This study establishes the provenance and approximate date of Kitab Tibb MSS 3290, a Malay medical manuscript held at the National Library of Malaysia, through codicological and paleographic analysis. Malay Kitab Tibb manuscripts are critical to understanding pre-modern Southeast Asian medical and cultural history, yet many remain undated due to scribal anonymity and fragmented records, limiting their scholarly utility. This study addresses this gap by analyzing Kitab Tibb MSS 3290, a manuscript catalogued as lacking a watermark, to demonstrate how interdisciplinary methods—codicological watermark analysis and paleographic Jawi orthography—can resolve dating ambiguities and illuminate colonial-era knowledge networks. Combining physical examination of European laid paper, watermark identification via Churchill (1965) and Heawood (1969) indices, and comparative orthographic assessment with dated manuscripts, the study revealed a previously undocumented Dutch lion watermark (c. 1683–1750) and transitional Jawi features, including the omission of syaddah, limited vowel insertion (e.g., [دالم]), and numeral-based reduplication ([راج٢]). These findings align MSS 3290 with late 18th-century texts like Hidayah al-Salikin (1778) and situate it within the VOC’s paper trade networks, underscoring synergies between Malay medical traditions, Islamic scholarship, and European material culture. The results challenge archival cataloguing practices, advocate for re-evaluating undated manuscripts, and highlight adaptive literacy practices in colonial contexts. By integrating material and linguistic evidence, this study offers a replicable model for dating Malay manuscripts, enriching narratives of Southeast Asia’s intellectual heritage and reaffirming MSS 3290 as a bridge between indigenous knowledge and colonial commerce. These insights urge renewed efforts to preserve and reinterpret regional manuscripts, emphasizing their role in global historical discourse.

How do we read historical manuscripts in their digital form? This paper examines the intersection of human and machine reading through a comparative analysis of in-person and AI-assisted interpretations of texts by Galileo Galilei and his English contemporary, Thomas Harriot. Drawing on case studies, it explores the use of tools such as Transkribus, GPT-4, and Amazon Web Services in teaching early modern primary sources. As students use AI tools alongside traditional reading skills to model transcription workflows, questions arise regarding iteration, validation, and scholarly responsibility. By integrating Handwritten Text Recognition technologies with close reading and paleographic analysis, the study reflects on the transformative potential—and limitations—of artificial intelligence in humanities research and pedagogy.

A codex of exceptional importance within the iconographic tradition of the Commedia, the Dante historiato constitutes an editorial project of considerable interest from multiple points of view. Although it is well known within the field of Dante studies, new avenues of inquiry on the codex may emerge from certain forms of evidence offered by the material data and, in particular, from the paleographic analysis of the hand responsible for writing the textual portion, hitherto attributed to Federico Zuccari himself.

Abstract Historical documents from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages often suffer from degraded image quality due to aging, inadequate preservation, and environmental factors, presenting significant challenges for paleographical analysis. These documents contain crucial graphical symbols representing administrative, economic, and cultural information, which are time-consuming and error-prone to interpret manually. This research investigates image processing algorithms and deep learning models for enhancing these historical documents. Using image processing techniques, we improve symbol readability and visibility, while our deep learning approach aids in reconstructing degraded content and identifying patterns. This work contributes to improving the quality of historical document analysis, particularly for graphical symbol interpretation in paleographical studies.

