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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Manuscripts of the Bible
Manuscripts are written, as opposed to printed, copies of the original text or of a version either of the whole Bible or of a part thereof. After introductory remarks on manuscripts in general, we shall take up in detail the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic manuscripts of the Bible; manuscripts of other versions are not important enough to come within the scope of this article.
Manuscripts may be conveniently divided into papyrus and vellum manuscripts.
(1) Papyrus manuscripts
In the Roman Empire of the first three centuries of our era, papyrus was the ordinary writing material. Made out of strips of pith taken from the stem of the Egyptian water-plant of the same name, papyrus was very fragile, became brittle in air, crumbled with use, could not resist the disintegrating force of moisture and was quite impracticable for book-form. All papyrus manuscripts of every sort are lost to us save such as were buried in exceedingly dry soil, like that of Upper and Middle Egypt. Here the ignorant fellaheen at one time wantonly destroyed vast quantities of papyrus manuscripts. Egyptian excavators now prevent such destruction and keep on adding to our very considerable collections of papyri. It is more than likely that the New Testament sacred writers or their scribes used ink and rolls of fragile papyrus for their autographa (II Cor., iii, 3; II John, 12). These original manuscripts probably perished towards the end of the first or the opening of the second century. We find no trace of them in either the Apostolic or the apologetic Fathers, — unless we except Tertullian's words, "the authentic letters of the Apostles themselves", which are now generally set aside as rhetorical. A significant proof of the early loss of the autograph copies of the New Testament is the fact that Irenæus never appeals to the original writings but only to all the painstaking and ancient copies (en pasi tois spoudaiois kai archaiois antigraphois), to the witness of those that saw John face to face (kai martyrounton auton ekeinon ton katopsin ton Ioannen heorakoton), and to the internal evidence of the written word (kai tou logou didaskontos hemas).
(2) Vellum manuscripts
Egypt clung to her papyrus rolls until the eighth century and even later. Vellum had been used before the time of Christ (cf. Pliny, "Historia Naturalis", xiii, 11), and during the time of the Apostles (II Tim., iv, 13). In the third century, it began, outside of Egypt, to supersede papyrus; in the early part of the fourth century vellum and the codex, or book-form, gained complete victory over papyrus and the roll-form. When Constantine founded his capital of the Byzantine Empire, he ordered Eusebius to have fifty manuscripts of the Bible made on vellum (somatia en diphtherais) for use in the churches of Byzantium (Vita Constant., IV, 36). To the fourth century belong the earliest extant Biblical manuscripts of anything but fragmentary size.
(3) Palimpsests
Some vellum manuscripts of the greatest importance are palimpsests (from Lat. palimpsestum, Gr. palimpsestos, "scraped again"), — that is, they were long ago scraped a second time with pumice-stone and written upon anew. The discovery of palimpsests led to the reckless of bigoted charge of wholesale destruction of Biblical manuscripts by the monks of old. That there was some such destruction is clear enough from the decree of a Greek synod of A.D. 691, which forbade the use of palimpsest manuscripts either of the Bible or of the Fathers, unless they were utterly unserviceable (see Wattenbach, "Das Schriftwessen im Mittelalter", 1896, p. 299). That such destruction was not wholesale, but had to do with only worn or damaged manuscripts, is in like manner clear enough from the significant fact that as yet no complete work of any kind has been found on a palimpsest. The deciphering of a palimpsest may at times be accomplished merely by soaking it in clear water; generally speaking, some chemical reagent is required, in order to bring back the original writing. Such chemical reagents are an infusion of nutgalls, Gioberti's tincture and hydrosulphuret of ammonia; all do harm to the manuscript. Wattenbach, a leading authority on the subject, says: "More precious manuscripts, in proportion to the existing supply, have been destroyed by the learned experimenters of our time than by the much abused monks of old."
(1) Age
(a) Pre-Massoretic text
The earliest Hebrew manuscript is the Nash papyrus. There are four fragments, which, when pieced together, give twenty-four lines of a pre-Massoretic text of the Ten Commandments and the shema (Ex., xx, 2-17; Deut., v, 6-19; vi, 4-5). The writing is without vowels and seems palæographically to be not later than the second century. This is the oldest extant Bible manuscript (see Cook, "A Pre-Massoretic Biblical Papyrus" in "Proceed. of the Soc. of Bib. Arch.", Jan., 1903). It agrees at times with the Septuagint against the Massorah. Another pre- Massoretic text is the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Samaritan recension is probably pre-exilic; it has come down to us free from Massoretic influences, is written without vowels and in Samaritan characters. The earliest Samaritan manuscript extant is that of Nablûs, which was formerly rated very much earlier than all Massoretic manuscripts, but is now assigned to the twelfth or thirteenth century A.D. Here mention should be made of the non-Massoretic Hebrew manuscripts of the Book of Ecclesiasticus (q.v.). These fragments, obtained from a Cairo genizah (a box for wornout or cast-off manuscripts), belong to the tenth or eleventh century of our ear. They provide us with more than a half of Ecclesiasticus and duplicate certain portions of the book. Many scholars deem that the Cairo fragments prove Hebrew to have been the original language of Ecclesiasticus (see "Facsimiles of the Fragments hitherto recovered of the Book of Ecclesiasticus in Hebrew", Oxford and Cambridge, 1901).
(b) Massoretic text
All other Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible are Massoretic (see MASSORAH), and belong to the tenth century or later. Some of these manuscripts are dated earlier. Text-critics consider these dates to be due either to intentional fraud or to uncritical transcription of dates of older manuscripts. For instance, a codex of the Former and Latter Prophets, how in the Karaite synagogue of Cairo, is dated A.D. 895; Neubauer assigns it to the eleventh or thirteenth century. The Cambridge manuscript no. 12, dated A.D. 856, he marks as a thirteenth-century work; the date A.D. 489, attached to the St. Petersburg Pentateuch, he rejects as utterly impossible (see Studia Biblica, III, 22). Probably the earliest Massoretic manuscripts are: "Prophetarium Posteriorum Codex Bablyonicus Petropolitanus", dated A.D. 916; the St. Petersburg Bible, written by Samuel ben Jacob and dated A.D. 1009; and "Codex Oriental. 4445" in the British Museum, which Ginsburg (Introduction, p. 469) assigns to A.D. 820-50. The text critics differ very widely in the dates they assign to certain Hebrew manuscripts. De Rossi is included to think that at most nine or ten Massoretic manuscripts are earlier than the twelfth century (Variæ Lectiones, I, p. xv).
(2) Number
Kennicott, the first critical student of the Massoretic text, either examined or had others examine 16 Samaritan manuscripts, some 40 printed texts and 638 Massoretic manuscripts (see "Dissertatio Generalis in Vetus Testam. Hebraicum", Oxford, 1780). He numbered these manuscripts in six groups: nos. 1-88, Oxford manuscripts; nos. 89-144, other manuscripts of English-speaking countries; nos. 145-254, manuscripts of continental Europe; nos. 255-300, printed texts and various manuscripts; nos. 301-694, manuscripts collated by Brunsius. De Rossi (Variæ Lectiones Vet. Test.) retained the numeration of Kennicott and added a list of 479 manuscripts, all his own personal property, of which unfortunately 17 had already received numbers from Kennicott. De Rossi later added four supplementary lists of 110, 52, 37, and 76 manuscripts. He brought the number of Massoretic manuscripts up to 1375. No one has since undertaken so colossal a critical study of the Hebrew manuscripts. A few of the chief manuscripts are more exactly collated and compared in the critical editions of the Massoretic text which were done by S. Baer and Fr. Delitzsch and by Ginsburg. To the vast number of Hebrew manuscripts examined by Kennicott and De Rossi must be added some 2000 manuscripts of the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, which Firkowitsch collated at Tschufut-Kale ("Jews' Rock") in the Crimea (see Strack, "Die biblischen und massoretischen Handschriften zü Tschufut-Kale" in "Zeits. für luth. Theol. und Kirche", 1875).
(3) Worth
The critical study of this rich assortment of about 3400 Massoretic rolls and codices is not so promising of important results as it would at first thought seem to be. The manuscripts are all of quite recent date, if compared with Greek, Latin, and Syriac codices. They are all singularly alike. Some few variants are found in copies made for private use; copies made for public service in the synagogues are so uniform as to deter the critic from comparing them. All Massoretic manuscripts bring us back to one editor — that of a textual tradition which probably began in the second century and became more and more minute until every jot and tittle of the text was almost absolutely fixed and sacred. R. Aqiba seems to have been the head of this Jewish school of the second century. Unprecedented means were taken to keep the text fixed. The scholars counted the words and consonants of each book, the middle word and middle consonants, the peculiarities of script, etc. Even when such peculiarities were clearly due to error or to accident, they were perpetuated and interpreted by a mystical meaning. Broken and inverted letters, consonants that were too small or too large, dots which were out of place — all these oddities were handed down as God-intended. In Gen., ii, 4, bebram ("when they were created"), all manuscripts have a small Hê. Jewish scholars looked upon this peculiarity as inspired; they interpreted it: "In the letter Hê he created them"; and then set themselves to find out what that meant.This lack of variants in Massoretic manuscripts leaves us hopeless of reaching back to the original Hebrew text save through the versions. Kittel in his splendid Hebrew text gives such variants as the versions suggest.
(1) In General
Greek manuscripts are divided into two classes according to their style of writing — uncials and minuscules.
(a) Uncials were written between the fourth and tenth centuries, with large and disconnected letters. These letters were not capitals but had a distinctive form: epsilon, sigma, and omega were not written EPSILON, SIGMA, OMEGA, as are those capitals in inscriptions; rho, phi, psi, and at times upsilon were prolonged above or below the line. Words were not separated; neither accents nor punctuation marks were used; paragraphs were marked off only by a very small lacuna; the letters were uniform and artistic; ligatures were used only for the most ordinary words — IC (Iesous), KC (Kyrios), XC (Christos), ICL (Israel), PNA (pneuma), DLD (David), ANOC (anthropos), PER (pater), MER (mater), OUC (pater), CER (soter), OUNOC (ouranos). In the sixth century, began a decadence of the elegant uncial writing. Twists and turns were given to certain letters. In the seventh century, more letters received flourishes; accents and breathings were introduced; the writing leaned to the right.
