Textual transmission

Textual transmission is the copying and preservation of written works as they pass between people, places, and generations. Each act of transmission can preserve, alter, or lose features of a text.

Manuscript: A document written by hand rather than produced through a printing process. Hand-copying made manuscripts the principal vehicles for transmitting texts before print.
Writing: A system of visible signs used to represent language and preserve information. Written language makes texts transmissible beyond the moment of speech.
Textual witness: A surviving copy or other source that provides evidence for the wording of a text. Each witness preserves one historical state of a transmitted work.
Lost literary works: Written works known to have existed but no longer survive in complete textual form. Their absence shows how transmission can fail despite a work's historical circulation.
Scribal error: An unintended alteration introduced while a text is copied by hand. Repeated copying can accumulate omissions, substitutions, and other changes.
Papyrus: A writing material made from the processed stems of the papyrus plant. Papyrus supported the production and circulation of many ancient texts.
Variant reading: A difference in wording among copies or editions of the same text. Variants record the changes introduced as texts were copied and revised.
Palimpsest: A manuscript page on which earlier writing was erased or obscured and later writing added. Recoverable underlying text reveals how material reuse can both conceal and preserve writing.
Textual criticism: The study of textual witnesses to establish or reconstruct the history and wording of a text. Comparing surviving copies helps identify how a work changed during transmission.
Parchment: A durable writing material made from specially prepared animal skin. Its reusability and longevity helped preserve texts in manuscript cultures.

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