[New Testament Gospel Lectionary].

Forms part of the Kenneth Willis Clark Collection of Greek Manuscripts (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)

Format: Manuscript codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Layout: Written in 2 columns of 20 lines; ruled for 20 lines, 12 mm apart, with a dry point on the hair side.

Script: The work of one scribe only, except for the colophons and the one page of added liturgical material on the last leaf (fol. 276r-v). Written in a deep brown ink, the minuscule is remarkably open and widely spaced, as is evident from the ruling with 12 mm between the lines. The letters are carefully formed, mostly vertical, rounded, and pendant, and none is enlarged or extends above the line of text except those letters which have ascenders and descenders. As a liturgical text, the words are occasionally separated by the ecphonetic notations which have been added in the line of text and above in a soft red.

Decoration: Throughout the scribe follows a very similar pattern of constructing initial letters: the large initials are mostly outlined in gold with the interior void; there are several colored initials (fol. 1r, 48r, 79r, 111r, 154r, and 197r) and many in red. The image of the letter "T" growing out of the partridge breast is reminiscent of Moscow, Historical Museum, Cod. VI, 382 where the letter "A" is similarly presented. The ornamental headpieces are of several types: the introductory headpiece (fol. 1r) follows a carpet motif whereas those for the beginning of the major sections have been created in a style of the rectangular headpiece of the 11th/12th century (fol. 1r, 48r, 79r, 111r, 154r, and 197r). For the divisions in the menologion, the divisions are marked by a simple, slender (3 mm) gilt bar, except for one that is a running ornament (fol. 269r) and a slender gilt turned ornament (fol. 275v)

Music: Contains ecphonetic notation.

Title cataloged from existing description.

Binding: Covers of thin wooden boards (8 mm thick), beveled on the inside and covered with a dark brown morocco. Around the edge of the board a frame has been formed by a small roll (4mm) with a running pattern composed of vine and fruit, bordered on either side in blind by three fillets, one wider than the other two. Within the frame a lozenge has been created of the same combination of tools converging at the inside edge of the frame at the center of each side. Within each of the four corners a lozenge stamp filled with a blossom and leaves (23 x 18 mm) has been affixed; the same stamp with points touching are arranged vertically. The two fore edge clasps are wanting. They were apprarently made of fabric and may actually have been ties anchored under the cover by two nails since there are no distinctions between the attachments of the upper and lower covers. The manuscript has been rebacked sometime in its recent history, likely within the twentieth-century. Decorated endsheets are of a widely spaced leaf patterns in light green, reddish tan and black against a pink background. At one time the edges of the textblock were gilt.