Our ancestors have produced thousands of manuscript books that are held as the national treasures. A majority of Georgian manuscripts (up to ten thousand items) are preserved by the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts. The making of a manuscript book required generous financial resources, professional knowledge, and skills related to fine arts and technical production of books, such as skills of treating the writing material – parchment, producing ink, binding books and making covers and so on.

The oldest Georgian manuscripts that date from the 5^th–8^th centuries have not come down to us in a complete form, they have survived in fragments. As for the 9^th–18^th century collection, it preserves both complete and fragmentary manuscripts. In the surviving fragmentary manuscripts only a slight trace of decoration (for instance, initials) may be observed.

Fragmentary manuscripts occur for a variety of reasons that often relate to writing materials. Parchment was regarded as the most expensive material, therefore, the manuscripts that had gone out of use (i.e. mainly liturgical and bibliological works that were no longer used in liturgy) or damaged manuscripts were not disposed of; rather, they were used either for new manuscript production (the writing was scraped to be reused for another text, thus producing a palimpsest) or as endpapers of other manuscript covers  (later, paper has also been used as endpaper).

The study of fragments requires a complex and multidisciplinary examination. In order to determine to which manuscript a certain fragment belongs, first and foremost, an archeographic description as well as textological study of the fragment is necessary which includes the study and identification of the text of the manuscript fragment, and establishment of the plausible redaction; It is necessary to study every colophon (if any), perform codicological analysis of fragments by performing the following: identify the material, writing implements, and form; determine the presumed chronological framework; explore the features from the point of view of illumination and paleography, and provide a thorough description of the degree of damage the fragment has sustained. The multidisciplinary scholarly study of manuscript fragments generally represents one of the important subfields of codicology and a new stage of research. Manuscript research has seen the emergence of a new field, fragmentology which examines the origin, content, migration, material decoration, and presumed chronological framework of manuscript fragments, and their immediate relationship with manuscripts. Currently, our research covers only the structural analysis of fragments.

      Among Georgian manuscripts (MSS), a great number of fragmentary MSS have been preserved that chronologically cover the 5^th–18^th centuries. Fragmentary manuscripts, preserved in the Georgian manuscript collection (A, S, H, Q funds) of the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts, amount to about 1300 units and among them up to 300 fragments are written on parchment. In 1978, a catalogue of fragmentary MSS was published by K. Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts which lists 295 units, including 39 units on parchment. The collection of fragments is constantly growing. Manuscript fragments, including those on parchment, have been frequently discovered while exploring manuscript covers or examining personal archives of individuals.

At this point, the goal of our study is to structurally examine six (6) individual units of bibliological content on parchment (N Fr.194, Fr.224, Fr.231, Fr.217, Fr.221, Fr.294) listed in a catalogue of fragmentary manuscripts of the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts. The chronological framework of the aforementioned manuscript fragments presumably covers the 11^th–15^th centuries. Therefore, the study of these fragments addresses a variety of writing materials, types of treatment as well as recensional peculiarities of texts. At this point, as noted above, the topic of research focuses merely on the structure of the above-mentioned fragments, while from the point of view of textology, three samples will be selected which will be discussed when exploring each of the fragments. For the purposes of comparison, the Four Gospels of Adishi, Jruchi I, Parkhali, and Tskarostavi have been employed.

The sequence of research on fragmentary manuscripts follows a chronological order. Among the identified six fragmentary manuscripts, three fragments are removed from covers of different manuscripts, while the other three have been obtained from the personal archive fund of public figures[1]:

1. Fr.221, 1 folio XI c. from N. Berdzenishvili archive;

2. Fr.224, 1 folio, XI-XII cc. removed from the cover of A-1459;

3. Fr.194, 1 folio, XII c. removed from the cover of A-506;

4. Fr.231, 1 folio, XII c. removed from the cover of A-461;

5. Fr.217, 1 folio, XII c. from V. Dundua archive;

6. Fr.294, 1 folio, XV c. from R. Abramishvili archive.

The chronological framework of the above-mentioned fragments is ranging in date from the 11^th to 15^th century. The said fragments represent part of six distinct manuscripts, therefore, different writing materials and types of treatment are addressed in the course of the study of these fragments. The sizes, as well as calligraphic and paleographic data of the fragments vary. Primarily, when performing the structural research on manuscripts, their archeographic description is ensured, followed by a codicological and textological analysis. It should be noted that the description of the above-mentioned manuscripts does not provide such comprehensive data. Often, only the material is indicated since there has never been performed a similar multi-complex study of these fragmentary units.