(b) Minuscules
While uncials held sway in Biblical manuscripts, minuscules were employed in other works. During the ninth century, both uncial and minuscule manuscripts of the Bible were written. The latter show a form of writing so fully developed as to leave no doubt about its long standing use. The letters are small, connected, and written with a running hand. After the tenth century, minuscules were used until, in the fifteenth century, manuscripts were superceded by print.
(2) Old Testament manuscripts
(a) Septuagint (LXX)
There are three families of Septuagint manuscripts — the Hexaplaric, Hesychian, and Lucianic. Manuscripts of Origen's Hexapla (q.v.) and Tetrapla were preserved at Cæsarea by his disciple Pamphilus. Some extant manuscripts (v.g. aleph and Q) refer in scholia to these gigantic works of Origen. In the fourth century, Pamphilus and his disciple Eusebius of Cæsarea reproduced the fifth column of the Hexapla, i.e. Origen's Hexaplaric Septuagint text, with all his critical signs. This copy is the source of the Hexaplaric family of Septuagint manuscripts. In course of time, scribes omitted the critical signs in part or entirely. Passages wanting in the Septuagint, but present in the Hebrew, and consequently supplied by Origen from either Aquila or Tehodotion, were hopelessly commingled with passages of the then extant Septuagint. Almost at the same time two other editions of the Septuagint were published — those of Hesychius at Alexandria and of Lucian at Antioch. From these three editions the extant manuscripts of the Septuagint have descended, but by ways that have not yet been accurately traced. Very few manuscripts can be assigned with more than probability to one of the three families. The Hexaplaric, Hesychian, and Lucianic manuscripts acted one upon the other. Most extant manuscripts of the Septuagint contain, as a result, readings of each and of none of the great families. The tracing of the influence of these three great manuscripts is a work yet to be done by the text-critics.
- Papyrus. — About sixteen fragments on papyrus are extant. Of these, the most important are:
- Oxyrhyncus Pap. 656 (early third cent.), containing parts of Gen., xiv-xxvii, wherein most of the great vellum manuscripts are wanting.
- British Museum Pap. 37, at times called U (seventh cent.), containing part of Psalms (Hebrew) x-xxxiii.
- A Leipzig Pap. (fourth cent.) containing Psalms xxix-liv. These two Psalters give us the text of Upper Egypt.
- A Heidelberg Pap. (seventh cent.) containing Azch., iv, 6-Mal., iv, 5.
- A Berlin Pap. (fourth or fifth cent.) containing about thirty chapters of Genesis.
- Vellum Uncial. — Parsons collated 13 uncial and 298 minuscule manuscripts of the Septuagint; the former he designated with Roman numerals, I-XIII, the latter with Arabic numbers, 14-311 (cf., "V.T. Græcum cum Variis Lectionibus", Oxford, 1798). Legarde designated the uncials by Roman and Greek capitals. This designation is now generally accepted (cf. Swete, "Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek", Cambridge, 1902, 148).
- aleph — S, Cod. Sinaiticus (q.v.) (fourth century; 43 leaves at Leipzig, 156 together with N.T. at St. Petersburg) contains fragments of Gen. and Num.; I Par., ix, 27-xix, 17; Esd. ix, 9-end; Esth.; Tob.; Judith; I and IV Mach.; Isa.; Jer.; Lam., i, 1-ii, 20; Joel; Ab.-Mal.; the Poetical Books; the entire New Testament; the Epistle of Barnabas and part of the "Shepherd" of Hermas. The text is mixed. In Tobias it differs much from A and B. Its origin is doubtful. Two correctors (Ca and Cb) are of the seventh century. Ca tells us at the end of Esth. that he compared this manuscript with a very early copy, which Pamphilus testified had been taken from and corrected according to the Hexapla or Origen.
- A, or Cod. Alexandrinus (fifth century; in British Museum) contains complete Bible (excepting Ps. 1-20-lxxx, 11, and smaller lacunæ) and includes deuterocanonical books and fragments, the apocryphal III and IV Mach., also I and II Clem. Its origin is Egyptian and may be Hesychian. It differs much from B, especially in Judges. Two scribes wrote the manuscript. The corrector belonged to about the same time.
- B, or Cod. Vaticanus (q.v.) (fourth century; in the Vatican) contains complete Bible. The Old Testament lacks Gen., i, 1-xivi, 28; I and II Mach.; portions of II Kings, ii; and Psalms, cv- cxxxvii. The New Testament wants Heb., ix, 14; I and II Tim.; Titus.; Apoc. Its origin is Lower Egyptian. Hort thinks it akin to the text used by Origen in his Hexapla.
- C, or Cod. Ephræmi Rescriptus (q.v.) (fifth century palimpsest, in National Library, Paris) contains 64 leaves of Old Testament; most of Eccl.; parts of Ecclus.; Wisd.; Prov. and Cant.; 145 out of 238 leaves of New Testament.
- D, or The Cotton Genesis (fifth century; in British Museum) contains fragments of Gen.; was almost destroyed by fire in 1731, but had been previously studies.
- E, or Cod. Bodleianus (ninth or tenth century; in Bodl. Libr., Oxford) contains Heptateuch, fragments.
- F, or Cod. Ambrosianus (fifth century; at Milan) contains Heptateuch, fragments.
- G, or Cod. Sarravianus (fifth century; 130 leaves at Leyden; 22 in Paris, one in St. Petersburg) contains the Hexaplaric Octateuch (fragments) with some of the asterisks and obeli of Origen.
- H, or Cod. Petropolitanus (sixth century; in Imperial Libr., St. Petersburg) contains portions of Numbers.
- I, or Cod. Bodleianus (ninth century; in Bodl. Libr., Oxford) contains the Psalms.
- K, or Cod. Lipsiensis (seventh century; in Univ. of Leipzig) contains fragments of Heptateuch.
- L, or The Vienna Genesis (sixth century; in Imperial Libr., Vienna) contains incomplete Genesis, written with silver letters on purple vellum.
- M, or Cod. Coislinianus (seventh century; in National Library, Paris) contains Heptateuch and Kings.
- N-V, or Cod. Basiliano-Venetus (eighth or ninth century; partly in Venice and partly in Vatican) contains complete Gen., Ex., and part of Lev., and was used with B in the critical edition of the Septuagint (Rome, 1587).
- O, or Cod. Dublinensis (sixth century; in Trinity College, Dublin) contains fragments of Isaias.
- Q, or Cod. Marchalianus (sixth century, in Vatican) contains Prophets, complete; is very important, and originated in Egypt. The text is probably Hesychian. In the margins are many readings from the Hexapla; it also gives many Hexaplaric signs.
- R, or Cod. Veronensis (sixth century; at Verona) contains Gr. and Lat. Psalter and Canticles.
- T, or Cod. Zuricensis, the Zürich Psalter (seventh century) shows, with R, the Western text; silver letters, gold initials, on purple vellum.
- W, or Cod. Parisiensis (ninth century; in National Library, Paris) contains fragments of Psalms.
- X, or Cod. Vaticanus (ninth century; in Vatican) contains the Book of Job.
- Y, or Cod. Tauriensis (ninth century; in National Library, Turin) contains Lesser Prophets.
- Z, or Cod. Tischendorf (ninth century) contains fragments of Kings; published by Tischendorf.
- Gamma, or Cod. Cryptoferrantensis (eighth or ninth century; at Grottaferrata) contains fragments of Prophets.
- Delta, or Cod. Bodleianus (fourth or fifth century; Oxford, in Bodl. Libr.) contains a fragment of Daniel.
- Theta, or Cod. Washington (fifth or sixth century, to be in Smithsonian Institution), contains Deut.-Jos., found in Egypt, one of the Freer manuscripts. There are likewise seven uncial Psalters (two complete) of the ninth or tenth century and eighteen rather unimportant fragments listed by Swete (op. cit., p. 140).
- Vellum Minuscule More than 300 are known but unclassified. The Cambridge Septuagint purposes to collate the chief of these minuscules and to group them with a view to discriminating the various recensions of the Septagint. More than half of these manuscripts are Psalters and few of them give the entire Old Testament. In editing his Alcalá Polyglot, Cardinal Ximenes used minuscules 108 and 248 of the Vatican.
(b) Aquila
(See VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE). Manuscript traces of the text of Aquila are found in
- fragments of Origen's third columns, written as marginal notes to some manuscripts, such as Q;
- the Milan palimpsest of the Hexapla, a most important tenth century copy found by Mercati in 1896. It contains about eleven Psalms, has no Hebrew column, and uses the space thereof for variant readings;
- the Cambridge fragment, seventh century, discovered in a Cairo genizah. It contains parts of Ps. xxi (see Taylor, "Cairo Genizah Palimpsests", 1900). The name Jahweh is written in old Hebrew letters.
- The Cairo fragments of the fourth and fifth centuries; three palimpsests (containing III Kings, xx, 7-17; IV Kings, xxiii, 11-27) published by Burkitt in 1897; and four portions of the Psalms (lxxxix, 17-xci, 10; xcv, 7- xcvi, 12; xcviii, 3; ci, 16-cii, 13) published by Taylor (op. cit.).
- The fourth-century papyrus fragments of Gen., i, 1-5, published, 1900, by Grenfell and Hunt.
(c) Theodotion
(See VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE). The Book of Daniel of Theodotion is found in the Septagint manuscripts previously mentioned. The Milan palimpsest contains his text in part.
(d) Symmachus
(See VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE). Manuscript sources are the Milan palimpsest, Cambridge fragment, and Hexaplaric marginal notes, all of which are manuscript sources of Aquila.
(3) New Testament manuscripts
(a) In General
There are, according to the latest authority on this subject, von Soden ("Die Schriften des N.T. in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt", Berlin, 1902), 2328 New Testament manuscripts extant. Only about 40 contain, either entire or in part, all the books of the New Testament. There are 1716 manuscript copies of the Gospels, 531 of the Act, 628 of the Pauline Epistles, 219 of the Apocalypse. The commonly received numeration of the New Testament manuscripts is that of Wettstein; uncials are designated by Roman and Greek capital, minuscules by Arabic numbers. These manuscripts are divided into the above-mentioned four groups — Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, Apocalypse. In the case of uncials, an exponent is used to designate the group referred to. D or Dev is Cod. Bezæ, a manuscript of the Gospels; D3 or Dpaul is Cod. Claromontanus, a manuscript of the Pauline Epistles; E2 or Eact is Cod. Laudianus, a manuscript of the Acts. The nomenclature is less clear for minuscules. Each group has a different set of numbers. If a minuscule be a complete manuscript of the New Testament, it is designated by four different numbers. One and the same manuscript at Leicester is Evan. 69, Act. 31, Paul. 37, Apoc. 14. Wettestein's lists of New-Testament manuscripts were supplemented by Birch and Schols; later on Scrivener and Gregory continued the lists, each with his own nomenclature. Von Soden has introduced a new numeration, so as to indicate the contents and date of the manuscripts. If the content be more than the Gospels, it is marked delta (that is, diatheke, "testament"); if only the Gospels, eta (i.e., euaggelion, "gospel"); if aught else save the Gospels, alpha (that is, apostolos). B is delta-1; aleph is delta-2; Q is epsilon-4, etc. No distinction is made between uncials and minuscules. Scholars admit the logic and scientific worth of this new numeration, but find it too unwieldy and impracticable.
