Manuscript apocryphal Acts of the Apostles written and decorated in Egypt.
The quires wanting at the beginning probably contained the Acts of Peter, Paul, John, and Andrew. Martyrdom of Bartholomew edited and translated into French by Poirier.
Dating termini given as per L. Depuydt in "Catalogue of Coptic manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library", p. LXXVI: "The two manuscripts BL Or.12689 and the Library's No. 142 bear the dates AD 999/1000 and AD 995/996 respectively. The entire group, which is fairly homogeneous, can therefore probably be dated to the second half of the tenth century AD."
Written area ? x ca. 179 mm. Divisions: Title, with divider above and below and a diple in margin of each line, major initial, and paragraphus sign (vine-scroll coronis) setting off Martyrdoms; ekthesis, reddened slightly enlarged initial, and paragraphus sign (small reddened diple, rarely reddened coronis) setting off paragraphs. Exceeding letters of last line written below end of the line of column a on fols. 6r, 7r.
Script: Upright uncials (titles slightly right-sloping). 10 lines = ca. 83 mm
Superlineation: None. Punctuation: Raised reddened dot in conjunction with a space. No tremas.
Collation: Uncertain, but hypothetically gathered in eights. No remains of signatures, quire ornaments, monograms, headlines or catchwords. For reconstruction of the codex, see Hyvernat, 1935, 74-76.
Marginal annotations: 1) on fol. 14v between columns of text next to title of Martyrdom of Thomas; 2) fol. 30v: crude pen trial.
Decoration: extended letters. Color: Red (chemically altered).
Related fragments possibly include: about 40 small fragments (some stuck together, the largest measuring 59 x 47 mm) and a number of tiny fragments found in a small box found placed in a large box containing M.661, M.669, and M.679. M.668.2/3 and M.668.2/4 (Depuydt, nos. 203 and 204) may also be related to the present manuscript.