REVIEWS AND COMMENTS Richard Seider, Paldographie der Griechischen Papyri, Bd. I, Anton Hiersemann, Stuttgart, 1967, III pp. + 40 plates (63 illustrations); Dm. 120. In this handsomely printed and beautifully illustrated book, Richard Seider has given us 63 texts representing the history of the palaeography of Greek papyri. The volume is the first of a series of three, the second to be a volume of literary papyri and the third a study of the development of Greek handwriting. The first volume contains an excellent selection of texts. Beginning with the Elephantine marriage contract of 311 B.C. (P. Eleph. 1) and reaching down to 710 A.D. with a letter of Kurrah ben Sharik (Seider's Number 62)1, he has given us texts and photographs to illustrate both development in time and differentiations in style of Greek business writing, and has wisely included texts from Syria as well as all parts of Egypt. Selection is a difficult matter, and although one inevitably notices omissions, the range in this book is very extensive, and the choices are reasonable and intelligent. The volume will be valuable to both experienced papyrologists and to beginners. For each papyrus Seider gives a history of editions of the text and a brief bibliography of commentary on it. The Greek text is printed with abbreviations resolved, but with sigla reproduced as they appear on the papyrus. There are critical notes to each text, containing, inter alia, explanations of the sigla, comments on readings, and occasional grammatical remarks. Seider only intends to deal with the text, so there is no historical commentary. The presentation, with its explanation of textual material which would not be immediately understood by the non-papyrologist, and with each text illustrated, makes the book admirably adapted to use as a primer for students of papyrology. 1. For bibliography, it is certainly worth noting H6elne Cadell's just published "Nouveaux Fragments de la Correspondance de Kurrah ben Sharik", Recherches de Papyrologie IV, 1967, pp. 107-160. Cadell has published eight new documents, and, in Appendix II to the article, offers a chronological table of the correspondance. 0
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