(b) Payrus
In the Archduke Rainer collection, Vienna, are several very fragmentary bits of New Testament Greek phrases, which Wessely, the curator of that collection, assigns to the second century. The Grenfell and Hunt excavations in Oxyrhyncus brought to light various fragments of the New Testament which Kenyon, the assistant keeper of the manuscripts of the British Museum, assigns to the latter part of the third century. Only one papyrus manuscript of the New Testament is important to the text-critic — Oxyrhyncus Pap. 657, third-fourth century; it preserves to us about a third of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and epistle in which Codex B is defective.
(c) Vellum Uncials
There are about 160 vellum uncials of the New Testament; some 110 contain the Gospels or a part thereof. The chiefest of these uncials are the four great codices of the entire Greek Bible, aleph, A, B, C, for which, see above. The Vatican (B) is the oldest and probably the best New Testament manuscript.
- D. or Cod. Bezæ (q.v.) (fifth or sixth century; in University Library, Cambridge) contains Gospels and Acts in Gr. and Lat., excepting Acts, xxii, 29 to the end; it is a unique specimen of a Greek manuscript whose text is Western, i.e. that the Old Latin and Old Syriac.
- D3 or Cod. Claromonianus (probably sixth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris) contains Pauline Epistles in Gr. and Lat., each text independent of the other. Before Hebrews is a list of the books of the New Testament and the number of lines (stichoi) in each; this list omits Thess., Heb., and Phil., includes four apocryphal books, and follows an unusual order: Matt., John, Mark, Luke, Rom., I and II Cor., Gal., Eph., I and II Tim., Titus, Col., Philem., I and II Pet., James, I, II and III John, Jude, Barnabas, Apoc., Acts, Hermas, Acts of Paul, Apoc. of Peter.
- E, or Cod. Basileensis (eighth century; in Univ. Libr., Basle) contains the Gospels.
- E2, or Cod. Laudianus (sixth century; Oxford, in Bodl. Library) contains Acts in Gr. and Lat. The former is somewhat like D.
- E3, or Cod. Sangermanensis (ninth century; in Imper. Libr., St. Petersburg) contains Pauline Epistles in Gr. and Lat.; of same family as D3.
- F, or Cod. Boreeli (ninth century; at Utrecht), contains Gospels.
- F3, or Cod. Augiensis (ninth century; in Trinity College, Cambridge), contains Pauline Epp. in Gr. and Lat.; of the same family as D3, E3, and G3.
- G, or Cod. Wolfii A (ninth or tenth century; at Cambridge, and London), contains the Gospels.
- G3, or Cod. Boernerianus (ninth century; at Dresden), contains Paul Epp. in Gr. and Lat.; text of D3 type.
- H, or Cod. Wolfii B (ninth or tenth century; at Dresden), contains Paul Epp. in Gr. and Lat.; text of D3 type.
- H2, or Cod. Mutinensis (ninth century; at Modena), contains Acts.
- H3, or Cod. Coislinianus (sixth century; originally at Mt. Athos where 8 leaves remain. Other parts were used for binding manuscripts; 22 leaves thus reached Paris; 3 which were discovered at St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kieff; 1 in Turin). This manuscript gives us, in great part, a fourth-century text of Euthalius of Sulca.
- K, or Cod. Cyprius (ninth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris), contains the Gospels.
- K2, or Cod. Mosquensis (ninth century; in Holy Synod Library, Moscow), contains Acts, Cath., and Paul. Epp.
- L, or Cod. Regius (eighth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris), contains Gospels.
- L2, or Cod. Angelicus (ninth century; in Rome), contains Acts, Cath., and Paul. Epp.
- M, or Cod. Campianus (ninth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris), contains Gospels.
- M3, or Cod. Campianus (ninth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris), contains Gospels.
- N, or Cod. Purpureus, called also Petropolitanus (sixth century), contains Gospels in silver on purple vellum. About half the manuscript is extant: 182 leaves (found in Asia Minor, 1896) are in St. Petersburg, 33 at Patmos, 6 in the Vatican, 4 in British Museum, and 2 in Vienna.
- P, or Cod. Guelferbytanus A (sixth century; Wolfenbüttel), contains Gosp. fragments.
- P2, or Cod. Porphyrianus (ninth century; in St. Petersburg), contains Acts, Cath. and Paul. Epp.
- Q, or Cod. Guelferbytanus B (fifth century; Wolfenbüttel), contains Gosp. fragments.
- R, or Cod. Nitriensis (sixth century; in British Museum, London), a palimpsest copy of Luke.
- T, or Cod. Borgianus (fifth century; in Vatican), Gr. and Sahidic fragments. One has the double-ending of Mark; another has 17 leaves of Luke and John, and a text akin to B and alpha
- Z, or Cod. Dublinensis (sixth century; in Trinity Col., Dublin), a palimpsest containing 295 verses of Matt.; text probably Egyptian, akin to aleph
- Delta, or Cod. Sangallensis (ninth or tenth century; at Saint-Gall), contains Gospels in Gr. and Lat.
- Lambda, or Cod. Rossanensis (sixth century; at Rossano, in Calabria), contains Matt. and Mark, in silver letters on purple vellum with illustrations. N, Sigma, Sigma-b, and Phi are all akin and were probably produced at Constantinople from a single ancestor.
- Sigma-b, or Cod. Sinopensis (sixth century; in Nat. Libr., Paris), consists of 43 leaves (Matt., vii-xxiv), in gold letters on purple vellum with 5 illustrations; it was bought by a French naval officer for a few francs, at Sinope, in 1899, and is called also Omicron and Hê.
- Phi, or Cod. Beratinus (sixth century; at Berat in Albania), contains Matt. and Mark.
- Beth, or Cod. Patirensis (fifth century; in the Vatican), contains Act., Cath. and Paul. Epp.
- The American manuscript of the Gospels (fifth century), found in Egypt, 1907, has not yet been published; nor have the fragments of the Pauline Epistles (sixth century) which were found at the same time.
(d) Vellum minuscules
The vast numbers of minuscule witnesses to the text of the New Testament would seem to indicate a rich field of investigation for the text-critic. The field is not so rich at all. Many of these minuscules have never been fully studies. Ninety-five per cent. of them are witnesses to the same type of text; that of the textus receptus. Only those minuscules interest the text-critic which are distinctive of or akin to one of the great uncials. Among the Gospel minuscules, according to Gregory's numeration, the type of B-aleph is seen more or less in 33; 1, 118, 131, 209; 59, 157, 431, 496, 892. The type of D is that of 235, 431, 473, 700, 1071; and of the "Ferrar group", 13, 69, 124, 346, 348, 543, 713, 788, 826, 828. Among the Acts minuscules, 31 and 61 show some kinship to B; 137, 180, 216, 224 to D. 15, 40, 83, 205, 317, 328, 329, 393 are grouped and traced to the fourth century text of Euthalius of Sulica. Among the Pauline minuscules, this same text (i.e. that of H3) is found in 81, 83, 93, 379, 381.
(e) Lectionaries
There are some 1100 manuscripts of readings from the Gospels (Evangelia or Evangeliaria) and 300 manuscripts of readings from Acts and Epistles (Praxapostoli). Although more than 100 of these lectionaries are uncials, they are of the ninth century or later. Very few of these books of the Epistles and Gospels have been critically examined. Such examination may later on serve to group the New Testament minuscules better and help to localize them.
Biblical manuscripts are far more uniform in Greek than in Latin script. Palæography divides the Greek into uncials and minuscules; the Latin into uncials, semi-uncials, capitals, minuscules and cursives. Even these divisions have subdivisions. The time, place and even monastery of a Latin manuscript may be traced by the very distinct script of its text.
(1) Old Latin
Some 40 manuscripts have preserved to us a text which antedates the translation of St. Jerome; they are designated by small letters. Unfortunately no two of these manuscripts represent to us quite the same text. Corrections introduced by scribes and the inevitable influence of the Vulgate have left it a very difficult matter to group the Old Latin manuscripts. Text-critics now agree upon an African, a European and an Italian type of text. The African text is that mentioned by Tertullian (c. 150-220) and used by St. Cyprian (c. 200-258); it is the earliest and crudest in style. The European text is less crude in style and vocabulary, and may be an entirely new translation. The Italian text is a version of the European and was revised by St. Jerome in parts of the Vulgate. The most important Old Latin manuscripts are the bilingual New Testament manuscripts D, D3, E2, E3, F3, G3, Delta.
- a, or Cod. Vercellensis (fourth century; at Vercelli), containing the Gospels.
- b, or Cod. Veronensis (fifth century; at Verona), containing Gospels on purple vellum. a and b are our chief witnesses to the European text of the Gospels.
- e, or Cod. Palatinus (fifth century; at Vienna, — one leaf is in Dublin), contains the Gosp. For Acts, e is Lat. of E2; for Paul. Epp., e is Lat. of E3.
- f, or Cod. Brixianus (sixth century; at Brescia), contains Gosp. on purple vellum; Italian type, thought by Wordsworth and White to be the best extant representative of the Old Latin text which St. Jerome used when revising the New Testament.
- ff2, or Cod. Corbeiensis (fifth century; at Paris), contains the Gospels.
- g, or Cod. Gigas (thirteenth century; at Stockholm), a complete Bible; Acts and Apoc. are in Old Latin text and are the chief representative of the European type.
- h, or Palimpsest de Fleury (fourth or fifth century; at Turin), contains Mark, vii-xvi, 8 and Matt., i-xv; earliest form of Old Latin, African type, closely akin to text used by Saint Cyprian.