1.Fr-221

The said fragment has been preserved in the archive of Academician N. Berdzenishvili, which has been transferred to the Institute of Manuscripts along with his memorial items, at the request of N. Berdzenishvili’s family. The fragment is comprised of one folio, dating from the 11^th century (according to the handwriting). Given the manuscript structure and paleographic data, we may assume that it should have been commissioned by some nobleman.

The fragment structure is as follows: length – 17.5 cm, width – 12.9 cm. width of the text in the column – 3.8 cm. space between the lines – 0.5 mm.  space between words – 0.4 mm. right margin – 2.5 cm. left margin – 1.5 cm. upper margin – 1.4 cm. lower margin – 2.5; 2.8 cm. Number of lines in the column – 21. The folio is damaged, deformed, torn and defective. The torn part is folded in the lower section of the Spine. Due to its severe deformation, the ink and the text have been damaged, therefore, the latter has become illegible. The verso is written on the hair side with the rulling performed so carefully that it is almost invisible. A distance of 1 cm is available (with initials inserted) between the vertical lines drawn in the center of the folio. There are almost four-line initials (size:  1.3-1.7 cm).

The parchment is a well-treated thin writing material. The recto and the verso represent hair and flesh sides, respectively. During microscopic examination, the trace as well as direction of hair could be observed in the form of small stains even on a well-treated parchment. It allows to determine the precise animal origin of a skin as a writing material. With the naked eye, such signs are not easily discernible on a well-treated parchment, as is the case with the parchment under discussion.

The fragment is written in brown ink, in two columns of calligraphic Nuskhuri characters. Initials are found at the beginning of chapters and verses are written in cinnabar ink. Letters are written in close sequence. The letter „ჵ“ (hoe), inserted within the letter don, is executed also in cinnabar ink. In addition, under the initials, the same small-sized letters are found, both written in cinnabar ink.

The fragment under consideration represents The Gospel of Matthew 15: 20-32[2]. The textological and verse order of the fragment coincides with the redaction by Giorgi the Athonite, with the exception of one detail, namely: the verse 31 in the manuscripts of Giorgi the Athonite’s redaction reads: [so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel] (Mat 15:31), however, the same verse of the fragment opens with არამედ [but] („არამედ უკÂრდაცა...“ [but… was amazed]). In other manuscripts, namely, in the Adishi Four Gospels, the cited verse  opens with „ვიდრე უკÂრდაცა...“ [Than … was amazed], while the verse in H-1660 (Jruchi I Four Gospels, 52v), A-1453 (Parkhali Four Gospels, 36r), A-98 (Tskarostavi Four Gospels, 24r), the beginning of the verse reads: „ვითარმედ უკÂრდაცა...“ [for … was amazed]; the conjunctions „არამედ“ [but] and „ვიდრე“ [than] are used to suggest a contrast and comparison. The Greek text reads as follows: „31 ὥστε τòν ὄχλον θαυμάσαι...“ which could be rendered as „ for this reason, therefore, (and) so; so that; for the purpose of, with a view to, in order that“. Given this nuance, it is difficult to determine the exact recensional attribution of the text.

2. Fr-224

According to the catalogue compiled in 1978, this fragment had been removed from the cover of manuscript A-1459. One (1) folio of the fragment has survived.

