The MSS of the Greek N.T. fall into two classes, uncials and cursives. Uncials (from

a word meaning "inch") are large capital letters with each letter formed separately;

cursives (from a word meaning "running") are smaller letters, written in a running hand

and joined together.

Kenyon, Paterson-Smyth, Young's Concordance,  The Books and Parchments by

F. F. Bruce, M.A., gives plates that exhibits these two forms of writing.

The uncials are the more ancient of the two, the cursives not appearing until the ninth

century.  The chief uncials are three in number, the Sinaiticus, the Vaticanus, the

Alexandrinus. The cursives MSS run into over 2,000.

Codex Vaticanus (4th century). The reader should weigh very carefully any reading

favoured by this most venerable MSS. Originally containing the complete Structures, it

has suffered loses, and now commences at Gen. 46: 28. Psa. 106:-138: are missing

also. The N.T. ends at Heb. 9: 4.

Codex Sinaiticus (4th century).  Discovered by Constantine Tischendorf in the

Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai. It passed into the Imperial Russian Library at

St. Petersburg, and subsequently was purchased by the British Government. The MSS

bears evidence of careful correction from some earlier MSS, and four different scribes

were employed upon its original production. As the "corrections" so often agree with the

text of the Codex Vaticanus, their united testimony must be considered of extreme

weight. Much of the O.T. is missing owing to the ignorance of the monks who used

some of the precious pages as fuel!

Codex Alexandrinus (5th century). Like the Vaticanus this originally contained the

complete Scriptures, but has suffered some losses in the course of time.

The material of which these ancient manuscripts are composed is parchment. This

was not unknown in the days of the Apostles (II Tim. 4: 13), but papyrus was much more

common (II John 12). The frail and brittle character of papyrus accounts for the lack of

manuscripts of the opening century of the Christian era. Later, the process of preparing

the skins of calves was improved, and the use of parchment or vellum became practically

universal. The earlier MSS are characterized by the exceeding delicacy of the texture of

the vellum used and is one of the evidences of the age of the manuscript. So much was

vellum in demand, that earlier writing was erased or "blotted out", and the new writing

written across. In many cases however, the older writing can be deciphered. These

manuscripts are known as codices rescripti or palimpsest.