- q, or Cod. Monacensis (sixth or seventh century; at Munich, contains Gospels; Italian type of text.
(2) Vulgate
It is estimated that there are more than 8000 manuscripts of the Vulgate extant. Most of these are later than the twelfth century and have very little worth for the reconstruction of the text. Tischendorf and Berger designate the chief manuscripts by abbreviations of the names: am. = Amiatinus; fu. or fuld. = Fuldensis. Wordsworth and White, in their critical edition of the Gospel and Acts (1899-1905); use Latin capitals to note the 40 manuscripts on which their text depends. Gregory (Textkritik, II, 634) numbers 2369 manuscripts. The most logical and useful grouping of these manuscripts is genealogical and geographical. The work of future critics will be to reconstruct the text by reconstructing the various types, Spanish, Italian, Irish, French, etc. The chief Vulgate manuscripts are:
- A, or Cod. Amiatinus (q.v.) (eighth century; at Florence), contains complete Bible; text probably Italian, best extant manuscript of Vulgate.
- C, or Cod. Fuldensis (A.D. 541-546; at Fulda, in Germany), a complete New Testament; Gospels are in form of Tatian's "Diatessaron". Bishop Victor of Capua found an Old Latin version of Tatian's arrangement and substituted the Vulgate for the Old Latin.
- Delta, or Cod. Dunelmensis (seventh or eighth century; in Durham Cathedral, England), Gospels; text akin to A.
- F, or Cod. Fuldensis (A.D. 541-546; at Fulda, in Germany), a complete New Testament; Gospels are in form of Tatian's "Diatessaron". Bishop Victor of Capua found an Old Latin version of Tatian's arrangement and substituted the Vulgate for the Old Latin.
- G, or Cod. Sangermanensis (ninth century; at Paris), contains the Bible. In Acts, Wordsworth uses it more than any other manuscript.
- H, or Cod. Hubertianus (ninth century; in British Museum, London), a Bible; Theodulfian type.
- theta, or Cod. Theodulfianus (ninth century; at Paris), a Bible; Theodulfian type.
- K, or Cod. Karolinus (ninth century; in British Museum, London), a Bible; Alcuin's type. See V.
- O, or Cod. Oxoniensis (seventh century; at Oxford, in Bodl.), contains Gosp.; text English, affected by Irish influences.
- O2, or Cod. Oxoniensis, or Selden Acts (eighth century; at Oxford, in Bodleian), contains Acts; Irish type.
- Q, or Cod. Kenanensis, Book of Kells (q.v.) (eighth century; in Trinity College, Dublin), contains Gosp.; Irish type.
- S, or Cod. Stonyhurstensis (seventh century; at Stonyhurst College, England), contains John; text akin to A and probably written near Durham.
- V, or Cod. Vallicellianus (ninth century; at Rome, in Vallicelliana), a Bible; Alcuin's type. See K.
- Y, or Cod. Lindisfarnensis (seventh century; in British Museum, London), Gospels. Liturgical directions in text show it is a copy of a manuscript written in Naples; text akin to A.
- Z, or Cod. Hareianus (sixth or seventh century; in Brit. Mus., London), contains Epist. and Apoc.
(1) Old Syriac (OS)
The Curetonian and Sinaitic Syriac manuscripts represent a version older than the Peshitto and bear witness to an earlier text, one closely akin to that of which D and the Old Latin are witnesses.
- The Curetonian Syriac (Syr-Cur) manuscript was discovered in 1842, among manuscripts brought to the British Museum from the monastery of S. Maria Deipara in the Nitrian desert in Egypt, and was published by Cureton in 1858. It contains five chapters of John, large portions of Matt. and Luke, and Mark, xvi, 17-20, enough to show that the last twelve verses were originally in the document.
- The Sinaitic Syriac (Syr-Sin) was found by Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, during 1892, in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. This palimpsest contains the Four Gospels in great part, though not entire; it is an earlier recension of the same version as Syr-Cur. Both are assigned to the fifth century and represent a Syriac version which cannot be later than A.D. 200.
(2) The Diatessaron
This harmony of the Gospels was written by Tatian, an Assyrian and the disciple of Justin Martyr, about A.D. 170, and was widely used in Syria. Our manuscript records are two Arabic versions, discovered one in Rome the other in Egypt, and published 1888. A Latin translation of an Armenian edition of St. Ephraem's commentary on the Diatessaron is in like manner witness to this early version of the Gospels. Scholars are inclined to make Tatian's to be the earliest Syriac translation of the Gospel.
(3) The Peshitto
The earliest manuscript of this Syriac Vulgate is a Pentateuch dated A.D. 464; this is the earliest dated Biblical manuscripts; it is in the British Museum. There are two New Testament manuscripts of the fifth century. In all, the Peshitto manuscripts number 125 of Gospels, 58 of Acts and the Catholic Epistles, and 67 of the Pauline Epistles.
(4) The Philoxenian Syriac version
The Philoxenian Syriac version of the New Testament has come down to us only in the four minor Catholic Epistles, not included in the original Peshitto, and a single manuscript of the Apoc., now at Trinity College, Dublin.
(5) The Harklean Syriac version
This version of the New Testament is represented by some 35 manuscripts dating from the seventh century and later; they show kinship with a text like to D.
(6) The Palestinian Syriac version
This version of the New Testament has reached us by lectionaries and other fragmentary manuscripts discovered within the past sixteen years. The three principal manuscripts are dated A.D. 1030, 1104, and 1118.
Armenian manuscripts date from A.D. 887, and are numerous.
(1) Sahidic
The Apocalypse is the only book of the New Testament which has come down to us complete in a single manuscript of this dialect of Upper Egypt. Many isolated fragments have of recent years been recovered by excavation in Egypt; from these it may soon be possible to reconstruct the Sahidic New Testament. The earliest fragments seem to belong to the fifth century. Some of these manuscripts are bilingual (see T of New Testament manuscripts).
(2) Boharic
This version in the dialect of Lower Egypt is well represented by manuscripts of the same character as B-aleph. The Curzon Catena is the earliest extant Boh. manuscript of the Gospels; it is dated A.D. 889 and is in the Parham Library. Others are of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. None is at all so old as the Sah. fragments.
(3) Middle Egyptian
Middle Egyptian fragments on vellum and papyrus, have been found in Fayum and near to Akhmim and to Memphis. The largest of these fragments is a British Museum sixth-century palimpsest of John, iii and iv.
HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS: STRACK AND HARKAVY, Catalog der hebr. Bibelhandschriften der kaiserlichen Bibliothek (Leipzig 1875); NEUBAUER, Facsimilies of Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1886); NEUBAUER, Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library and in the College Libraries of Oxford (Oxford, 1886); KRAFT AND DEUTSCH, Die handschriftl. hebräischen Werke der K.K. Hofbibliothek (Vienna, 1857); STEINSCHNEIDER, Die hebräisch. Handschriften der K. Hof. und Staatsbibliothek (Munich, 1895); SCHILLER-SZINESSY, Catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts preserved in the University Library (Cambridge, 1876); ASSEMANI, Bibliothecæ Apostolicæ Vaticanæ codices Orientales (Rome, 1756); MAI, Appendix to Assemani (Rome, 1831).
GREEK MANUSCRIPTS (OLD TESTAMENT): SWETE, Introduction to the O.T. in Greek; KENYON, Our Bible and the Ancient manuscripts (1898); NESTLE, Septuagintastudien (1886-1907); FIELD, Origenis Hexaplorum quæ supersunt (Oxford, 1875).
GREEK MANUSCRIPTS (NEW TESTAMENT): SCRIVENER, Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament (1894); GREGORY, Textkritik des N.T. (1900); Die Griechischen Handschriften des N.T. (1908); HARRIS, Further researches into the history of the Ferrar-group (1900).
LATIN MANUSCRIPTS: BURKITT, The Old Latin and the Itala (Cambridge, 1896); WORDSWORTH, SANDAY, AND WHITE, Old Latin Biblical Texts (Oxford, 1883-97); GREGORY, Textkritik des N.T. (1900). WORDSWORTH AND WHITE, Edition of the Vulgate (1889-1905)
SYRIAC MANUSCRIPTS: LEWIS, The Four Gospels translated from the Sinaitic Palimpsest (1894); WOODS AND GWILLIAM in Studia Biblica, vols. I and III.
COPTIC MANUSCRIPTS: CRUM, Catalogue of Coptic manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1905); Hyvernat, Etude sur les versions coptes de la Bible in Rev. Bibl. (1896).


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It is sad to see so many, myself included, who are becoming embarrassed by the word "Christian". I do not want to be lumped together with all the angry voices, protests and petitions I am seeing across our nation.
But I am not ready to give up on being called a Christian. Can we take the name of "Christian" back from the shouters and protestors?
2 Corinthians 5:14 describes our job; to let people know that God is not angry at them. We have been given the assignment of 'ministry of reconciliation'. We are here for 2 purposes as far as I can see:
- To worship God.
- To be ministers of reconciliation.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Sometimes, when we are lying in bed—after the giggles subside and our hands finally give it a rest—my girlfriend likes to joke about how video games prepared me for a life where I "go out with all the cuties."
Cuties, as in, cute people—gender doesn't matter to me. And girlfriend as in…one of my girlfriends. I'm poly—short for "polyamorous," which basically means that my partners and I are consensually not exclusive (not to be confused with "polygamy," which centers around marriage). In other words: we can date or sleep with other people, provided we talk about it with each other first. This way, we can all negotiate what we're comfortable with as well as talk about any insecurities and jealousy. They're not conventional relationships, but thanks to the level of transparency, support and understanding my dating life requires, my current relationships are definitely the best ones I've ever had.
I've been poly for a few years now, but it wasn't until recently in which I've actually meaningfully explored it. Before, poly functioned more as the understanding between my partner and I that I could have other relationships if I wanted to. Nothing beyond flings and casual encounters with other folks materialized for a couple of years, though—and so there wasn't much negotiation about what what me and my partners were comfortable with when it came to other serious relationships. There was just the transparency of who else I was casually interested in and sleeping with.
Games, along with anime, are some of the only places where I regularly see non-monogamy represented at all.