An archeographic description of the fragment is as follows: width – 24.3 cm; length – 16.6 cm; written in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters in two columns; width of a column – 18 cm; space between lines is the same – 0.6 cm; number of lines per column is 25; executed in brown ink. The verso is written on the hair side. The text is clearly legible. The writing is not damaged. The folio is newly paginated, “45” in Arabic numerals, written in pencil is found in upper right corner. Pagination is executed in modern handwriting. Why this numeral has been inserted into the fragment is unclear.

The text is damaged on the flesh sides of the recto, since a limited amount of glue has been applied. The glue coating layer has been removed in the course of the treatment, crisp colour of ink in letters has been maintained and the text is legible.

The lower unwritten part of the folio is damaged, torn and defective. A colophon in Mkhedruli, found in an unwritten part, reads: „a living soul, doomed Ga…“ The part of the colophon along with the torn section of the fragment is missing. In terms of calligraphy, the colophon handwriting dates back to the 17^th–18^th century.

            Every verse of the fragment starts with initials that are executed in the same ink as the text.

There are several three-line initials. The sizes of initials are as follows: length – 1.5 cm; width –1 cm. The four diamond-shaped cuts applied for binding are found near the spine. Distance between the cuts in the middle is 7.5 cm, while from the page edges it is 3.5 cm; Space between the spine and the column is – 3 cm; distance between another column and the right edge is – 2.3 cm. The rulling that has been performed very carefully is almost invisible. In the middle of the folio, the (ruling) distance left for initials between the columns is 1.5 in the upper part, and 1 cm in the lower part.

On the right side of the column, straightness of the column along the initials is maintained, while on the left side of the column it is not.

The space between words is 0.3 mm, and whenever the colon (:) occurs between words, the distance is 0.5 cm.

The parchment is well treated and of medium thickness. From a paleographic point of view, the text is written in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters.

As for the textology of the fragment, in this respect, it appeared to be of particular interest to us. It represents chapter 8, verses 33-51 of the Gospel of John[3]. There is a missing part, namely: „44. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46. Which of you convicts me of sin?“. The above-mentioned fragment is cited in Swanson’s scholarly edition of New Testament Greek Manuscripts: „8. ⁴⁴ ὑμει̃ς ἐκ του̃ πατρòς του̃ διαβόλου ἐστὲ καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας του̃ πατρòς ὑμω̃ν θέλετε ποιει̃ν ἐκει̃νος ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἠ̃ν ἀπ' ἀρχη̃ς καὶ ἐν τη̨̃ ἀληθεία̨ οὐκ ἔστηκεν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν αὐτω̨̃ ὅταν λαλη̨̃ τò ψευ̃δος ἐκ τω̃ν ἰδίων λαλει̃ ὅτι ψεύστης ἐστὶν καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτου̃. ⁴⁵ ἐγὼ δὲ ὅτι τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω οὐ πιστεύετέ μοι.⁴⁶ τίς ἐξ ὑμω̃ν ἐλέγχει με περὶ ἁμαρτίας εἰ ἀλήθειαν λέγω διὰ τί ὑμει̃ς οὐ πιστεύετέ μοι“.

As for the Georgian manuscripts, it has been compared to A-98 (Tskarostavi Four Gospels, 10^th–11^th cc., 188v), A-1453 (Parkhali Four Gospels, 973 CE, 206v-207r), H-1660 (Jruchi I 10^th c. 255r), Adishi Four Gospels (2003 edition, p. 400). The pages in brackets refer to the aforementioned excerpt in all the above manuscripts. As for the rest of the text of the New Testament attested in the fragment, it follows Giorgi the Athonite’s redaction unaltered. Given the fragment’s structural examination, it could be inferred that it does not display traces of any major damage, namely, it has neither scrapes nor cuts that could be regarded as the reason for the loss of the text.  It is perfectly legible. Given the foregoing, the recensional attribution of this text requires a wider textological study on the part of scholars in the field.

3. Fr.194

Fr.194 has been removed from the manuscript A-506. Its archeographic details include: width -12 cm; length – 16.16; space between the lines – 0.5 mm; size of letters: 0.1-0.2 mm. It is written as one whole text in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters in brown ink, and in small characters. Space between words is 0.2 mm. Whenever three dots is used between words, the distance is 0.3 mm.