The subject of the research is Old Russian singing traditions. Historical circumstances, triggered by the church schism of the 17th century and the subsequent secularization of culture, led to the loss of the performance practice of authentic chants. The focus of the study is the creative activity of medievalists and choir conductors in actualizing the ancient Russian cultural heritage. The author examines such aspects of the topic as the genesis of the scientific school of Russian musical medieval studies, tracing back to the work of M. V. Brazhnikov, and analyzes the evolution of methods developed for the reconstruction and study of Znamenny chant not as an archaic relic but as a relevant phenomenon of contemporary culture. Special attention is given to identifying and exploring the mechanisms of actualization and transmission of ancient Russian singing heritage in the performance activities of choir conductors. For this purpose, the creative interaction of A.V. Konotop with the Synodal Choir, N.S. Sergeina with "Rossika," and K.N. Nikitin with the choir of Valaam Monastery is considered. Based on a comprehensive approach that includes general scientific methods of description, analysis, and synthesis, as well as cultural-historical and musicological analysis, the creative symbiosis of medievalists and choir conductors is studied in the process of actualizing ancient Russian musical culture. A special contribution of the author to the research topic is the examination and analysis of the multifaceted process of actualizing ancient Russian singing heritage in the modern auditory space, including scientific reconstruction of authentic chants (M. V. Brazhnikov, N. S. Sergeina, A. V. Konotop), performance interpretation (choirs "Revival," "Rossika," Valaam's Courtyard, Danilov Monastery), educational practices, and festival activities ("Academy of Orthodox Music," "Heritage"). The evolution of methods for deciphering neume notation, paleographic analysis, and stylistic modeling is also considered, which has allowed for the introduction of unique monuments of Znamenny and syllabic singing from the 16th to 17th centuries into scientific and performance discourse. The most successful method for reconstructing authentic chants, in our opinion, is a comprehensive method that integrates paleography and historical-cultural context, allowing ancient Russian singing art to transition from silence to the field of active scientific discourse. The scientific novelty of the work lies in examining the interaction of science, performance, education, and festival activity as a unified system that ensures the viability of the ancient Russian musical tradition in the 21st century.

This paper examines the physical, content, and linguistic features of the gädl of Abunä Tomas of Hayda, an Ethiopian saint venerated in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahǝdo Church. Known by titles such as 'GäbräʾAmǝlak of Šǝre and Saint Abunä Tomas of Hayda, his recognition is primarily limited to the region of Tǝgray. Abunä Tomas was a distinguished disciple of Abunä Täklä Haymanot of Däbrä Libanos and shared a close familial bond with him, underscoring his importance in Ethiopian religious history. The analysis focuses on the Acts of Abunä Tomas, preserved in the monastery of Däbrä Maryam Hayda, located in Šǝre, Tǝgray. The manuscript, uniquely bound in cloth and leather, is attributed to the 19th century based on paleographic analysis. However, the text itself claims its original version (Ur-text) was written by Elsaʾ, a disciple of Abunä Tomas. Compared to other known versions, this manuscript displays more archaic philological characteristics, making it particularly valuable for scholarly study. This article describes the manuscript’s internal and external features, linguistic structure, and technical errors using a descriptive research approach. It highlights the significant role of linguistic elements in contextualizing the manuscript while emphasizing the value of its physical and philological traits. The findings underline the importance of analysing the Acts of Ethiopian saints for a better understanding of their historical and theological significance. Scholars are encouraged to conduct further multidisciplinary research on such manuscripts, incorporating palaeographic, philological, and linguistic analyses to preserve and enhance the appreciation of Ethiopia’s rich religious heritage. Keywords: Gädlä Abunä Thomas, Physical Description, Linguistic Features.