Things are different now. Two girlfriends—two people I am interested in seriously seeing in the long-term—means a lot of juggling, a lot of talking, a lot of negotiating, and a lot of compromises. We're talking like, the kind of issues and scenarios I can't really turn to Cosmo about and get shitty advice for. So this all feels new to me. Sure, I have plenty of friends who are also poly—and are also willing to offer me a lot of advice—but navigating polyamory can still feel like a minefield, even for people with experience (and even when the people involved are super loving and caring).
For example:
- When your family asks you about someone special, how do you break the fact there's more one "special person"?
- If your partner is seeing other people, how do you stop yourself from constantly comparing yourself to their other partners?
- How do you respectfully and safely suggest/carry out threesome that involves multiple girlfriends?
Discussing this sort of stuff can be a bit of a headache—there's a lot of stigma about the sort of people who gravitate toward the lifestyle, even though love is not a finite resource. And its not like most mainstream media has given me much to work with, either. In a show or movie, its perfectly plausible for someone to have strong feelings about multiple people at once—but for the sake of (a very specific type of) drama, characters are still forced to choose. Katniss from The Hunger Games struggles between Peeta and Gale. Bella from Twilight goes between Edward and Jacob. These tensions—the will they or won't they, the who will they choose— are so strong that you could almost say that monogamy is one of the biggest villains in popular media. It's kind of unfortunate—imagine how much more interesting things could be, drama-wise, if, say, Ashley didn't walk out on Shepard in Mass Effect 1 when a player suggests that maybe he shouldn't have to choose between her and Liara? I'd take that over the boring Reaper storyline any day.
Actually, it's interesting. Games, along with anime, are some of the only places where I regularly see non-monogamy represented at all. Anime has the "harem" genre, which typically means a character is surrounded by love interests. Visual novels and other games that are heavily influenced by anime sometimes provide a "harem" route for players, which is basically a playthrough in which one can have multiple romantic relationships. The thing about these depictions is that they're usually more in the realm of fantasy than they are depictions of healthy negotiated relationships. They're more interested in titillating you with the idea of a bunch of gorgeous women all fawning over you than they are in presenting you the messier, complicated reality of having multiple serious relationships.
Beyond visual novels, it's not uncommon for games that include romance to give players a chance to romantically pursue multiple people at once. Actually, thinking about it now, I almost kick myself for not realizing I was poly sooner: my antics in games over the years are always very telling.
There was this one time in Fable 2 where I set out to romance every single villager in every town. I mean, why not? I was curious if the game would let me do it. I'd spend hours going up to people and wooing them with kisses and hip thrusts, I'd spend all sorts of money on gifts and taking people out on "perfect dates," I'd pore through their preferences and try to cater to their every desire. Eventually I couldn't go into any town without having a small army of lovesick villagers asking me to take them someplace quieter, or more sweetly, asking for my hand in marriage.
I wasn't just some Don Juan, though: I was also a huge thief (of things that aren't hearts, I mean). I remember walking into a shop, intent on stealing some potions...only to have my very own loves turn against me after witnessing robbery. Even though I was carrying awesome equipment, there were so many villagers that they overpowered and killed me easily—the lesson here being, I think, that love keeps you honest. Also: don't sleep with everyone ever, because someone—likely you—is bound to get hurt. And: don't steal stuff, you jerk.
There was also that one time I played through Persona 4, the role-playing dungeon crawler with some life-sim elements. My goal: romance everyone. Natch. The thing about Persona is that you have to choose how you spend your time wisely—some characters can only hang out with you on certain days. Scheduling can become a slight nightmare when you're trying to juggle twelve different people, some of which will want to hang out on the same day as someone else—and you can only do one thing outside of school every day. It's kind of similar to real life, actually, except that in my case, you have to substitute "school" with "a job."
On top of forming friendships and romances, you also have to make sure your character has a part-time job and does extracurricular activities—you know, so you can have a well-rounded life—and you also have to clear dungeons and save the world. No biggie, but choices must be made. I was so dedicated to making it work, I made a chart that detailed the perfect schedule in which I managed to keep everyone happy. I don't even keep a planner in real life, but that's how important having a billion girlfriends was to me, apparently. PRIORITIES.
The thing about relationships in Persona 4 is that, although it lets you romance everyone of the opposite sex, all the characters act as if you're exclusive with them—as if they're your one and only true love. That dishonest premise kind of makes you an asshole if you choose to not remain true to a character. Thing is, even if you're not inclined toward non-monogamy, many of us do have the compulsion to see everything we can while playing a game. Why replay a 70+ hour game to see the different romances available to you when you can get them all at once, even though the choice is kind of gross?
In Persona 3, by contrast, it wasn't so easy to swing a ridiculously active love life. Once you fully romanced a character, if they ever found out about someone else, the character would get mad at you. You'd kind of have to beg and promise you'd be a better partner to get them back. Characters could find out you were cheating on them in Persona 4, but all it meant was some kind of silly scenes where a girlfriend would start bickering with another girlfriend. Despite these scenes, your relationship with either girl was never impacted—a far cry from the intense conversations you might have with a partner about their feelings about another partner in real life.
Games like to make you choose a single partner, unfortunately.
More often, though, games like to make you choose a single partner. You pair characters together for long enough in Fire Emblem: Awakening, for example, and they can get married—which closes them off from any other relationships with other people. It's kind of a bummer, since the romance portions are the best parts of the game if you ask me.
Sometimes, you can work through these sorts of limitations: technically you're not supposed to be able to fully romance more than one character in franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age in a single playthrough. Not without doing some horribly convoluted stuff first, though—like making sure you do quests in a certain order, making sure you talk to people at very specific times and you answer in very specific ways. I'm not even sure you're supposed to be able to have, say, both Morrigan and Lelianna completely in love with you in Dragon Age, but there is a way to do it!
It would be nice to not have to consult a FAQ to figure out how to honestly and respectfully romance more than one character in a way that seems more mature than the gross, underdeveloped fantasies of a 13 year old boy. This isn't a call for the catering of a small minority of people who have a certain lifestyle, to be clear. It's just that stuff outside of non-monogamy can present interesting situations for people to safely explore, and if games really pride themselves in interactivity, providing another choice for someone can only be a boon, right? And lets not pretend like fandoms on Tumblr don't already make ridiculous saucy love triangles/octagons/pentagons/etc among characters.
Real people aren't machines you can insert kindness coins into until they're in love with you.
Based on what they've provided so far, though, I wouldn't say games have taught me much that is practical about how to approach polyamorous relationships...not beyond the idea that scheduling can be really hard sometimes. Sure, I'm happy that games are sliiiightly better than other media when it comes to depicting stuff outside of monogamy, but heck, games aren't very good at depicting monogamous relationships either. To loosely quote a friend, real people aren't machines you can insert kindness coins into until they're in love with you, like you typically can in games. And I don't have a FAQ to consult when I have to figure out how to tell my girlfriend that the idea of her sleeping with a mutual friend makes me feel weird, or a guide on how to talk to my other girlfriend about my fears that she might like her other girlfriend more than me.
And you know what? I like it this way, even though I don't really know what I'm doing. I don't have scripts to follow about how relationships are "supposed" to work, I can't fall back on bad habits learned from horrible advice columns. In a good poly relationship, as far as I'm concerned (and mind that not all poly relationships work the same!), nothing is unspoken. I have to talk it out every time, no matter how hard or scary it to admit to insecurities, jealousies and vulnerabilities. And that's the way it should be, really.


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Vancouver Island Regional Library invites people to join national reading campaign
Vancouver Island Regional Library urges you to join them in supporting the National Reading Campaign and its 'What did you read today?' campaign.
The campaign, an unprecedented coalition of librarians, educators, booksellers, publishers, readers and writers will help bring the joy of reading to Canadians.
"What did you read today?" is a public awareness campaign created to help make reading a national priority. It's being launched with a pair of fun contests: one for the general public and one for kids. Both contests run until Dec. 31. Enter at www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca.
Since 2008, the National Reading Campaign has brought together people from every region of Canada who are concerned about Canada's changing reading habits.
Through reading summits, the development of a National Reading Plan, a public awareness campaign and many other efforts, the National Reading Campaign aims to make reading a national priority, because when Canada reads, Canada grows.
Visit www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca to learn more.
The VIRL is the fourth largest library system in B.C. They serve over 430,000 people on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii and Bella Coola on the Central Coast through 38 branch libraries, a virtual branch, and a books by mail service.


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Re: JLink : JavaNew Failure
Hello, David, and Todd, Thank you very much for the pointer! I made the constructor public now, but it still didnt' work, so perhaps I need to also make the class public.. I am a little bit confused. I didn't know that I would need public in the class definition too. BUT THANKS! Kay


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The reading journal to record information about the books you read such as author, title, your recommendation, favorite characters, plot and other items. It even has a place to record who you loaned it to. Very popular with book clubs! 7.5" x 9" inches. 200 pages. Made in the U.S.A.
- Item #: 1-JU-29


text:
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No Reviews


text:
Elder Scrolls Online is set to rock the world of MMORPGs, establishing a new standard and breaking many of the obsolete traditions of current MMOs. Here is a list of ten reasons why I think ESO will be something special.
One of the frustrating things about PvP is that players who would like to do some, but not a lot, are always outmatched by players with PvP specific gear. In Elder Scrolls Online there will be no PvP specific gear, just gear. You can wear whatever you want, whether you found it in a dungeon or crafted it, and you'll be on the same level playing field as everyone else.
Dungeons in Elder Scrolls Online are something to get excited about: not only will they be filled with terrifying monsters, deadly traps and epic loot, similar to those found in previous TES games, but once you finish one you'll be able to return to it to continue its story. In the dungeon's second 'level' you may encounter new monsters and perils that were previously locked out, including new areas.
Skyrim is one of the greatest RPGs ever made, however in the roleplaying choices aspect, it isn't the best, with your choices not really having much impact on the world. In Elder Scrolls Online, your choices will affect the world around you. What's even better though, is that when playing with friends, whatever choice you make will only play out on your screen. If your friend makes a different choice, the result will be different for him or her but you won't see it. This is excellent because it means that rather than having to vote or make a consensus each player can make their own choices without affecting anyone else.
Post-launch, the entire continent of Tamriel will be available to explore: so not just Morrowind, Cyrodiil or Skyrim like in the single player Elder Scrolls titles, but every province. In addition, the provinces will be bigger than their previous incarnations, so for example, Skyrim will be far bigger than it was in TES V: Skyrim. That is a huge world to explore, with hundreds of hours of gameplay.
