Following the newest procedures of the "archaeology of the book", this
catalogue raisonne presents a detailed description of the Coptic
holdings of the Pierpont Morgan Library. The first efforts to provide
such a catalogue date back to the twenties and thirties of this century.
The introduction includes chapters on the modern history of the Coptic
manuscripts, their antiquity and provenance, the method employed in this
catalogue to describe them, and the history of the ancient monastery of
St. Michael near present-day Hamuli, whose library yielded the bulk of
the Morgan Coptic collection. In the individual entries, the literary
contents of the manuscripts are treated at length and secondary
literature, including modern editions and translations, is listed.
Extensive concordances facilitate the use of the catalogue.