At a first glance readers of TC may wonder why a book on the palaeography of Greek bookhands in the Hellenistic era (from 4 th BC to the end of the Augustan era) should be of value for those interested in biblical textual criticism.The answer is both easy and complex at the same time.Of course, early manuscripts of the Greek Bible, i.e. the Septuagint (and other versions) and the New Testament, are written by certain scribes and copyists who employed writing styles typical of specific time periods.Consequently, palaeography is the tool (a) to identify these styles, (b) to ascribe a date to a scribe's hand in an individual manuscript, and (c) to characterize the manuscript itself somewhat further (e.g., its purpose).The more difficult task, however, is to get familiar with the criteria and method of palaeography in order to benefit from this scientific and, to some scholars, quite arcane discipline.Thus, Hellenistic Bookhands, published by two distinguished and well-respected specialists in this field of research, is very much welcome as it helps us to understand and follow the reasoning that ends up assigning a certain date to a manuscript on the basis of paleaographical data (e.g., the formation of letters) and in providing further essential data for the socio-cultural background of a manuscript.2
Thomas J. Kraus (Sun,) studied this question.