Character creation is a very important part of roleplaying games because your character represents you, it's your virtual self in the world. I personally base my character, in every RPG I play, off Aefion, my own fictional character. So I'm very conscious about the way he looks, I want him to look the best that he can be. Even if I'm playing in First Person Perspective, I love to take screenshots, and in ESO other people will be seeing me. So a robust character creation screen is a must. ESO will have this, with a whole multitude of options. You can check out the recently released character creation video here: http://youtu.be/Qr4KnUSGOtI
Something I hate about MMORPGs is the large amount of icons, text and other details clogging up the screen. It really is an immersion breaker, and since MMOs are usually centred around massive worlds of larger size than in other genres, having more icons onscreen undermines the immersion. Piano key action bars are frankly, quite ridiculous, especially when most of those skills hardly ever get used. I would rather have a completely minimalistic user interface, with a select bunch of skills that I can swap in and out depending on who I'm playing with or what dungeon I'm exploring. I would also like my UI to fade away when not in use. Elder Scrolls Online provides all this.
There is something incredibly immersion-breaking about seeing yourself in an rpg, running around like as if you are controlling a person from behind. First person perspective in First Person Shooters and in Elder Scrolls games particularly, enhances the experience massively because you see a view far more similar to real life than when playing in 3rd person. When you look in front of you, you see an awesome, snow-clad mountain or a vast, forest-filled valley instead of your own butt. ESO will come shipped with First Person Perspective, and while in PvP it will probably be favourable to use 3rd person due to the situational awareness, for questing with your friends or on your own out in the wilderness first person will immersive you in the world much more.
[ 3: 50++ ]
Playing WoW, I always thought about making an Alliance character, purely to experience all the quests and zones that weren't really available to me as a Horde player. Now, to those of you who have played WoW, just imagine if, once you reached the level cap, you could do all the Alliance quests in the entire game (ruling out racial starting zones), with your Horde character? That would be massive, a huge amount of new content. That's basically what you'll be able to do in Elder Scrolls Online. Oh and there are two other factions, not just one. Once you've hit the level cap, feel free to head on over to another faction's zone, and do all their quests. And these are fully voice acted quests not agonizing quests that involve reading walls of text.
While I haven't had the opportunity to play Elder Scrolls Online myself yet, many of the accounts I have read state that the game plays like Skyrim. This to me is very promising, as this means the game will play more like an action game than a traditional MMORPG. Instead of staring at cooldowns on your action bar in clunky, almost turn-based combat system, Skyrim has excellent, action combat that uses a reticule instead of tab-targeting and uses the mouse in an intelligent way for attacks instead of the redundant system of clicking to move the camera.
So what's the number one reason why I am looking forward to Elder Scrolls Online? I love Skyrim, it's so vast and detailed, there are so many adventures to be had, but I always thought wouldn't it be really cool to have multiplayer. Now, I know TES games are traditionally single player games, and always will be, going along with Todd Howard's epic vision. But it still would be very awesome to have one Elder Scrolls game in which you could share this amazing, beautiful world with your friends, and go on adventures with them in this virtual world. When I was first introduced to MMORPGS I was blown away by the epic experience of being able to do that, to be able to actually step out on my own adventures with my close friends, people I know and trust and care about in real life. So to have adventures with these people in a fantasy setting was kind of like a dream come true. This, combined with the fact that Elder Scrolls Online is set in my favourite fictional universe, means it's the number one reason why ESO will rock.
[ Further Reading ]
Why Should I Quit My MMO for ESO?
The Story of Elder Scrolls Online
Is Subscription The Right Choice For Elder Scrolls Online?
Andy Lex Bain is a 31 year old writer who resides in Tasmania. He enjoys writing, reading, writing video game reviews, gaming, writing fiendish campaigns for his roleplaying club "The Blades of Valour", cosplaying, bushwalking and watching movies, DVDs and anime. He aspires to be a full-time published author and basically spends his days slaving away at his computer, ShadowLord.
Rook: | ||
Great Review m8.
If you have time, we're curious as to what guild you're with? We have an interview this weekend with UnrealAussies, and would like to include more Oceanic Guilds in the future. http://www.twitch.tv/elder_scrolls_ online |
1197 days ago |


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Vastly different from the Southern regions of Serbia, the semi-autonomous province of Vojvodina is more influenced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire than the Ottomans who ruled the more Southerly parts. This is obviously clear in the architecture as well as the attitudes of the people which are more Western-looking. The beautiful towns of Novi Sad and Subotica look and feel more like Central European towns that might be more at home in Hungary.
Tour Highlights: - Café culture of modern Belgrade - Vast flatlands and plains - Picture postcard villages - Novi Sad - the North`s crown jewel - Hungarian influences in Subotica - Have lunch on a traditional farm. Tour Itinerary: Day 1: Pick up at airport, transfer to boat for a relaxing lunch on the River Danube. Drive to hotel, refresh and rest for an hour. Walking tour of cosmopolitan Belgrade, ending in the Kalemegdan area. Enjoy Serbian cuisine in ambient restaurant. Return to hotel. Overnight in Belgrade. Meal plan: L. Day 2: Breakfast, then drive to the picturesque village of Sremski Karlovici. Wander the streets, and stop off for lunch. Head on to Northern Serbia`s fairytale city, Novi Sad. Absorb the multicultural influences and history of this enchanting city. Visit the impressive Petrovaradin fort. Rest of afternoon free to explore. Overnight in Novi Sad. Meal plan: B, L. Day 3: Breakfast. Continue with short tour of Novi Sad and then move on to Subotica, close to the Hungarian border. Enjoy lunch in a salas - sample Hungarian-style cuisine (goulash, paprika) in these traditional farm estates. Explore the brightly coloured village of Subotica and note the Hungarian architecture. Evening free to relax. Overnight in Subotica. Meal plan: B, L. Day 4: Early breakfast. Drive through the flatland of Northern Serbia back to Belgrade for return flight. Meal plan: B. Notes: Prices:
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I don't like this Handsbro benching at all. He's better than Hayes
Chuck Hayes has been fantastic this half, and great 24 seconds by Hansbro haha.
Any news on Lowry?
wow, CHUCK HAYES half time interview, I didn't think i'd see this.
Where the hell is this 5th best defense? Seems like every game the opposition is putting up 50+ points at the half.
Let's hope Kyle is all right.
lowry injured...
Live. Breath. Sleep. Raptors
Landry doesn't even get a mic.
Can someone give me a quick review of the first half? I just got home to watch.
I know this may be a bit controversial but I think the Raptors have proven that they're the best team in the NBA from Canada
-random Facebook user. 2016
The fact that the update is taking so long isn't a good sign. Also if Lowry can't play this just shows you the pain threshold Amir has. Amir literally rolls his ankle just like Lowry did 6-8 times a season and he never sits out. It's crazy.
Lowry will return. Thank. The. Lord.
Twitter - @thekid_it
Kyle will return tonight!
DD really killed us when he tried this...so many turnovers or plays that ended in absolutely nothing. Luckily Amir and Vasquez didn't really miss at all
Ya icing Ross till the 4 minute mark was not a good idea...
He has his good games...but they are mostly this bad
With Amir turning his ankle slightly in the firs half I would like to see some minutes thrown Tylers way to preserve them ankles for the playoffs
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Get DVD Talk Feeds
Disneynature has taken on "Earth" and "Oceans" with reasonable box office success, but a story was clearly missing, something substantial to support the glorious images of life unleashed. "African Cats" attempts to rectify the situation by assigning personalities to an assortment of wild creatures, manufacturing a human drama to compliment the animal one. Thankfully, the producers stopped at exaggerated narration from Samuel L. Jackson, turning down the opportunity to have these regal creatures of Africa speak or possibly rap.
"African Cats" takes cameras deep into the heart of a Kenyan wildlife preserve, where a crocodile-infested river divides a family of cheetahs from a pride of lions. Here, the sides do their best to survive the elements, relying on their instincts to hunt for food and protect their young from predators, making a home for themselves in a dangerous environment. We meet Fang, an established lion leader who wears his broken tooth like a badge of honor; Sita, a cheetah mother desperate to keep her cubs alive while roaming the land; and Layla, a weary lioness facing a barrage of injuries that threaten the safety of her daughter, Mara. With the area in constant turmoil, the cats struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones, prowling the savanna with instinctual might.
Noted yeller Jackson is a voice of "African Cats," and it's a rich, expressive effort of narration that elevates the viewing experience, pulling the audience into the instability of the region. Instead of dryly recounting the on-screen action, Jackson imparts an energetic verbal accompaniment, plowing into the inner workings of the animals, expressing their thoughts and fears. The actor slaps a sense of life into fundamental animal behaviors, eagerly articulating weary and playful souls, incoming threat, and growly positions of dominance. He's great fun to listen to.
Instead of an episodic look at nature in motion, the producers have elected a dramatic route for "African Cats," and the effect works for this specific area of animal entanglement. Turning plays for power and survival into intimate drama (most celebrating the power of motherhood), the film creates a comforting tone of comprehension, though something primal is lost in the translation. The personification of the cats robs the film of vigorous wildlife investigation, simplifying complex sounds and glares to understandable actions the whole family can enjoy. Perhaps it's not perfect science, respectful of essential circle of life study, but the overall effect creates a cinematic determination the feature wouldn't otherwise enjoy.
Holding up their side of the bargain, directors Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey provide stunning images of Kenyan expanse, sweeping across the reserve to capture sumptuous footage of geography and animal antics. The filmmakers provide the basics of stalking, killing (though graphic content is toned down), and wrestling, while also sneaking in close to the subjects, observing the subtle acts of communication. The picture is marvelously shot, as to be expected from a nature film, yet "African Cats" makes a fantastic impression with its ease of proximity, offering a feast of events with these majestic creatures.


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How does one, day in and day out, cope and continue to cope with a chronic disease such as diabetes? Is there ever a halcyon time? "Halcyon" comes from a bird identified with the kingfisher, and in an ancient legend it nested at sea during winter solstice and just by its very presence calmed the waves during incubation. Does it seem that there are periods when managing your diabetes is easier than usual, and other times it seems like no matter what you do the blood sugars are out of control?
I see in my practice some people who never find a halcyon period in coping with their diabetes. We all know that everyone has different coping skills, and I've seen individuals with diabetes who have great coping skills. To them, diabetes is little more than an inconvenience.