The writing on the verso is undamaged and readily legible, with apparent cinnabar ink stains. The recto text is damaged and scraped since a large amount of glue has been used, and a glue coating layer has been removed. It is barely legible. Mechanical damage is visible on the fragment, it is torn in the middle.

The right side of the recto of the fragment is cut off near the text, there is no margin near the spine side; and the lower part is also cut off. As a result, the final letters and a line are also missing while on the verso the left margin and the lower part are cut off, therefore, initials in certain places and the lower part of the final rulling line are missing. The margin on the right side is 2.2 cm, while the upper margin is 18 cm. The rulling lines are visible near the spine. The number of fragment lines on both sides of the folio is 27. The initials written in the text are executed in the same ink as the text. The size of an initial is 0.3 cm.

As for the textological study of the fragment, it has been revealed that recto and verso had been incorrectly indicated in the catalogue of fragments. Besides, the description mentions that the fragment should have represented chapter 16, verse 10 of the Gospel of Luke[4]. In the course of the textological examination of the manuscript it emerged that the fragment starts with chapter 15, verse 30 and ends with chapter 16, verse 21 of the Gospel of Luke. However, the beginning of verse 30 is defective due to the damage, therefore, the text of the fragment starts from the middle part of verse 30.

4. Fr.231  

The fragment has been removed from the cover of the manuscript A-461. Dates to the 12^th century. Written in one column.

The text is executed in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters in brown ink. All four margins of the fragment are truncated, though the upper and lower ones are less trimmed leading to a slightly shortened text that continues from recto to verso. The trace of folding is visible. The text is written in one column, and the rulling lines are noticeable on the left side.

Initials on the verso are written in the ink applied throughout the text as well as in cinnabar ink. Initials on the recto are not legible. The fragment size: 10.2X6.5; lenght: 10.2; width: 6.5;

length and width of initials are 1 cm and 0.5 cm, respectively; space between the lines – 0.8 cm.

On the right margin of the preserved text straightness is maintained and the size of the text is 5.5 cm. Space between words varies: 0.5; 0.3; 0.4 mm. In certain places, three dots (\) are used between words, but in case if one dot (.) is inserted, the distance is 0.6 cm. The ink on the hair side of the verso is stronger, compared to the flesh side, though the latter is clearly legible. The 2^nd and the 4^th lines are almost effaced. The text is written in relatively smaller letters of 0.3 cm on the recto, at the trace of a fold mark as well as under it.

In terms of textology, language norms and verse divisions, the surviving text of the fragment follows Giorgi the Athonite’s redaction of the Four Gospels, and represents chapter 5, verses 42-43, and chapter 6, verses 1-10[5] of the Gospel of Mark.

5. Fr-217

Fr-217 is from academic Varlam Dondua’s extensive archive. It is not clear how the fragment of V. Dondua’s archive has found its way into K. Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts, given the fact that his personal archive, being preserved at the Institute of History and Ethnology, has not been studies yet. The fragment on parchment (Fr.217) contains one folio dated to the 12^th century (according to its handwriting), written in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters in brown ink, in two columns.

The folio is damaged, defective, with upper and lower parts cut, and a visible fold mark; a tiny piece of thread is still preserved on the lower right margin. Presumably it shows traces of sewing while employing it as a fragment. The color of the folio has changed (margins have become darker in color).

Fragment length – 13.1 cm; width – 19.4 cm; the sizes of text columns differ due to the damage to the writing material: width of column 1 is 6.5 cm; width of column 2 is 6 cm; in the middle of the folio, the distance left for initials is 1.5 cm. The three-line initials are written in the ink applied throughout the text as well as in cinnabar ink. Space between letters – 0.01 mm; space between words – 0.03 mm; the size of an initial (written in cinnabar ink) – 1.1 cm; the size of an initial (written in ink applied in the text – 1.5 cm. The rulling lines are clearly visible. The verso is written on the hair side. The recto text is scraped since a glue has been used, and a glue coating layer has been removed, therefore it is barely legible. The text on the margins is completely defaced; only legible part is observed in the middle.

