Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1960, Blaðsíða 19

XVII
and its recto surface cut. The opening between fos.
22 and 23 (at the end of the third gathering) has be-
come much stained, and parts of the text there are
illegible (cf. pp. 103—4 of the present text). Fo. 16
is irregular in shape, the outer edge and lower corner
cut away, but this again preceded the writing of the
text. Fo. 24 was cut down to a width of c. 6.4 cm.
before use, but after the text was written the top
outer edge was further cut away with mutilation of
the first thirteen lines on each side (cf. pp. 105—6
of the present text). Here and there throughout the
saga the surface of the parchment has flaked away,
causing the loss of individual letters.
The text of Gibbons saga is divided into paragraphs,
though the division does not always correspond with
that of AB. Space was left at the beginning of each
paragraph for a large initial letter, but of these initials
only H at the beginning of chapter 17 (864), decorated
with crudely-drawn fohage in black ink, and N (991),
N (1135), both in red ink, remain. In all cases the
original scribe wrote a small initial in the margin to
guide the illuminator.
The sagas in this manuscript have no headings in
the original hand, but a later scribe added Gibbuns
Saga in the top margin of fo. 7r. The hrst scribe
wrote ihc or jfic in the top margins of fos. 2, 3r, 8,
9V, 18v, 19r and 21v, iKc xc in that of 3V and i%c
xpc in that of 22r. Otherwise ah marginal notes in
the pages of Gibbons saga are of later date.
D, see below, p. XXVII.
E (= AM. 567, 4°, XVI) “14. árhs slutning.” AM.
567, 4° is a collection of fragments of various early
manuscripts, all of which, according to the old catalo-
gue of the collection, contained Fabulosæ Islandorum
Historiæ. Fragment XVI is part of a single leaf, its