What are good coping skills and how do we develop them? Try these tips:
Have you found any coping skills that work for you in managing your diabetes? Please share.
Sara J. Carlson, R.N., C.D.E.
Peggy Moreland, R.N., C.D.E.
Original article: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/expert-blog/managing-diabetes/BGP-20056585


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Costa Rica Fun & Adrenaline
Package Tour 7 Day
7 Day Pure Fun & Adrenaline Package Tour,
Monteverde, Arenal and Samara Beach Costa Rica
Where: Arenal Volcano, Monteverde and Samara Beach
Monteverde, Arenal Volcano and Samara Beach - 7 Day Pure Fun and Adrenaline Package in Costa Rica!
7 days and 7 nights in a package vacation that will cover all the highlight in this fun-packed adventure package exploring the beautiful areas of Monteverde, Arenal Volcano and finally relaxing on a white-sanded beach at Playa Samara. Also included is your hotel in San Jose!
Day 1.
Private Transport from San Jose or Liberia to Arenal. Relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery of tropical mountains and farms as you drive to the Arenal region. Our driver will greet you at the airport or your hotel and help you with your luggage, and be happy to stop for bathroom, food or photo breaks along the way.
1.30pm. Volcano Hike and Baldi Hot Springs. Arenal Volcano Hike:Natural History Tour
A visit to Costa Rica is not complete without seeing Arenal's famous volcano! Hike through lush rainforest with an experienced naturalist, bilingual guide who will point out flora and fauna in the primary and secondary rainforest that lines the base of the Arenal Volcano. You'll then arrive at the observation point - the closest you can get to the base of Arenal Volcano . At sunset the view becomes even more awesome. Note though.. that it is more than 6 years since lava activity has been seen, sometimes you can still hear it rumbling. However, tours are still very interesting as you learn about the history of this impressive volcano!
After the night hike we will take you to Baldi Hot Springs where you can soak any aches away from the past few day's activities. Located near La Fortuna, these Arenal hot springs is a place where you can really relax and pamper yourself. Baldi's has a series of pools and hot springs fed by Arenal Volcano which are set amid glorious tropical gardens so that you can relax in the water, while enjoying the surroundings. The pools vary in temperature, from the temperature of a swimming pool to the warmest at around 39C (102F). It's a place where, on a clear night, you can sit in a warm pool, sipping the cocktail of your choice.
NOTE: BALDI HAS QUITE A PARTY ATMOSPHERE SOMETIMES SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE A QUIETER HOT SPRINGS WE CAN UPGRADE THIS TO ANOTHER HOT SPRINGS (this will have an extra cost)
You might also decide to pamper your body by opting for one of the many body treatments which are available such as massage, reflexology, body polish, volcanic mud wraps and facials (these are not included on the tour).
Includes: bilingual guide, transportation, entrance to private reserve and volcano viewpoint with beverages. Entrance to Baldi Hot Springs.
Day 2.
8.30am Whitewater Rafting. The hottest full day white water rafting trip in the country on the mighty Rio Toro or the Rio Sarapaqui! 2-3 hours of non-stop whitewater action. Both river canyons have exotic wildlife and lots of rapids! The tour is run by the very experienced and safety-conscious, Desafo Adventure Company. You will departs from your hotel at 8:30am or so, and return around 4:00 pm. The tour includes a tropical fruit fiesta and delicious 'casado' lunch. If the river is too high we have alternative rivers to choose from and for those who like a little less action there is the option of a the Class 2/ 3 Rio Balsa or the half-day Safari Float, which is a gentle float down a Class 1 river, with opportunities to see monkeys and other wildlife.
Day 3
7.30am Lost Canyon Adventures Canyoneering!
Canyoneering (Rappelling Down Tropical Waterfalls)
Imagine yourself in the midst of the cloud forest at the top of a series of tropical waterfalls. Prepare to get wet as our guides put you into your safety harnesses and assist you as you rappel through a magical canyon full of waterfalls with surprises at each step. There are 8 tropical waterfalls of which 5 you repel down.
Of for those who want a little less adventure you can opt for a walk to the La Fortuna Waterfall. This is an opportunity to swim in the refreshing waters of the famous La Fortuna falls. You'll be picked up after breakfast and taken to the entrance where a 40 minute descent will bring you to the base of the waterfalls. You'll have time to relax and swim before beginning the climb back up. After the visit we'll stop for a short while at the hotel to freshen up, collect your bags and have something to eat before etting off back to San Jose (or you can opt for a shuttle bus to one of the main beaches).
2.30pm In the afternoon you will travel by what is locally known as "taxi-boat-taxi". This is a method of getting from La Fortuna to Monteverde to and takes about 3-4 hours and involves the following:
- 25 minutes microbus transport from your hotel in La Fortuna to Arenal Dam - 30-minute boat ride on beautiful Arenal Lake at the foot of the volcano- 1.5-hour microbus ride from Arenal Lake to Monteverde
Day 4. Today we do the canopy tour (or ziplining) in the famous area of the Cloud Forests of Monteverde! You have two great choices!
Option One
Selvatura Canopy Tour + Hanging Bridges. Today you will have a chance to enjoy the forest from a whole different perspective, high in the canopy of the cloud forest. It is a private park located near the Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Monteverde where you can do the Monteverde Canopy tour, one of the most thrilling and safest adventures in Costa Rica. The canopy tour is entirely built inside virgin and secondary cloud forest with a total of 15 ziplines and 18 platforms. Plus one amazing (and optional) tarzan swing! Visitors will travel between 2 miles of cables attached by a secure harness and a maximum weight support pulleys plus other security gear to ensure safety. At all times guides will assist you on the tour. The tour takes about 2.5 hours.
Afterwards you can do the canopy walkways which are a series of suspended bridges, high in the canopy of the rain forest connected by hiking trails that wind between the bridges. In total, these trails cover 3.3km. There are eight different bridges which have lengths and heights that vary between 50 to 170m long and 12 and 60m high.. Every bridge is 1.5m wide and has a capacity for 60 people. The hanging bridges are designed for people of every age and reasonable physical condition. The duration of the tour is usually about 1.5 hours.
Option Two
Option 2 - Skytrek
2.30pm Skytram and Skytrek Monteverde. This great option consists of a tram (cable car) ride to get you all the way up to the ziplines with fantastic views of the cloud forests and surrounding countryside with plenty of time for extraordinary photos! The cable car transport means you do little hiking to get up to and between the ziplines. This way you can concentrate on the thrills of the canopy without lugging your equipment from platform to platform like other canopy tours.
There are currently ten zip line cables and they range in height from 40 meters to 100 meters and in length from 100 meters to 750 meters! No hanging bridges on this tour but you have the tram instead!
Now you have a choice... you have time to do another activity such as a coffee tour or local horse riding or any other activity but this would mean you would get to Samara late.
pm Private Transport from Monteverde to Samara Beach
The small town of Samara is located in the Guanacaste region and lies at the foot of a steep hill, with the main road running straight through the center and ending at the beach. Samara is a thriving fishing and farming community as well as a beach resort.
The beach is located in an attractive moon shaped bay about 4kms long, with a white-sanded beach fringed by coconut palms. It's considered one of the safest beaches in Costa Rica with it's shallow, gentle waters protected by coral reefs. To the south of the bay there is a picturesque wooded island called Isla Chora. Travelling away from the beach Sámara is surrounded by primary and secondary forest, home to a variety of wildlife, including monkeys, toucans, iguanas and parrots.
Day 5.
Snorkeling by Sea Kayak Island Chora, Samara Beach - Explore the 'Rainforests of the Sea'!
The kayaking tour is 4 hours along the route in front of the coast line of Samara Beach to the Island Chora (you can also do this by boat and the tour is shorter and only 2.5 hours). Each kayak is for two people and includes includes water, guides and fresh fruit.
You will explore the coral reefs around the island and be amazed at the variety of colorful sea life. Year-round the seas in Samara are pleasantly warm and calm enough to allow safe observations of the underwater ecosystems. There will be an opportunity to walk around the pure white sands of Island Chora or relax whilst watching to the many sea birds attracted to the island.
Note This is laid-back tour with local beach guides (not the sophisticated guides of Desafio!). Saying that ….. the tour is enjoyable and a wonderful way of seeing the coast!
Day 6.
am In the morning you have a chance to experience Stand Up Paddling!
Get Ready to "Walk on Water!" Try the newest and easiest paddle sport... ever!
Stand Up Paddle (or SUP, as it's called for short) has its roots in ancient Polynesia and looks exactly as it sounds: you stand up on a large, wide, super buoyant surfboard and paddle yourself forward with a long paddle. Be a part of this exciting new trend and learn how to SUP and take a SUP class with our Desafío Adventure Company.
The skills you learn in Costa Rica can be applied to the sport back home after your vacation. It's a great workout for your core, builds balance and is less daunting and more consistent than regular surfing.
Day 7
Private Transport Samara to San Jose Samara beach is about a 4.5 hour drive to San Jose. Our driver will be happy to stop long the way for a snack/bathroom. Let us know what time you would like to leave.
We will take you to your hotel in San Jose (hotel included)
Arenal Volcano Hotels: 2 nights (note that we can upgrade this hotel to any hotel you like)
Located on the edge of the town La Fortuna, Hotel San Bosco is a good-sized hotel with about 34 rooms. Rooms are very comfortable with A/C, private bathrooms with plenty of hot water and cable television There is a swimming pool, 2 jacuzzis and some gym equipment. While lava flow is very rarely seen from La Fortuna, the volcano is plainly visible from the hotel San Bosco on a clear day.
NOTE FOR AN EXTRA COST WE CAN UPGRADE THE HOTELS (we use a variety of hotels such as Volcano Lodge, Arenal Paraiso. Los Lagos, Hotel Manoa etc)
Monteverde Hotels: 1 night.
In Monteverde we use Hotel Rustic Lodge whenever possible. Small, charming bed and breakfast It is ideally located in residential area a few minutes walk from Santa Elena village in Monteverde, where hotels, stores and banks are located.
The hotel offers very comfortable rooms with private bathroom. Breakfast is included in the package.
We also can use other hotels, such as Hotel Belmar, Monteverde Country Lodge, Fonda Vela, Poco a Poco, Rustic Lodge (just let us know!)
Samara Hotels: 3 nights NOTE FOR AN EXTRA COST WE CAN UPGRADE THE HOTELS
We use hotels Giada, Hotel Belvedere and Sol Samara plus we can quote for other hotels of your choice.
