Plate 4. Vercelli, Bibliotheca Capitolare, s.n., Codex Vercellensis
The image shows Folio 196 verso on the left, and 181 recto on the right. The recto contains the beginning of the Gospel of John. As in some other Greek and Latin manuscripts of the period, the first three lines are in red. The facing page contains Jn 3.17-22. The first column begins MISIT D̄S̄ FILI and the second HOMINES PO. It may seem odd that these two pages are facing. The reason is that the manuscript is now disbound and kept as separate leaves. These two pages constitute the outside face of the outermost leaf of a quire. Like most Gospel manuscripts, it begins the Gospel with a new quire.
The note in black ink at the top of the recto is a lectionary note in North Italian seventh-century cursive. The page numbers are by a comparatively recent librarian. The dark brown marks are traces of damp. The white areas are light reflecting from the transparent coating added to protect the manuscript in its early-twentieth century restoration.
Reproduced by permission of the Fondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare, Vercelli