• 10th century, 2nd half
• 11th century

• Major initials: at the beginning of Romans (f. 8r), initial pi (27 x 20 mm) filled with blue and green paint, the 2 vertical bars being decorated with blue, green, red and white rings and ribbons and the horizontal bar with small vegetative ornaments; at the beginning of 1 Thess., 2 Thess., the hypothesis of 2 Thess. and of 1 Tim., rubricated initial decorated with rings and vegetative ornaments; at the beginning of Gal., Col. and 1 Tim., rubricated initial decorated with rings and ribbons; at the beginning of 1 Cor., 2 Cor. and the hypothesis of 1 Thess., rubricated initial with limited decoration; at the beginning of the hypotheses of 1 Cor., 2 Cor., Eph., Col. and 2 Tim., small rubricated initials without decorative features (similar to minor initials); at the beginning of Phil., 2 Tim., Tit., Philem. and Heb., initials in black ink without decorative features; no initials for the introductory texts of the first quire; 1st letter of the hypotheses of Tit., Phil. and Heb. totally absent.
• Minor initials in unit I are rubricated and divide the text of the catena into sections. Those are accompanied in the margin by a cross-reference number pointing to the Pauline text. In unit II, minor initials are rare and written in brown ink, but exceptionally rubricated on f. 290v and 291v.
• Decorative borders: Before Romans (f. 8r), much-faded painted pyle (100 x 30 mm), filled with squares each containing a green and blue rosette on purple ground or a white diamond with green dots on purple ground, accompanied at each side by a big blue and green leaf and adorned at both upper corners with a big green, blue and red leaf; before Galatians (f. 229r), rubricated rectangular headpiece (80 x 10 mm) filled with leaf scrolls and decorated with a small trefoil at each corner; before Colossians (f. 281v), rubricated rectangular headpiece (80 x 10 mm) filled with zizag motifs which are adorned with small ornaments; before and after 1 and 2 Corinthians, rubricated wavy line with leaf terminals and space-fillers; between the introductory texts of the first quire, decorative line made up of s-shapes and s-curves.