This article describes the phonetic features of the Romanian language in the 16th–17th centuries, using the Codex Neagoeanus manuscript as an example. The subject of the study is a comprehensive phonetic analysis of the manuscript "Codex Neagoeanus" (ms. rom. 3821, Library of the Romanian Academy), dating back to the early 17th century (1620). This codex is a collection of religious and folk texts (cărți populare), characteristic of Romanian culture in the 16th–17th centuries, including translations of a folk novel, a didactic treatise, a short version of the nomocanon, and a work of astrological literature. The study focuses on a systematic description and classification of archaic and variable phonetic features of the Romanian language, recorded in the codex texts, in comparison with both the modern norm and the phenomena of the 16th–17th centuries. The primary research method was a comprehensive phonetic analysis aimed at identifying and classifying characteristic archaic and innovative elements in the phonetic system of the written monument. Paleographic analysis methods were also employed. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is the first detailed and systematic linguistic analysis of the Codex Neagoeanus, introducing new factual material into scientific circulation. The study revealed that the most unstable system of unstressed and stressed vocalizations in the phonetic system of the manuscript under study is the system of unstressed and stressed vocalizations. This is especially true for [e], [u], and [o], as these sounds are associated with the greatest number of deviations from the norm: for example, of the five cases of assimilation we recorded, four are in some way related to transitions from / to [e] and [u]. Furthermore, the most frequent phonetic phenomena are also associated with these vowels: for example, the instability of the diphthong [oa], its interchangeability with the vowel [o], is preserved throughout the manuscript. However, the main feature of vocalism in CN texts should be considered the mixture of linguistic features of both northern and southern regions. For example, a typically northern feature—the preservation of the unstressed [a]—coexists in the manuscript with a feature of the southern regions—the instability of the diphthong [oa]. Phenomena related to the consonant system are rather occasional in nature.

Abstract This study examines a little-known bullayqa – a playful variant of the zaǧal – by Ibn Nubāta al-Miṣrī (d. 768/1366), preserved solely in two draft manuscripts (muswadda) compiled by the famous ḥadīṯ-scholar Ibn Ḥaǧar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852/1449) himself, in which he collected additional poems beyond Ibn Nubāta’s established dīwān. Absent from the dīwān, the bullayqa survives through the autographs of Ibn Ḥaǧar, which, by his own repeated attestations, are drawn largely from Ibn Nubāta’s original autographs. It is reported that Ibn Ḥaǧar admired Ibn Nubāta’s calligraphy and sought to emulate his script, cultivating a handwriting style that – while aesthetically refined – poses significant challenges to paleographic analysis, particularly in a muswadda. The article opens with a concise overview of the literary history of the bullayq, Ibn Nubāta’s involvement with this form, a short analysis of Ibn Ḥaǧar’s autographs, followed by a critical edition of the poem, a translation, and finally a close textual commentary. Facsimiles of Ibn Ḥaǧar’s autographs accompany the paleographic study.

Abstract A paleographic analysis of a set of thirteen poems composed by Muyaka bin Haji (1776–1840) but written in Swahili-Arabic script by Mwalimu Sikujua in the 1890s reveals a consistent preference in the placement of script-specific diacritics and in the use of certain letterform combinations, but variation in the choice of graphic forms, particularly those for kāf. Sikujua places miniature consonant signs between a consonant letterform and a potential vowel diacritic. Since the miniature consonants are rendered in red, the scribe needs to alternate pens during the writing of the text or leave sufficient space if they are inserted later. Letterform combinations appear limited to those with either mīm, jīm, or yāʾ. This characteristic may contrast Sikujua’s handwriting with that of others. The paleographic consequences of these combinations mainly concern the placement of vowel diacritics, which are placed in relation to the consonant sign rather than the baseline of the overall text. Where miniature consonants and letterform combinations show a consistent placement of the Swahili-Arabic diacritics in this corpus, a third kāf graphic form adds variation. The kāf graphic forms are in free variation and accompanying vowel diacritics have varying placements. The third kāf graphic form is possibly unique to Sikujua who has also shown creative variations in spelling when using Arabic or Swahili-Arabic script for the Swahili language.

