This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ...width or flatness, which is very apparent in such letters as A, M, N, TT, to. In other documents this is less apparent, and the writing does not seem far removed iu style from that of the next century. Some independent pieces, such as correspondence, are written in very cursive characters which have a peculiar ragged appearance and are often difficult to read. These documents, however, are not the only specimens of cursive writing of the third century B.C. within our reach. A few scattered pieces have already for many years been stored in the various museums of Europe, but the antiquity of some of them has not been recognized, and they have been thought to belong to the period of the Koman occupation of Egypt. At Leyden there is a papyrus (Pap. Q), containing a receipt of the 20th year of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 2GO B.C. At Berlin, Paris, and London there are three wooden tablets inscribed with deeds relating to a loan of the 30th and 31st years of the same king, about 254 B.C. Among the papyri of the British Museum, three, formerly ascribed to a later date, are now more correctly placed in the third century, viz., a petition for redress of grievances (Pap. cvi.) of the 25th year, apparently, of Ptolemy Euergetes I., B.C. 223; and two others (1. and li.A) without dates. The Paris collection also contains a longmoney account for public works (Not. et Extr. xviii. 2, pi. xliv.) of the same century, which has been incorrectly assigned to the Roman period. A facsimile of a letter of introduction, evidently of this time, is given by Passalacqua.1 Egger describes a papyrus at Athens, '1 and various Greek endorsements and dockets on Demotic papyri are noticed by Revillout.3 Ostraka or potsherds also have been found with inscriptions of this period...