• Apparatus of the catena: Next to the catena in the outer margins and above the lines of the Pauline text, cross-reference numbers (from αʹ to ρʹ, then starting anew) and various cross-reference symbols link the catena with the corresponding place in the Pauline text (very incomplete in unit II except for 1 Thess. and 2 Thess.); next to the catena in the outer margin or within the text of the catena, author names and the word ἄλλως occasionally indicate a change of author (very rare in unit II); each section of the catena usually starts with a short lemma taken from the Pauline text.
• Apparatus of the Pauline text: in the top margins, titles and numbers of Euthalian kephalaia (Edition Blomkvist, “Euthalian Traditions”, 2012, 45-60), the numbers being repeated next to the text (incomplete in unit II); references to the Old Testament next to the text (absent in unit II); a few lection notes with ἀρχή/τέλος marks.
• Greek notes of later dates: A reader called Theodoulos the Monk in the 13th/14th century (?) left the two signed notes μνήθητι κύριε Θεοδούλου on f. 2r and μνίσθητι κύριε τὸν δούλων σου Θεόδουλον μονναχὸν καὶ μαθ[…] on f. 6v, and maybe also the hastily written heading of f. 1r; a very much faded and hardly legible greenish inscription Τὸ ͵αφιγʹ [?] […] [= a.D. 1513] written at the top of the blank page f. 6v; on the same page, a kontakion of Saint Luke the Evangelist (see “Contents”); a table of content listing the Pauline epistles of the volume on f. 7r (see “Contents”); titles and numbering of epistles in the top margins of both codicological units, the numbers being repeated on every recto pages; in the Pauline text of both codicological units, frequent interlinear commentaries in greyish brown ink by a tiny hand, which also wrote a fragment of Maximus the Confessor’s Capita de Caritate on f. 146v below the text (see “Contents”); the Euthalian hypothesis to Galatians added by a 13/14th century hand on blank page f. 228v (see “Contents”); corrections to the text of the catena added in greyish brown ink by several hands on ff. 23v, 42r, 43r, 54r, 58r, 76v and 219v; marginal indication λείπει by a late hand showing where some words are missing; a lot of lection notes and ἀρχή/τέλος marks.
• The manuscript presents some traces of its use for Erasmus’ 1516 edition of the New Testament. In 1515, Nikolaus Gerbel, who was in charge of the proofreading of the manuscript before the typesetting, wrote in the bottom margin of f. 314r Hic sudavit Gerbellius (Brown 2004, 5; Andrist 2016b, 109). Moreover, next to the Pauline text several typographical marks in greyish brown, usually consisting of a vertical line topped by 2 or 3 dots (called “matches” by P. Andrist, French “allumettes” in Andrist 2018, 151), roughly indicate page-breaks of Erasmus’ 1516 edition (“alumette” on f. 185v = page break between pp. 61-62 in edition; f. 196v = pp. 64-65; f. 275v = pp. 98-99; f. 282v = pp. 102-103; f. 288v = pp. 105-106; f. 290r = pp. 106-107; f. 305r = pp. 116-117; f. 311r = pp. 119-120; f. 322r = pp. 124-125; f. 331v = pp. 129-130; f. 336r = pp. 131-132; f. 339v = pp. 133-134; f. 360r = pp. 138-139; f. 362v = pp. 139-140; f. 366v = pp. 141-142; f. 368v = pp. 142-143; f. 371r = pp. 143-144, f. 377r = pp. 146-147). Those are occasionally accompanied within the text by short vertical strokes indicating the point where in the edition the page-break was initially intended to be, but do not always precisely coincide with the actual page-breaks (ff. 322r, 368v, 377r; Brown 2005, 5). Above and below a word of the Pauline text on f. 278v, presence of 2 horizontal strokes of typographical nature indicating a line-break within that word in the edition (Andrist 2018, 151).
• The manuscript also presents notes by western hands. In the 15th century, a man called Johannes Campionus (?) used f. 6v for a draft, in dei nomine amen ego Iohannes Campion … In nomine (?) in dei nomine. Marinus (?). In dei nomine domini ego Iohannes quan … In nomine dei domini ego Iohannes canpi … . Over that note, another western hand wrote a very small and barely legible inscription. In the margin of Philippians 4 on f. 278v, a humanistic hand of the 16th century left the note An Erasmus hec legit ut Paulo uxorem fuisse adfirmet (?) Cum hic stultum dicat E. (?) hoc sentire … [incomplete], which seemingly refers to Erasmus’ annotations commenting the passage (cf. Erasmus, Annotationes in Philippenses, IV, 3, in Edition Poll-van de Lisdonk 2009, 320-324). In the margin of f. 89r, a hand of the 16th century indicated a "questio" and further a "responsio", and wrote on f. 90r Apollo primus episcopus Corinthiorum. On f. 122r, a 16th century hand left the marginal note Quare fratres domini sunt appellati. A 16th century hand wrote on f. 233r Cephas non fuit Petrus ex LXX [...], and on f. 269v another similar hand gave the author indication Chrysostomum. A 15th century (?) hand added numbers of chapters next to the Pauline text and might also have written Alii hic habent ca[pitulum] in the margin of f. 245v. An early modern hand added running titles with numbers of chapters in the top margins. The university librarian of the 17th century, Conrad Pfister, wrote on final page f. 387v Hic deficit textus capitis xii versus 18 posterioris partis usque ad finem capitis et integrum caput xiii vetustate perditum.
• Various marks: frequent marginal strokes in greyish brown ink marking some lines of the catena in both codicological units (e.g. ff. 13v, 40v, 41v, 43v etc…); some lines of the catena underlined in greyish brown ink; in the left margin of f. 91r, next to the Pauline text, curious mark looking like an “alumette” (see above); on f. 62r, marginal cross in light brown ink; on ff. 17r, 18r and 276r, small marks next to several lines of the catena; on f. 160r, pen-trial in red ink; scribble on f. 8r next to the Pauline text.