The illuminated parchment Biblia latina from the collection of N.P. Rumyantsev (Russian State Library. F. 256. N 816, olim F. 183.I N 245), dated in catalogs to the 14th century, was previously considered to be of Italian origin. The paleographic and codicological study of the codex showed that the place of its creation was Southern France. Our discovery of notes in Latin and Old Occitan in the manuscript (the study of L.I. Shchegoleva is devoted to them) required a more detailed analysis of the marginalia contained in the manuscript, which are important for clarifying the dating and origin of the codex, as well as for studying the history of its use in the Middle Ages and Modern times. Paleographic analysis of marginalia allowed to identify more than a dozen handwritings and trace the behavioral strategies of editors and readers of the manuscript. The study of marginalia confirmed the hypothesis of the use of the Rumyantsev Bible by intellectuals of the XIV-XV centuries for composing sermons or writing other texts. The analysis of the codicological features of the Rumyantsev Bible made it possible to outline the criteria for the initial stage of identification of southern French manuscripts and raise the question of identifying other medieval manuscripts from the Occitan region in Russian archives and libraries.

The Greek manuscript-convolute BnF Suppl. gr. 607, consisting of five parts united under one binding, has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive codicological analysis, nor has a paleographic study of all its individual parts been carried out. In the paper, with the help of paleographic analysis, all these parts were dated: the paper sheet with the owner’s inscription and four riddles – the end of the 16th century; fragments of the “History” by Nicetas Choniates from the first half to the middle of the 13th century; fragments of homilies by John Chrysostom from the end of the 11th to the beginning of the 12th century; an incomplete collection of Ancient and Byzantine passages from historians and excerpts from military treatises from the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 10th century; fragments of orator Lysias’ speeches from the second half of the 15th to the 16th centuries. On the basis of the analysis of codicology and the data available to us about the activity of its first owner, Minoides Minas, it is concluded that this convolute was made by him himself from the remains of the codices, which were previously separate. And it is concluded that there is no evidence that any parts were combined earlier. The 1510s binding was either acquired separately and used as a folder for valuable fragments of various manuscripts or belonged to one of the five parts, possibly a codex of Lysias' speeches.

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the global manuscript holdings of Al-Mutanabbi’s Diwan, exploring the cataloging practices, preservation efforts, and textual variations that characterize these collections. As one of the most revered poets in Arabic literature, Al-Mutanabbi’s work has been meticulously preserved across regions, with notable manuscripts housed in the National Library of Egypt, the British Library, and other prominent institutions. Each manuscript offers unique features—variations in verse order, phrasing, and annotations—that reflect the dynamic reception of his poetry over centuries. These textual differences, along with extensive marginalia, highlight how Al-Mutanabbi’s themes of valor, identity, and existential reflection were interpreted and adapted by diverse cultures. Current digital preservation initiatives have made significant strides in making these manuscripts accessible to a global audience, yet challenges in cataloging and preservation persist, particularly in maintaining manuscript integrity and expanding digital access. This study also suggests future research directions, such as comparative studies of annotations, paleographic analysis, and the exploration of Al-Mutanabbi’s manuscript circulation across regions. These efforts will enhance our understanding of his legacy and underscore the enduring relevance of his poetry within Arabic and world literature.

This paper examines from a codicological and bibliographical point of view the manuscript M-139 of the Menéndez Pelayo Library (Santander, Spain). The aim is to provide new information on the materiality of the codex while linking the study of the material and content of the manuscript, in order to draw conclusions about its configuration. After the identification of the manuscript, the contents are explained in detail. The material aspects are then dealt with, from the composition and markings of the paper, through the systems of arrangement to a brief paleographic analysis.

The Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine holds a drawing of the tombstone of Prince Dmytro Kozeka. The drawing on a sheet of paper was made in pencil in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It contains two inscriptions (epitaphs) in Old Ukrainian and Latin and the princely coat of arms between them. The texts of the inscriptions were published twice in the nineteenth century. The large coat of arms on the tombstone has never been described. Its image, as well as the image of the inscriptions, is published for the first time. The large coat of arms has the shape of a heraldic shield inscribed in a circle. The shape of the shield is made in the Baroque style. Four heraldic signs are symmetrically arranged on the shield, the first of which, in the form of a bow and cross, is the minor coat of arms of the prince. This sign is present on the personal seals of Dmytro Kozeka. The second sign is still unknown in the heraldry of Ukraine in the sixteenth century. Two other signs belong to well-known arms used by many noble families. The paper is accompanied by illustrations that show a complete drawing of the prince’s tombstone and individual elements of this lapidary monument: two epitaphs and a great coat of arms, opening the way for studying the vocabulary of the inscriptions and performing paleographic analysis. The attribution of the coat of arms will allow us to clarify the genealogy of the Kozeka family. Prince Dmytro Kozeka died in 1583 and was buried in the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in the monastery not far from Zymne village near Volodymyr city. The marble slab on the grave was installed by his wife Kateryna Falchevska. After the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there is no evidence of the location of the slab. The Kozeka family appeared in Volhynia in the mid-fifteenth century. Their origin is not clear. Dmytro Kozeka is the most famous representative of this family, according to written sources. The paper describes some episodes of his biography, gives an overview of the princely estates, specifies the time period when his father died, and reveals the previously unknown names of his two sisters. The tombstone of Prince Dmytro Kozeka is a valuable historical source for the study of the elite stratum of the Ukrainian population of the early modern period.

This article examines the role and significance of Georgian paleographic fonts in both scientific and popular contexts. Paleographic fonts, which digitally reproduce historical writing, greatly contribute to the study of the history of writing and to adequately reflect it in digital technologies. The article discusses the challenges and advancements in creating Georgian paleographic fonts, focusing on the transition from traditional to digital formats and their implications for research and public usage. Georgian paleographic fonts, still an emerging field, are essential for the accurate representation of historical scripts like Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri, and Mkhedruli. These fonts serve dual purposes: aiding scholarly research by providing detailed, authentic representations of historical writing and enhancing popular culture through their application in modern media. The article highlights specific examples of Georgian paleographic fonts, detailing their development from manuscripts and their integration into contemporary digital systems. The discussion includes the benefits of digital paleographic fonts over traditional printed materials, such as their ability to incorporate extensive graphemes, ligatures, and historical punctuation. Additionally, these fonts facilitate dynamic representation and paleographic analysis of text, offering a new way of visualizing paleographic features and making them accessible for educational and scientific purposes. Overall, the article underscores the growing importance of digital paleographic fonts in preserving Georgian script heritage, advancing scholarly research, and promoting historical awareness. Future projects aim to expand the digital repository of these fonts, increasing their functionality.

The article examines paleographic specifics of Ruthenian documents of Alexander Jagiellon (1492–1506), Grand Duke of Lithuania. We looked into 17 documents of this ruler, kept in Lithuania and Poland. The examination of Alexander Jagiellon’s Ruthenian documents enabled us to establish the following: 1) the documents were written on two types of material – parchment or paper – using black or brown ink; 2) the documents were authenticated with pendant or applied seals of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, while other means of authentication such as signatures of the ruler or his officials were not detected; 3) individual letters in the texts of the documents are enlarged and/or decorated; 4) in all these documents, the slant of the letters varies (the letters are either vertical or slanted to the left or right); 5) some letters (mostly consonants) are raised above words, even though they make only a small part of all letters in the documents; 6) some words are made shorter by omitting vowels; 7) words are often (but not always) separated by spaces; 8) letters in individual words are almost never connected. The paleographic analysis of Alexander Jagiellon’s Ruthenian documents confirms an idea (expressed in historiography as early as in the last century) of the conditionality of the term “cursive” and manifestation of some traits of semi-uncial in Ruthenian documents of the Chancery of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in the 16th century. The Ruthenian documents of this ruler display features of both cursive and semi-uncial or even uncial. We also attempted to identify individuals (Alexander Jagiellon’s scribes) who could have been responsible for the preparation of documents and documents that could have been written by the same individual.

