink degradation, because there is very little. And what little there is could easily occur in 200 years. Comparisons could also be done with the 1912 and 1922 photographs of Kirsopp Lake. You would think that if there was any such concern, the ink would have been tested long ago.

In fact, compare with the quote above:

Report on the different inks used in Codex Sinaiticus and assessment of their condition
Sara Mazzarino
http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_ink.aspx

"The Codex Sinaiticus inks have never been chemically characterized, and the type and proportions of ingredients mixed together have never been determined. Therefore, the composition of the writing media can only be roughly guessed by observing their visible characteristics and their degradation patterns. ... After more than 1600 years, it is clear that the quality of the writing medium originally used by the scribes was truly exceptional, as is the quality of the parchment. The ingredients appear to be well balanced creating a smooth and thin fluid perfect for writing on parchment. The recipe and the manufacturing technique seem to be exquisite too, revealing high craftsmanship and skilled experience for producing good quality inks. No significant degradation process seems to affect the writing media."

Similarly, from the Gavin Moorhead report:

"any 4th Century parchment with this amount of flexibility, thinness, maker’s holes, repairs and striation is exceptional."

"the condition of the parchment is exceptional for its age"

"The parchment condition is: Exceptional for its age."

Conservation Treatment

• Relatively little conservation treatment was required to stabilise the leaves to enable digitisation to be undertaken.
• Apart from some ink corrosion, most of the leaves had only small tears and losses along the head, tail, fore-edge and spine, probably attributable to mechanical damage.

• Let's make a simple suggestion.

The "exception" should be more properly applied to:

"Based on paleographical analysis, Codex Sinaiticus is generally dated from the mid-fourth century"

since palaeographic analysis is a totally unreliable method of dating a manuscript, an exceptionally thin reed, much thinner than the parchment!

Any script style of an earlier day can be mimicked at a later date, and the block uncial style is exceptionally easy. Palaeographic analysis can supply a terminus post quem, the earliest date, since no one can write in a future style. Alone, writing style can never supply a terminus ante quem, the latest date. By palaeography, Sinaiticus, the main text, could be written 350 AD, c. 600 AD (Hilgenfeld), c. 900 AD (see Gage on this site) or 1840 AD (Simonides). ie. Any date from c. 300 AD (one writer on the textual forum contended for even earlier) to 1844 is possible.

 

[Steven Avery]

Alexandrinus comparison of vellum with Sinaiticus by Milne-Skeat


Here is a comparison, done by Skeat:

The Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus:With Seven Illustrations, 1955

Alexandrinus ... the vellum itself now has a:

'limp, dead appearance in marked contrast to the vellum of the Codex Sinaiticus' p. 37

As quoted in:

Echoes of Jesus: Does the New Testament Reflect What He Said? (2014)
Jonathan Clarke
tps://books.google.com/books?id=1woEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT152

======================================

Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts which Contain it (1875)
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
https://books.google.com/books?id=MAE-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA52

Alexandrinus ... The vellum has fallen into holes in many places, and since the ink peels off for very age whensoever a leaf is touched a little roughly, no one is allowed to handle the manuscript except for good
reasons.

======================================

A Study of the Gospels in Codex Alexandrinus: Codicology, Palaeography, and Scribal Hands (2014)
W. Andrew Smith
https://books.google.com/books?id=pWHPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39

Compared to the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus is currently in much more fragile condition; the OT books of Alexandrinus have deteriorated more than those of the NT. A conservation effort was made by the British Library in late 2012 to address the State of the codex prior to preparing digital images of the manuscript. p. 039

ink is slowly eating through some of its pages and turning them into lacework p.1

And another quote from Moorhead, to be added to those above, here we have unexpected, rather than exceptional :

Apart from a small percentage of folios [i.e. pages] with heavy ink corrosion, most of the folios appeared to have survived the rigours of 16 centuries with an unexpected lack of damage, suffering in the main only from small tears and losses along the head, tail, fore-edge and spine folds. Much of this damage is more likely attributable to mechanical damage than physical deterioration.

Gavin Moorhead, in a manner similar to the colour disparity discussion, follows this with a number a conjectures as to the cause of the unexpected and exceptional. None of which have any history, pizazz or support. (We plan to list the two groups with analysis.)

There is one scenario that, apparently, those working for the British Library are not permitted to consider:

1) the manuscript was actually created in 1840 and the first substantive use of the parchment was less than 200 years ago
2) the Leipzig leaves moved out of Sinai in a way that predated the colouring seen on the Russian-->Brit leaves

These do fit all the manuscript "facts on the ground".

 

[Steven Avery]

We can also leave various quote about other ancient parchment mss here:

Plain Introduction (1861)
Scrivener
https://books.google.com/books?id=6pOl5kos2O0C&pg=PA124

a . CODEX TISCHENDORFI I was brought from the East by Tischendorf in 1845, published by him in his Monumenta sacrainedita, 1846, with a few supplements in vol. ii of his newcollection (1857), and deposited in the University Library at Leipsic. It consists of but four leaves (all imperfect) quarto, of very thin vellum, almost too brittle to be touched, so that each leaf is kept separately in glass... Tischendorf places its date towards the end of the seventh century, assigning Mount Sinai or lower Egypt for its country.

Similar provenance, presumably far less use, totally different condition.

========================

Christian Remembrancer (1866)
http://books.google.com/books?id=j_UDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA391

"Yet one of the few critics who has enjoyed the privilege of examining both copies, has told us that he was particularly impressed with the marks of greater age patent in the Codex Vaticanus; it looks older, and has suffered more from the ravages of time; none of its leaves seem by any means so fresh as do some portions of its rival."

========================

It should be pointed out that the marked difference between Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus emphasized by Skeat and Milne above is not reflected in this observation by Flavio Marzo:

28 December 2012
The Conservation of Codex Alexandrinus-
28 December 2012
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/12/the-conservation-of-codex-alexandrinus.html

The manuscript is written in iron gall ink on parchment. The quality of the parchment substrate is superb: it is extremely thin, comparable to the parchment used in the making of Codex Sinaiticus