Beinecke MS 237                                             Byzantium, s. XII/XIII [?]
Joannes Climacus, Scala Paradisi (in Greek)

     1. f. 1r    //[Greek].

          Letter of Joannes Raithunus to Joannes, of which only last line
     remains; PG 88. 624-25.

     2. ff. 1r-2v    [Greek]. [Greek].

          Letter of Joannes to Joannes Raithunus; PG 88. 625-28.

     3. f. 2v-215v     [Greek]... [Greek].

          Joannes Climacus, Scala paradisi; PG 88. 632-1161. This codex does
     not contain scholia given in PG: 1161-1164.

     4. ff. 216r-217r    [Labels on diagrams of ladders, all in red:]
     [Greek]

          Parchment, ff. ii (paper) + 218. 130 x 98 (104 x 69) mm. Written
     in 20 long lines, ruled in hard point; double vertical, bounding lines,
     full across; pricking at outer edges.
          I-II^^8, III^^8 (-6), IV-VIII^^8, IX^^8 (4, folio between 66 and 67,
     not numbered), X-XIII^^8, XIV^^10 (-2, 8), XV-XX^^8, XXI^^4 (-1, 2),
     XXII^^8, XXIII^^6, XXIV^^10, XXV-XXVIII^^8, XXIX^^2. Quires marked by later
     hand in arabic numerals, upper right corner of first folio recto (below
     foliation).
          Greek minuscule, regular and well formed, written so that the tops
     of the letters hang from the ruled lines.
          On f. 216r, a ladder drawn in blue and red, with explanations of
     each step in red; similar ladders and explanations on ff. 216v and
     217r, entirely in red. Initials before each step in red, with small
     linear designs sprouting from them. Rubrics for incipits and explicits
     of the steps.
          F. 1 cut at the edges. Many folios patched with modern paper,
     sometimes covering a portion of the text.
          Binding: s. xv-xvi. Two chain-stitched supports, the thread laced
     into flush wooden boards without a visible edge groove. The endband
     cores are tied with three groups of thread which straddle the boards,
     the endbands embroidered in a beaded herringbone pattern. There are
     loops of thread around the edges of the quires at head and tail. The
     spine is smooth and round with a lining extending over about one
     quarter of the board. Covered in very dark brown goatskin, blind-tooled
     with two concentric line borders joined at the corners. The fore-edge
     turn-ins are cut in a notched pattern. Two pin holes in the edge of the
     upper board, two leather straps with two ends each laced through the
     lower. Straps wanting except ends inside boards.

          Written in Byzantium probably at the end of the 12th or beginning
     of the 13th century; early provenance unknown. Acquired from Thorpe by
     Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 4289 in his collection). Purchased from
     Laurence Witten with funds from the Jacob Ziskind Charitable Trust in
     1957 (MS 59).

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 44, no. 237. 
	     Ziskind Catalogue, p. 53.
     Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 199-200, no. 26.
          C. E. Lutz, "Johannes Climacus' Ladder of Divine Ascent,"
          Gazette
     47 (1973) pp. 224-27.

     Barbara A. Shailor