The parchment shows the traces of stains of damp. The upper and lower margins are unevenly cut and the number of lines in columns of the text differ, 22 and 21 verses per column.

The fragment represents the text of the Four Gospels of Giorgi the Athonite’s redaction, namely, chapter 27, verses 56 and 66, and chapter 28, verses 1-2 of the Gospel of Matthew[6].  The text is defective due to severe damage to the fragment. In terms of textology, and language norms as well as verse divisions, the surviving text of the aforementioned redaction of the Four Gospels follows Giorgi the Athonite’s redaction.

6. Fr.-294

Examination of this fragment has been especially interesting. As the notes on the blank leaf and those in the Catalogue of Fragmentary Manuscripts specify, it was given from Rostom Abramishvili family archive to Ilia Abuladze in village Argveti in August 1962. Il. Abuladze dated the fragment to the 15^th century according to its handwriting. He believed, the fragment contained the text of the Four Gospels, however, the performed textological examination has revealed that this was not the case, rather the fragment contained the Psalms, namely, Kathisma 14, verses 39-45 and Kathisma 15, verses 1-9[7]. 

The archeographic examination of the fragment revealed the following details: the text is written in one column in calligraphic Nuskhuri characters in brown ink and is readily legible. The fragment size is: width – 9.4, length – 14.2; space between words – 0.3 mm; space between letters – 0.1 mm; letters are of varying size: 0.2-0.3-0.4 mm.

The rulling has been performed very carefully and delicately, therefore, the parchment is not damaged (cut). As a rule, equal distance was observed in the rulling of manuscripts, however, this parameter has not been complied with in the fragment under consideration, and hence, space between the lines differs.

The fragment has been damaged: the color has changed (has become darker), all four margins of the fragment are truncated, therefore, the text is defective. Near the spine, several initials are written well-defined and in an especially dark color, executed in the same ink as the entire text. Every verse starts a separate paragraph. The number of Kathisma 15 is written in Nuskhuri characters using abbreviation (indicated by the titlo) in the lower part of recto. The examination of this fragment showed how important the textological component of the manuscripts is for structural analysis.

The study of the above-mentioned fragments has revealed their common features as well as differences. It should be mentioned that in order to indicate certain readings or chapters, different signs occur in the texts of all fragments: horizontally positioned three dots (QQQ), the zigzag marks (GGG); upper and lower sections of an initial contain such signs as ※, ∴, ∺, ჻ which, in their turn, apart from marking the text, served as adornments. Some of the initial letters are extended downwards to the next line; one, two and three dots are applied as punctuation marks.

The explored materials have revealed that the examined six fragments represent parts of different manuscripts. The text of various chapters and verses of the Four Gospels are attested in five of those fragments (Fr-221, Fr-224, Fr.194, Fr.231, Fr-217), while the text from the Psalms is preserved by the sixth fragment (Fr.-294).

Thus, the multidisciplinary and structural-codicological study of fragmentary manuscripts provides important information on the fragments in terms of both their structure and textology. Based on the foregoing, it is possible to identify those manuscripts to which the fragments under consideration belonged at the time. There have been many cases at the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts where the examination of a certain fragmentary part has led to the discovery of the related full text, with the fragment ending up as an integral part of the relevant manuscript[8]. The fact that our research findings clarify certain data of the Catalogue of Fragmentary Manuscripts suggests that the study of the manuscript fragments is crucial. Namely, it has been revealed that the catalogue details pertaining to the title of the composition as well as the dating of Fr.294 have been inaccurate. In fact, it represents the fragment of the Psalms rather than the Four Gospels, and it must have been copied not later than the 13^th century as opposed to the 15^th century indicated in the Catalogue of Fragmentary Manuscripts. In the course of our research, every fragment has been specified by taking into account the demands of the contemporary codicology. Details such as the materials, ink, writing implements, sizes, pagination, and copyists, place of copying, commissioners, paleographic features, illumination, illuminators, and dating have been determined.