• Pasteboard binding of the 16th century (29,5 x 22 cm), covered with a tanned orange-brown skin damaged by many abrasions, especially on the spine, hinges and board edges.
• Boards of pasteboard (edges: 5 mm): equipped with 2 pairs of green ties attached through the boards (now broken off) and fixed with 2 patches on the back side of each board (visible in relief through the pastedowns); blind-tooled (from centre to periphery: one vertically oriented central rectangle (19 x 10 cm) with 4 compartments, each containing a saltire cross; one thick ornamental frame (25 x 16 cm) enclosing the central rectangle; one larger two-line border frame (29 x 20 cm) enclosing the first frame).
• Flat spine: blind-tooled with 7 lines imitating raised bands; destroyed headcaps; 2 endbands of white and pink threads that are worn so much that they reveal the hemp or linen core; at the top, 2 brittle paper labels of 19th century with title; at the bottom, modern label with classmark.
• Endleaves: 1 front paper pastedown made of 3 leaves pasted on one another (current and former classmarks; small blue stamp; bibliographical information referring to Tischendorf and Wettstein; Omont’s entry for AN III 11 cut out from H. Omont’s catalogue); 1st front paper flyleaf with current classmark written on the verso; 2nd front paper flyleaf with a letter from Max Eberhardt pasted on the verso (see ʺProvenanceʺ); 1st front parchment flyleaf, which used to be a pastedown (pieces of leather from the turn-ins are stuck on its recto) and contains on its verso an ex-libris of the Basel University Library, 2 scraped-off Greek inscriptions, the titles "Ep(isto)le Pauli" and "Paulus" (15/16th century); 2nd front parchment flyleaf, attached to the 1st quire and containing on its recto an ex-libris of the Monastery of the Dominicans of Basel and the title "Pauli epistole graece cum graeca enarratione n°58" written by an early modern hand on a pasted piece of paper; 2 back paper flyleaves; 1 back paper pastedown made up of 3 leaves pasted on one another. All paper flyleaves have a watermark of the crosier of Basel encircled in a large ornate oval.

• On the 1st front parchment flyleaf, the inscriptions "+ ἡ βίβλ(ος)" and below "+ ἡ β[ίβλος …]" might have been written by a Byzantine owner, but a subsequent owner scraped them off. John Stojković of Ragusa acquired that manuscript, corresponding to MS n°XV in John Cuno's 1511 list, when he was in Constantinople on a mission for the Council of Basel between 1435 and 1437 (Vernet 1961, 85 n° XV). In 1437, John of Ragusa came back to Basel bringing the codex with him. At his death in 1443, the codex was bequeathed to the Monastery of the Dominicans of Basel, who left on the second front parchment flyleaf the ex-libris Hic liber epistolarum divi Pauli apostoli est fratrum Ordinis Predicatorum Basiliensis.
• In 1515, Erasmus of Rotterdam borrowed the manuscript from the monastery of the Dominicans for his edition of the New Testament (J. Froben, Novum Instrumentum omne: diligenter ab Erasmo Roterodamo recognitum & emendatum, Basel 1516). Erasmus used its text of the Pauline epistles, the short subscriptiones at the end of each of them and the hypotheses prefixed before each of them, with the exception of the hypothesis of the Epistle to the Romans which he took from Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, AN IV 4 (Brown 2013, 2; Brown 2004, 6; Andrist 2016b, 99-100). He also turned to AN IV 4 for the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews (12:18-13:25), which in this codex is lost with the leaves missing at the end. The note on f. 314r hic sudavit Gerbellius, written by Erasmus’ assistant Nikolaus Gerbel, suggests that Gerbel certainly was the one in charge of the proofreading of the manuscript (Brown 2004, 5; Andrist 2016, 109). Erasmus then entrusted the manuscript to the Basel printer Johann Froben: Several pages of the volume present typographical marks indicating page breaks (see “Additions: Notes and marginalia”). Besides, in the scope of his annotations on the Pauline Epistles, which he included in his 1516 Novum Instrumentum, Erasmus also made use of the codex for his study of what he called the “scholia Graeca”, referring to the multiple Patristic commentaries constituting together the “Pseudo-Oecumenian catena” of this manuscript (Brown 2016, 129; Poll-van de Lisdonk 2009, 26, 31; Hovingh 2012, 11; Dill 2004, 103).

