LIBRI INCOMPIUTI E TESTI SENZA CONFINI: CONTRADDIZIONI E PARADOSSI DELLA PRODUZIONE TESTUALE ANTICA ALLA LUCE DELLE TESTIMONIANZE PAPIRACEE*

Abstract

Extant Greek papyri offer a wide range of unfinished and imperfect texts and books, dating from the early
Ptolemaic Age to Late Antiquity, in many different formats (rolls, sheets, ostraka...). This paper surveys
some remarkable examples, which include both formal and non-formal material, from the anthologies assembled
by Apollonios son of Glaukias, in the Serapaeum of Memphis, to copies of the works of poets such
as Pindar, arranged by professional scribes in the city of Oxyrhynchus. Special attention is paid to a particular
category of “unfinished books”: author’s drafts or master copies made under the author’s supervision, as
intermediate steps before the ultimate, “published” version of a single text. The analysis of such books and
book practices may allow us to achieve a better understanding of the dynamics of production and circulation
of texts in the Greek world.