It has not been possible to transcribe some Ethiopic symbols as they appear in the printed catalogue. These appear in the following text as a question mark within square brackets where possible: [?]. Those letters with sub- or super-script diacritics which it has not been possible to enter have been entered without the diacritic. For the correct symbols and diacritics, refer to the manuscript's entry in the "Historical catalogue of the manuscripts of Bible House Library", Falivene & Jesson, BFBS: 1982 (a copy is available in the Manuscripts Room of the University Library, at A125.1.B100). The Ethiopic manuscripts are described between pp. 66 & 121.

ff.2 + 175; 240 x 215mm; text size 170 x 158mm; 2 columns, 22 or 28 lines; parchment, wooden covers, covered with leather, tooled in Ethiopian fashion.

ff.1-170 recto are written in a good, clear, probably late 18th-century hand; ff.170 verso-175 recto are added in a similar but inferior hand. Incipits, some names and some punctuation are rubricated.

1. (ff.1 recto-8 verso) The Ethiopic prologues (m[?]k[?]nyat) to the epistles and Acts: Romans f.1 recto, 1 Corinthians f.2 recto, 2 Corinthians f.2 verso, Galatians f.3 recto, Ephesians f.3 verso, Philippians f.4 recto, 1 Thessalonians f.4 verso, 2 Thessalonians f.5 recto, 1 Timothy f.5 recto, 2 Timothy f.5 recto, Titus f.5 verso, Philemon f.8 recto, James f.8 recto, Jude f.8 verso, Acts f.8 verso.

The prologues to the Pauline Epistles are very similar to those printed in Ethiopic (with Amharic translation) in Mähari T[?]rfe, Yäq[?]ddus pawlos mäshaf Addis Ababa, 1948 E.C., and of which the m[?]k[?]nyat to Romans is translated into English in ‘Ostkirchliche Studien’, band 26, heft 2/3, pp. 165-167. The prologues to the Catholic epistles and Acts have not been printed, and are less frequently found in the MSS. The prologues on Peter and James in this MS are closely based on Jerome’s De Viris Illustribus sec. 1-2. The one on John combines the ‘argumentum in epistulam iohannis primam/secundam/tertiam’, of J. Wordsworth and H. White, ‘Nouum Testamentum Domini Nostri Iesu Christi Latine’, Oxford, 1905, vol. 3, pp. 334, 380, 387. The one on Jude slightly resembles the ‘aliud argumentum in epistulam iudae’, Wordsworth and White, vol. 3, p. 394, and the one on Luke (i.e. the preface to Acts), the ‘praefatio’ to Luke, Wordsworth and White vol. 1, pp. 269-271. See also Strelcyn (JRL) on MS 19 in which the prologue to Acts (f.187 verso and f.193 verso) is the same as the prologue in this MS, but the prologues to the apostolic epistles are different.

2. (ff.9 recto-96 verso) the Pauline Epistles:

1. ff.9 recto-27 recto, Romans, 10 m[???]raf, 22 headings
2. ff.27 recto-44 verso, 1 Corinthians, 84 qal, 23 m[???]raf
3. ff.44 verso-55 verso, 2 Corinthians, 50 qal, 25 k[?]fl
4. ff.55 verso-60 verso, Galatians
5. ff.60 verso-65 recto, Ephesians
6. ff.65 verso-69 recto, Philemon, 212 qal, 7 m[???]raf (c.f. Stefan Strelcyn, ‘Catalogue of Ethiopian MSS in the British Library’, p. 9, on Orient. 13264, and H. Zotenberg, ‘Catalogue des MSS Éthiopiens de la Bibliothèque Nationale’, on MS 45).
7. ff. 69 recto-72 recto, Colossians, 310 (?) qal, 10 m[???]raf
8. ff.72 recto-75 verso, 1 Thessalonians, 212 qal, 7 m[???]raf
9. ff.75 verso-77 recto, 2 Thessalonians, 80 qal, 5 m[???]raf
10. ff.77 recto-81 recto, 1 Timothy, 100 qal, 27 m[???]raf
11. ff.81 recto-83 verso, 2 Timothy, 107 qal, 9 m[???]raf
12. ff.83 verso-85 verso, Titus, 9 qal, 5 m[???]raf
13. ff.85 verso-86 recto, Philemon, 7 qal, 2 m[???]raf
14. ff.86 verso-96 verso, Hebrews, 347 qal, 23 m[???]raf

3. (ff. 97 recto-115 verso) the Catholic epistles

1. ff. 97 recto-101 verso, 1 Peter
2. ff.101 verso-104 recto, 2 Peter
3. ff.104 recto-109 recto, 1 John
4. ff.109 recto-verso, 2 John
5. ff.109 verso-110 recto, 3 John
6. ff.110 recto-114 verso, James
7. ff.114 verso-115 verso, Jude

4. (ff.116 recto-152 verso) Acts. The text is divided into 49 numbered chapters. After the explicit on f.152 verso is added a note similar to that at the end of the text of Acts in Mähari T[?]rfe, Sostu mäsah[?]ftä haddisat, Addis Ababa, 1951 E.C., saying that Paul visited Nero, returned two years later, baptised some of Nero’s relatives, and was martyred on Hamle 5.

5. (ff.153 recto-170 recto) the Revelation of John. This MS was not used by J. Hofmann; its textual affinities are with his MSS D and I (B.N. Zotenberg 41 and B.L. Orient. 600), but it has many readings not noted in Hofmann’s apparatus, notably that the suffixed direct speech marker - [?]a - is used throughout most of the speech in Revelation 2-3.

6. (f.170 verso) the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed; the text deviates slightly from the Ethiopic text commonly accepted, and a liturgical colophon has been added.

7. (ff.171 recto-172 verso) Hymn to Mary, b[?]s[???]t anti wän[?]g[?]stä s[?]dq... (no. 292 in M. Chaine, ‘Répertoire des Salam et des Malke’s contenus dans les MSS. Éthiopiens des bibliothèques d’Europe’, in ‘Revue de l’Orient Chrétien’, 2nd series, tom. VIII (XVIII), 1913, no. 2, pp. 183-203; no. 4, pp. 337-347.

8. (ff.172 verso-174 recto) Hymn to St. George, naqerr[?]b läkä s[?]bhatä wägada... (Chaine, op. cit., no. 318).

9. (ff.174 recto-175 recto) Hymn on the assumption of Mary, sälam läf[?]lsätä s[?]gaki m[?]slä näfs[?]ki imäwati... (Chaine, op. cit., no. 213).

f. 175 recto has a short medical recipe in Amharic. f.175 verso has some ‘Amharic’ words, without evident connected sense.

The guardian folio before f.1 bears the text of 1 Jn. 4(4-15) (recto) and 5(6-18) (verso). Evidently this was f.107, but, because of the scribe’s error, was cut out and used as a guardian folio.

Cowley XX; Bullen 14; Löfgren 15.