Hotel Giada is very pretty and 5 minutes walk to the beach and is in central Samara. Sol Samara is 100 meters away and in a much quiter location up the beach. A quick taxi ride to the center or if you walk along the beach, about 20 minutes.
Hotel Giada
Hotel Giada, Samara Beach is located 5 minutes walk to the beautiful white-sanded beach of Samara. The hotel is set back a little from the main street and conveniently near shops and restaurants.
The hotel has 24 comfortable rooms decorated in a tropical style surrounding a nice pool. Each room has a/c, ceiling fans, cable tv, private bath and balcony. Breakfast is included and the hotel has a pizza restaurant and small bar.
Hotel Belvedere
Hotel Belvedere is less than a 5 minute walk to the beach in a nice and quiet location. The Beleverde hotel has 22 comfortable and pretty rooms plus 2 fully-equipped apartments. All rooms have one double bed and one single bed, but is it possible to put an extra bed in the rooms.
Each room has free Wi-Fi Access, fridge, A/C, cable TV, coffeemaker, security safe and private bathroom with hot shower. Also, the hotel has two pools, a nice sitting area and laundry service.
The apartments are equipped with complete kitchens, living rooms with sofa bed, separate bedrooms and private bathrooms. They are fully supplied and suitable for families, or guests who want to cook their own meals.
Breakfast is served is the hotel restaurant where you can enjoy a great view of the ocean.
Hotel Sol Samara
Hotel Sol Samara is located 100m from the beautiful white-sanded beaches of Samara! The hotel is conveniently, not too far from banks, shops and restaurants. The hotel has a very small swimming pool and garden area to relax, 24 hours security, plus a casual restaurant and bar. Breakfast is included in the package.
Rooms have: A/C, Cable TV, Safety Box, Hair Dryer, Mini-refrigerator and Wireless Internet
San Jose Hotel: 1 Night
Hotel Los Volcanes is a small B&B with 15 rooms, located in Alajuela, San Jose just a few minutes taxi ride from the main international airport in San Jose Costa Rica (Juan Santamaria Airport - SJO). The hotel is a popular choice due to its proximity to the airport and reasonable prices. Hotel Los Volcanes is safe and comfortable and walking distance to many restuarants and stores in Alajuela. There is a large private patio area in the back to relax and the hotel offers free internet.
Breakfast and taxi to the airport is included in the morning.
Please let us know if you need our help. email@example.com. Or skype us on monteverde.tours
Minimum 2 people (Double occupancy): $1129 per person (package price valid up to 14th Dec 2017*)
Dates of trip: We can schedule dates by request.
Included on Trip: All accommodation, all transport, all tours in the itinerary, all breakfasts (using the hotels shown in outlined package) and 2 lunches plus experienced and friendly guides ,
Not Included: Flights to Costa Rica, evening meals and some lunches, optional tours or transportation to other places not included in the schedule
What to Bring: T-shirts, shorts, long pants for riding, sweater or light jacket, sandals, light hiking boots, rain jacket, sun screen, insect repellant, any personal medication, swimming wear, towel, riding hat if you want one (they are not compulsory in Costa Rica), traveler's insurance (to include white-water rafting and horse riding), full passport (a driving license is not sufficient), traveler's checks and a credit card (VISA, other cards are difficult to use in Monteverde).
NOTE: Adventure tours such as whitewater rafting, horse riding, kayaking, canyoneering and hiking require physical effort. Clients should be in good condition. For client safety and enjoyment, Desafio Adventure Company reserves the right to offer a substitution, postpone, change or cancel any tour due to unfavorable conditions. Full refund is given if (on rare occasion) a tour is cancelled. Desafio Adventure Company and its affiliates are not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged items.


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©2003 Laurie Thompson; (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
"Bad job of translation!"
The person who translated this Mankell novel did him no favors. Poor word choices and an obsessive dedication to word-for-word translation rendered the dialogue wooden and the narrative ponderous. Certainly a good translator will capture the culture differences reflected in the original language and recreate the Swedish forthrightness, introspection, and coolness, but this translation left the reader nothing to work with and flattened an otherwise entertaining read.
"Good, but Author Has Better"
This is a very good read of a good, but not great book. The story is gripping although the main character gets a bit whiny. While his self-pity and self-adsorption were key components of the character, Mankell could have been a little more subtle. After a few hours you just want to slap him. The reader does a good job of bringing the story to life and the story (whininess notwithstanding) keeps your interest. The book defintiely plays to Scandanavian paranoias that seem a bit less shocking in translation. I liked the book without loving it. The author has done better.
"Good history, great writing"
Although the Nazis called themselves National Socialists they were the opposite: fascists.
On the political spectrum fascists would be considered "extreme right", socialists "far left", and communists "extreme left". Mankell knows his history.
I love Mankell's novels precisely because of the dark Scandinavian mood. Kurt Wallander, the main character in many of his books, is a haunting portrait of a detective in his 50s who is questioning his life, his work, and the personal price it has extracted. He feels a duty to society to take on the difficult, exhausting, and grisly task of solving murders. He worries about what may be the breakdown of modern society and he is not sure his work has any measurable effect. His country is coping with major societal shifts resulting from the dissolution of the USSR, immigration, and globalization. His loneliness and depression are palpable yet he yearns for hope, meaning, and connection. I come away with a respect for the emotional honesty of a character that thinks and feels rather some two dimensional "shoot 'em up" type hero. I wonder about the people who tackle these issues in real life and what we ask of them.
Stefan Lindman, the protagonist in this book, is facing somewhat similar personal issues because of the possibility of death but he can bounce back more easily because of his relative youth. He has to grapple with evil, past and present, memory, retribution, and forgiveness. I find Wallander a more compelling character but I will take Mankell's writing however I can get it. Paradoxically, when I finish these books I feel rejuvenated and grateful for my life.
If you enjoy these books you may also like The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson.
Henning Mankell is just one of the best detective writers in the genre. This book is exceptional. The main character isn't quite as fascinating as Kurt Wallander, but he is fascinating for his own reasons. From the tension of a human trying to figure out his own life while solving crimes, to the horrific nature of the crimes and the incredible stories behind them, this is just worth the read.
Mankell's new hero is troubled, flawed, likable, and at times not very nice. The villain is sympathetic, and all the side characters have their own flaws and virtues. There are almost no points where it feels like the writer is padding the story just to make it longer. It's a well-told story with excellent characters and a disturbing premise.
The translation seems to have been more for the UK's version of English than the US's, but anyone who watched Harry Potter will follow it. There are some places a phrase sounds awkwardly translated. Not enough to distract, but enough to notice.
Overall, I love this writer and this book.
I love to read books set in interesting places or historical settings. I especially love mysteries and thrillers.
"Just Mediocre"
I enjoy the Wallender series by Mr. Mankell, but this one introduced a new lead character named Lindman. Overall, the audio book just wasn't interesting enough for 13+ hours. I actually dozed off a few times while listening to the book and didn't bother to go back to listen to what I missed. It ended up not mattering at all. There is a lot of repetition and scenes that go on and on with little information. Lindman, a visiting policeman, is interested in his former co-worker's murder. He is supposed to be helping the local detective, but doesn't tell the detective all the information he discovers. His justifications for holding back information are strange. Lots of coincidences happen and I see clues that the detectives ignore.
Unfortunately, the narration was only acceptable. It was more of a monotone reading instead of a performance. There was no change of voice for different characters, male or female. The strange choice of words appears to be a very bad translation of some parts of the book.
There was some interesting history about Sweden's participation in WWII. In the future, I will make sure my next choice of a Mankell book is from the Wallender series.
I am a 67 year old psychologist. I have been married for 28 years, with two sons who are 27 and 24. I love listening to the books.
"Plodding. Ponderous. Heavy. Slow."
This book is about two murders. They happen in Sweden. The people have Swedish names. The places have Swedish names. One dog is gutted. Another disappears. One detective thinks. Another detective thinks. Mr. Gardner reads. People drive places. It is cold. An old man who dances with a doll dies. Another who plays the violin dies. Decades go by, while you are listening. You wait for something interesting to happen. It does not. There is an attempt to tell a story about the Nazi years. Some people are nice. Some are not. You have no desire to visit Sweden, if this is what it's like. They do make good cars. Mr. Mankell has written good books. This is not one of them. You might fall asleep while listening to this. You could sleep eight hours, wake up, and not have missed anything.
"Don't bother"
Maybe it's because I am an historian who teaches about the Holocaust, but I am tired of novels with preposterously unreal premises about Jews who were protected by Nazis. A plot less insulting to my reason might have made up for the absence of Wallander. The reader was OK - not as good as Dick Hill. He needs some work on Swedish pronunciation, I think.
"I was disappointed"
I agree with a previous reviewer who suggested that a better translation would have helped. It felt literal and stilted at times. I'm a fan of Mankell and I had a hard time believing he wrote this book.
The pacing felt slow and repetitive. I kept listening, assuming things would pick up; alas, it was not to be, and at the end I was mad at myself for sticking with it.
The narrator had what I would describe as a "dry" voice. Combined with the slow story, it made for a dreary experience.
I enjoy Scandinavian mystery and crime authors like Asa Larsson, Helene Tursten, Jo Nesbo, Karin Fossum and Amaaldur Indridason just to name a few.
"The best of Mankell"
I have spent a lot of time with Henning Mankell and his characters and I think this is his best story. I have listened to this book a number of times and will again. If you enjoy Swedish stories, sit back and get ready for a complex piece of work..
Love having someone read me a story. Fires in the hearth, rain on the roof, sunny days and surf. Good friends, good food and J S Bach.
"great choice in Grover Gardner as narrator"
Like others I have loved Mankell's other stories with Sean Barrett reading. Giving a different voice to narrate 'The Return of the Dancing Master' was like tasting a new wine expecting it to be a still wine and finding a delightful spritzig. Now Grover Gardner is not exactly bubbly. Yet it made me prick up my ears and listen more intently.
What I had found interesting is the continuing influence of history as a shadow in the present. Mankell uses this in his fiction both here and in the 'Wallander' novels. So this is a reminder, a 'Lest we Forget' of the long time line of the effects of war, the Nazi of the past (and Neo Nazi in the present) in particular. It is a murder mystery.
I found this an engrossing story, very well read that added to my respect for Henning Mankell as a writer.