Abstract In this review article, I offer an overview of research undertaken thus far on early Mālikī Manuscripts, primarily the collection from Kairouan, Tunisia. Modern attention to this collection dates from the early twentieth century, as the collection itself moved from Kairouan to Tunis and back again. While access to Qurān manuscripts has been highly restricted, select scholars had been allowed to study and make copies of a limited number of legal manuscripts, primarily from the Mālikī school of Islamic law. These limitations had an effect on scholarship, making some forms of codicological and paleographic analysis difficult at best. The last part of the article addresses very recent scholarship and work that remains to be done, including network analysis and other ways of placing these manuscripts within broader social and historical contexts. I close with a reflection on the colonial history of research into these manuscripts and the responsibilities of researchers to reflect on the ethical implications of their activities into the future.

Dating is one of the most important stages of working with a document, along with its deciphering. When working with Arabic documents on papyrus and paper, we do not have information about their provenance, or whether they were part of an archive. Their often poor preservation does not increase a researcher’s chances of dating the document at least within a century as well. Conditionally dividing the dating mechanisms into “external” and “internal,” we can argue that prosopography provides the most accurate data about when the document was written; the formulas and structure of documents may indicate a certain historical period; paleographic analysis provides the least accurate data. Based on paleographic data, documents on papyrus are tentatively dated to the 3rd/9th century, and documents on paper - to the period from the 4th/10th to the 7th/13th centuries.

The article offers a new reading of an inscription on a chalk stone from Chelm (Poland, Old Russian Xъlmъ), found in the 1990s and published by V. Slobodian in 2013. While agreeing with the publisher in assessing the main content of the inscription, which informs that a certain Sivord Olafovich (judging by his name and patronymic – a Scandinavian, Sivord Ólafsson) spent a year in prison, the author interprets the text and the situation as a whole differently. In the proposed interpretation, the inscription, called in the text “gramota”, ap-pears as a memorable record made by Sivord Olafovich after leaving the dungeon, in which he was imprisoned after he had informed the prince about the money he had. The early da-ting of the inscription proposed by the publisher (before 1120) and the corresponding hy-pothesis identifying Holm in Volhynia with Holmgarðr of the Scandinavian sources, is also recognized as untenable. Paleographic analysis according to the method of A. A. Zaliznyak dates the graffito to the second half of the 13th century, i.e. the time of the founding of the city by Daniel Romanovich.

In the late eleventh century, Goscelin of Saint-Bertin (ca. 1040–d. after 1099) composed the most extensive collection of hagiographical writings known to have been assembled for a community of religious women in medieval England. At the behest of Abbess Ælfgifu (ca. 1037–ca. 1114) of Barking Abbey, he definitely wrote the following texts to honor the community’s three principal saints: a uita of its founder and first abbess, Æthelburh (d. after 686); Matins lessons for her immediate successor, Hildelith (d. after 716); a uita and an account of the first translation of their later tenth-century successor Wulfhild (d. after 996); Matins lessons and a longer account of the three abbess-saints’ translation on Laetare Sunday, 7 March 1092; and a report of a vision Ælfgifu received seven years after the event. This article makes the case for Goscelin’s authorship of the Matins lessons for Sts. Æthelburh and Wulfhild as well, and for their preservation in London, British Library, Cotton MS Otho A XII (Part 6). Paleographical analysis of these lessons further indicates that the scribe responsible for copying them also copied the lives of Sts. Æthelburh and Wulfhild in Dublin, Trinity College, MS 176 (E.5.28), a late eleventh-century book of Barking origin. This hand exhibits features peculiar to scribes trained in northeastern France or the Low Countries, raising the possibility that Goscelin made these copies himself. But even if he did not make them, the appearance of the same hand in texts related to Barking’s abbess-saints suggests that this scribe’s work in Otho A XII (Part 6) should be located at Barking, too, thus increasing the total number of books the community once owned to twenty-two and further proving one of the instrumental roles that religious women played during the Middle Ages to orchestrate their communities’ liturgies: commissioning writers and scribes to compose saints’ lives, Matins lessons, and other texts and music to celebrate their principal feast days with due solemnity and distinctiveness.