• A sloping cursive mixed minuscule bookhand of Ephrem type, datable to the 2nd half of the 10th century (P. Andrist and P. Canart, in Andrist 2016a, 119; but formerly dated in H. Omont 1886, 8 to the 11th century; for more similarities with Ephrem manuscripts, see the aforementioned quire signatures in ʺCollationʺ). Height of about 2,5 mm in the Biblical text and of 1,5 mm in the catena. The text sometimes hangs from the ruled lines, sometimes rests on them, as it is quite frequently the case among minuscule manuscripts of the middle and 2nd half of the 10th century.
• About 15% of letters are majuscules, among which some are occasionally slightly enlarged, notably sigma encircling smaller letter, and kappa, tau, epsilon and iota. Frequent use of very rounded gammas and large bowl-shaped upsilons.
• Fairly extensive use of ligatures. Apart from nomina sacra, almost no abbreviation in the Pauline text, but many syllabic and word abbreviations in the catena (abbreviation of φησί omnipresent; s-shaped abbreviation of καί very large at the beginning of lines).
• The accentuation is complete: breathings sometimes angular, sometimes round; circumflexes sometimes small, sometimes wide; punctuation including upper, middle and lower point, “haple” comma quotation marks, and lastly a colon followed by a horizontal dash marking the end of a section of the catena. Mute iotas are adscript.

The titles of hypotheses and epistles are written in a mixed minuscule not significantly bigger than the script of the main text; all of them are rubricated, except those of the introductory texts of the 1st quire, which are written in regular brown ink; the title of the Euthalian prologue to the Pauline epistles is lost with the missing leaf at the beginning (a later hand hastily rewrote one in brown ink in the top margin of f. 1r).

Other rubricated elements: Euthalian kephalaia; cross-reference numbers above the lines of the Pauline text and same numbers repeated next to the relevant section of the catena; various cross-reference symbols; now and then marginal ἄλλως indicating a change of author in the catena; sometimes marginal author names next to the catena (listed in “Content”); references to the Old Testament next to the Pauline text; brief lection notes above or next to the Pauline text; rare ἀρχή/τέλος marks for church readings next to the Pauline text; 3 crosses marking the end of 2 Corinthians; an interlinear addition to the Pauline text on f. 187v; a few elements of the later table of content on f. 7r.

• An upright formal mixed minuscule of the 11th century of Perlschrift type (Andrist 2016a, 119, 122). Height of about 2 mm in the Biblical text and of barely 1 mm in the catena. The text hangs from the ruled lines, but also exceptionally rests on them. Biblical text on ff. 292r-310v is significantly thicker and written in a lighter brown than in the rest of this codicological unit.
• Approximately same proportion of majuscule letters as in unit I. When placed in 1st position, alpha sometimes starts with a wavy horizontal stroke. Gamma is usually pointed, but also sometimes slightly rounded. Slightly enlarged majuscule letters occasionally appear, notably gamma, beta, iota etc…
• Fairly extensive use of ligatures. Fewer abbreviations than in unit I, thanks to the space saved by the very small size of the script, but presence of a few syllabic abbreviations in the Biblical text, and some syllabic and word abbreviations in the catena (notably abbreviation of φησί; s-shaped abbreviation of καί).
• Accentuation complete: breathings sometimes angular, sometimes round; circumflexes small; punctuation including upper, middle and lower point. A section of the catena usually ends with an upper point or triple dots forming a triangle. Mute iota adscript.

Rubricated titles of hypotheses and epistles for Col., 1 Thess., 2 Thess., 1 Tim. and 2 Tim. (titles of col., 1 Tim. and 2 Tim. written in top margin); title of Eph. added by later hand in red ink; titles of the epistles Gal., Phil., 1 Tim., 2 Tim., Philem. and Heb. quickly added in black ink by a 13/14th century hand; however, no titles for the hypotheses of Eph., Phil., Philem. and Hebrews.

Apart from the headings, the rare rubrics in unit II also include: some Euthalian kephalaia in Col., 1 Thess., 2 Thess., 1 Tim. and 2 Timothy; final subscriptiones with stichometry for Phil., Col., 1 Thess., 2 Thess. and 1 Timothy; cross-reference numbers in 1 Thess. and 2 Thess. (in other epistles of this codicological unit, cross-reference numbers are incomplete and written in regular brown ink; see “Additions: Notes and marginalia”); a few elements of the pinax of 2 Thess. and 1 Tim. However, no rubrics at all in Gal., Eph., Tit. and Philemon.