[21.11.06]
- without prefix, numbers such as 0132.340.166 [with the last digits referring to P. Oxy. and P. Fay. publication numbers]
- AM [belonging to 'Libr. Pap., Class. Sem.'], numbers from 87 till 15960
- Bell II / III / IX, numbers from 41 till 162
- CC, numbers such as 0174.6.1027 [with the last digits referring to P. Oxy. publication numbers]
- Garrett deposit [also: GD], numbers from 24 till 9564
- Libr. W. H. Scheide Collection M, numbr 69
- Med. and Ren. Mss., Garrett deposit, number 1
- Pharaonic roll, numbers 4 and 7
- Schoyen Collection MS 2634 / 3

In the catalog, which follows APIS norms, pertinent information is given for both published and unpublished items, ranged first by language (e.g. Greek, Latin, etc.) or script (e.g. hieroglyphic, hieratic, etc.), and then by form (literary, according to author or genre; documentary, according to type (the latter terminology described largely from Peter van Minnen, BASP 31, 1994, pp. 159-70).

The catalog of 1529 items, both published and currently unpublished, is available on the WWW, although no images of the papyri are currently attached. As is the case with other members of the APIS consortium, papyri in the Princeton collection are to be scanned and digitalized images mounted on the WWW as soon as possible.

Ann Hanson has published, or is in the process of publishing, some of the unpublished Princeton papyri of which she owned photographs; she hopes to finish revisions to the Julio-Claudian tax archive from Philadelphia in the near future. Bruce Kraut has photographs of the mummy cartonnage purchased from Fackelmann in 1982 and is in the process of preparing these for publication. Those who wish photographs and/or right to publish should apply to Dr. Don C. Skemer.

J.G. Manning, Demotic Papyri in the Princeton University Firestone Library, in: Akten des 21. Internationalen Papyrologenkongresses, Berlin 1995 (AfP, Beiheft 3), 1997, p. 666-668

Joe Manning will publish demotic papyrus 1 in BASP

- the 19 texts from the Julio-Claudian tax archive from Philadelphia associated with Nemesion, son of Zoilos (P.Princ. I 1-14; II 41, 53, 65; III 123, 152, all of which Ann Hanson has reread and to date has published I 11v [= SB XVI 12632] and republished I 13 [= SB XX 14576] and III 152 [= SB XX 14526])

- the so-called "Narratio Papyrus" (P.Princ. III 119 [= SB XII 10989])

- for its information on prices, P.Princ. Roll (= SB V 7621, with corrections from the revised edition listed in BL VIII 328-331 and incorporated into DDBDP CD-ROM)

- the 21 leaves of the Book of Ezekiel from an OT codex are housed in the Scheide Library, a collection incorporated within the domain of Rare Books & Special Collections

1. Overview of the Princeton collection.

The descriptive inventory of Princeton University's collection of papyri was compiled by Rosalie Cook and other papyrologists, working under the supervision of Don C. Skemer, project director of APIS at Princeton and curator of manuscripts. The catalog gives information on 1529 inventory items; the category 'unidentified papyri' accounts for 648 items. Of the nearly 700 items in Greek, 260 are published. Of the 115 in various scripts of the Egyptian language, only 8 Coptic papyri have been published. The first papyri to arrive at Princeton were the 90 items acquired through EES distributions between 1901 and 1922. Professor Allan Chester Johnson was the driving force behind Princeton's participation in the cartel of five institutions for whom Harold Idris Bell and others at the British Museum made purchases of Greek papyri in Egypt between 1921 and 1928. Extensive correspondence, especially that between Johnson and Professor Frances W. Kelsey (University of Michigan), make clear that Johnson preferred Princeton to acquire documents over fragments of Greek literature. Another important source came from Robert Garrett, who, after purchasing some 750 papyri through the British Museum for his own manuscript collection, deposited these in Princeton's Firestone Library in 1942. The majority of the papyri and parchments in languages other than Greek and Latin are part of the Garrett Deposit. Smaller collections of papyri came to the University Library as gifts and purchases. Papyri were catalogued upon arrival at the University, being assigned numbers in a single series with other acquisitions; these bear inventory numbers prefaced by "AM." The inventory numbers of items from the Garrett Deposit are prefaced by "GD," although there is no practical difference between the two groupings.

2. Configurations of the collection.

Languages represented in the Princeton collection: Greek papyri, 682: 252 of which are published and 430 unpublished. Greek ostraka, 13: 8 of which are published and 5 unpublished. Latin papyri, 10: 5 of which are published and 5 unpublished. Egyptian language papyri: 19 hieroglyphic, all unpublished; 7 hieratic, all unpublished; 12 demotic, all unpublished; 77 Coptic, 8 of which are published, and 69 unpublished. Coptic ostraka, 2, both unpublished. Arabic papyri, 61: 1 of which is published and 60 unpublished.

Although Princeton papyri span the entire period of Greek domination in Egypt and the early years of the Arab conquest, the majority are from the Roman and Byzantine periods, are documentary in content, and derive from Oxyrhynchus or the villages of the Arsinoite nome. Of the literary texts acquired most seem to have been published either in P.Oxy. volumes (cf. Coles, Location-list, 1974), in P.Princ. III, or subsequently (e.g. Plato commentary, AM 11224C = ZPE 51, 1983, 77-79 + ZPE 55, 1984, 5-6 ( LDAB 3800 ); Homer, Ilias, AM 11224D = BASP 24, 1987, 35 ( LDAB 1853 ); Hippocratic Corpus, "Specimina per il Corpus dei Papiri Greci di Medicina," Florence, 1997, 117-140 ( LDAB 1311 )). A few unidentified texts are yet unpublished, as are also some subliterary pieces.

Archives: Dionysodoros ;Dioskoros ;Euphron ;Harthotes priest and public farmer ;Nemesion

3. Origin and current state of the Princeton collection.

Except for the papyri excavated by Grenfell & Hunt at Oxyrhynchus, most other papyri were bought on antiquities market in Egypt. The last acquisitions, all mummy cartonnage, were apparently purchased in 1982; part was bought from Michael Fackelmann and was already opened and separated; part derived from a mummy purchased in Cairo and subsequently opened by Adam Buelow-Jacobsen (Princeton University Library Chronicle 44, 1983, 159-68; for publication of one such text, SB XX 15068). During the course of extensive remodeling in storage areas within Rare Books & Special Collections, several of the smaller collections mentioned above resurfaced; some were published soon thereafter (e.g. SB XX 14093, 14185, 14280; Pap.Flor. XVIII 81 [wooden tablet]; ZPE 103, 1994, 41-51). In 1991 upwards of 750 papyri were identified that were acquired in the 1920s but were never mounted or described. Considerable effort was expended over the last seven or so years to conserve, describe, and make these accessible. This work has now been completed.

Princeton University Library does not normally employ papyrological staff, although various scholars, some of them associated with the Classics department, have been involved over the years in assessing portions of the collections.