number of other limitations as well.^4 We will deal primarily with two
kinds of evidence: first, lists of books that appear in papyri and have some
claim to represent the contents of actual book collections; and second,
concentrations of papyrus fragments that were found together and so
probably belonged originally to the same collection. No attempt will be
made here to provide an exhaustive treatment of this material. Instead,
my goal is to set out the evidence and provide some examples of ways in
which it can be exploited.
- LISTS OF BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN PRESERVED IN PAPYRI
A considerable number of papyri containing lists of books survive. Nine-
teen of them have recently been gathered and republished, with some
commentary (primarily on textual problems and questions of literary
history), by Rosa Otranto.
5
Some of the lists are so short or limited
in content that they are of no use in the present context.
6
Others are
letters in which books are mentioned, but with no indication that we are
dealing with a complete or coherent book collection.^7 Two of the papyri
are pre-Roman.^8 A number of the papyri, however, may well be surviving
portions of what were originally lists or inventories of individual book
collections or libraries, but every one of them presents problems of
interpretation. To illustrate the nature of these lists and the problems
they present, we can consider Otranto no. 16 (PSI Laur. inv. 19662v¼
MP^3 2087).^9
Like most such lists, this one is broken at beginning and end. We thus
cannot know how long it was originally, nor can we do more than guess at
the size of the complete contents of the book collection it represents.^10
- An obvious one is geography: all of the papyri relevant to our study come from Egypt
or Herculaneum. Will conclusions drawn from this material be valid in other areas of the
Empire? The answer seems to be yes: the patterns of collecting and use that we will find in
the papyri can often be paralleled in literary sources pertaining to the city of Rome, providing
some reassurance. Other problems will arise and be discussed in the course of our study. - Otranto 2000. Harrauer 1995 includes most of these and many additional lists.
Harrauer’s materials range much later in date than those in Otranto’s collection and include
ostraka, Coptic texts, and lists of Christian texts. All of these fall outside the scope of this
study, which is a study of Roman library history, and I will use the later materials only for
comparative purposes. - For example, Otranto 2000, nos. 8 (titles of six comedies by Cratinus), 9 (19
comedies of Menander), and 10 (18 tragedies of Euripides). - Otranto 2000, nos. 4, 5, 11, and 19.
- Otranto 2000, nos. 1 and 2.
- This papyrus has been studied in detail by Puglia 1996. Puglia provides extensive
earlier bibliography and a thorough discussion of a number of problems not dealt with here. - A few letters survive in a column to the left of the list, but they cannot be restored,
and we do not know whether they formed part of the list or not.
234 Institutions and Communities