Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1960, Síða 14

XII
is rubbed and the text is in part so faint that it can
only be read under ultra-violet light.
The text of Gibbons saga is divided into paragraphs,
space being left at the beginning of each for a large
initial letter. Some of these capitals were certainly
added in red ink, for they are still visible, though
many are badly faded. There are no traces of initials
to the following: uilhiahnr (? space left for initial U
or F) 31, (E')'ptir 148, (E')inn 281, (E)ptir 6316,
(H)ERa 705, <iF)F 804. (N)v 179 also shows no sign
of an initial, but since in this case there are traces
of a pen decoration in red down the inner margin
where the initial should stand it is probable that a
capital was added but has since completely faded
away. Other missing capitals may have been lost in
this way.
Spaces are also usually left for paragraph headings,
and traces of some of these remain, written in red
ink in a hand contemporary with the text of the saga:
so, herra G ok Asper duergr after bvnna 204, af her
[....] ok kolli after iþrottir 364, [...\orú meykongsins
after honvm 579, G- ok drott after avgsyn 803, and
illegible traces after sia 786 and drotninngar 822. The
scribe at first forgot to leave space for a heading to
chapter 11 (6316). The final line of chapter 10 and
the first line of chapter 11 both took up the full line
width, line 1 of chapter 11 apparently ending with
the words Lepvs dfvergr) slær. Immediately after he
had written these three words the scribe tried to
scratch them out, presumably to provide space for a
paragraph heading, and then repeated them at the
beginning of the following line. There is, however,
no indication of the heading having been inserted.
Contemporary with the text of the saga is the
catchword (?) vilh- at the top left-hand corner of fo.
19r. Otherwise the margins were left blank, though