Beinecke MS 241                                               Byzantium, s. XIII/XIV
Catena on Isaiah (in Greek)

          ff. 1r-435v    [Greek] [ornamental border below heading,
     then Isaiah, I. 1:] [Greek]...[Isaiah, 66. 24:] [Greek]
     [beginning of catena, from St. Basil's Commentary:] [Greek]
     ...[end of catena, from Eusebius and Cyrillus, badly mutilated:]
     [Greek] [Cyrillus:] ...[Greek]. [Eusebius:] [Greek] [p. 437,
     inscription, in same hand as text:] [Greek] // [page cut off] [p. 438,
     inscription in another hand:] [Greek]****[Greek].

          Two later scribes, apparently heeding Athanasius' request, added
     brief notes, the first in red ink (ca. s. xv), referring to books which
     Athanasius brought; the second, in black (ca. s. xvi), requesting
     intercession for him and his relatives.
          With few exceptions the text corresponds closely to the
     "Stichproben zu Isaias" printed by M. Faulhaber, Die
     Propheten-Catenen
     (Freiburg, 1899) pp. 203-08, and taken from Vatican, Ottob. 452. None
     of the five prologues he lists is in Beinecke MS 241, and the text
     breaks off just before the end of the catena, omitting the last note
     cited by Faulhaber and most of the preceding one (cf. R. Devreesse,
     Introduction a l'etude des manuscrits grecs [Paris, 1954], p. 179).

          Paper, ff. iv (paper) + 437 (nos. 433-443 are page numbers; the
     preceding numbers are for folios) + iv (paper), 257 x 165 (202 x 120)
     mm. Written in ca. 29 long lines (ff. 354r-356r, copied in a smaller
     script, have 41 lines), ruled in hard point in no uniform format.
     Sometimes the leaves appear to have been used sideways with the script
     intersecting the guidelines rather than sitting on them (see ff. 303-
     04).
          I^^6, II-XIV^^8, XV^^8 (1 f. missing and replaced by blank paper;
     previously numbered 118), XVI-XXII^^8, XXIII^^8 (there are two folios
     numbered 178), XXIV-XXIX^^8, XXX^^8 (1 f. missing), XXXI-XXXVI^^8,
     XXXVII^^6, XXXVIII-XLII^^8, XLIII^^6, XLIV-XLV^^8, XLVI^^8 (1 f. missing),
     XLVII-LVI^^8, + 1 additional folio. Because of the tight binding it is
     not possible to collate the manuscript more accurately. Signatures are
     later than text.
          Written by a single scribe in a bold minuscule for the text of
     Isaiah, and in a smaller, more compact script for the commentary.
          One crude decorative headpiece in black and red on f. 1r. Initials
     in red at beginning and end of text.
          Binding: s. xx. Brick-red goatskin, title gold-tooled.

          Written in Byzantium in the late 13th or early 14th century. Gift
     of Athanasius to an unidentified monastery at the time of the
     completion of the manuscript (mutilated inscription on p. 438; see
     contents for complete text). Belonged to Frederick North, 5th Earl of
     Guilford (1766-1827; no. 9, in sale catalogue and at bottom of f. iii
     recto); to Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 4930, tag on spine) through
     Thorpe. Purchased from Laurence Witten with funds from the Jacob
     Ziskind Charitable Trust in 1957 (MS 14).

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 45, no. 241. 
	     Ziskind Catalogue, p. 47.

     Barbara A. Shailor