Scrolls from Qumran Cave I

reveals a somewhat irregular background tone on some columns.²¹ A new set of prints, therefore, has been prepared for this volume from the color transparencies, using the same technique as that applied to 1QIsᵃ. Infra-red copies of Columns VII, VIII, and X had been made with the hope of obtaining a clearer record of the erasures on those columns, but no appreciable improvement of those areas could be detected from them. Prints from those negatives, therefore, have not been used for this volume.

First experiments with the printing of the color transparencies of 1QS revealed that the three-color process produced slightly better results than the usual four-color plates which have been used for the other two manuscripts. Greater fidelity to the color of the leather has thus been retained on these plates with no loss of depth or clarity of the text.

The size of the manuscript on the plates of 1QS in the first edition was accurate for Cols. I–III and VIII–X, but 6 mm. too large for Cols. IV–VII, and Col. XI was 5 mm. undersized, when measured on the vertical. In this edition, the color plates of Cols. IV–XI are identical with the original, while Cols. I–III are 3 mm. too large. The black and white plates are 2 to 3 mm. oversized, except Cols. VIII and XI which are exact size.

1QpHab—The Pesher to Habakkuk

The hasty copying of 1QpHab on February 21, 1948,²² also proved disappointing; but the new set of 9 x 12 cm. negatives of each column, prepared some weeks later, has needed no improvement, as the publication in the first edition clearly shows. The fine state of preservation of that text made the photographing with ordinary panchromatic film quite adequate.²³

When it came to the color reproduction of 1QpHab, however, the film with which 1QIsᵃ and 1QS had been recorded was exhausted; and the writer had to use another kind that proved to be unsatisfactory in its color balance. Fortunately, it has been possible to correct the color for this volume.²⁴ The original red corduroy background used for both this scroll and 1QS has been reduced to a pure red for the sake of consistency.²⁵

21. The tonal irregularity on Cols. I and II along the upper part was present on the leather of the manuscript, but the darker centers on Cols. II, III, IV, VI, and IX seem to have originated at least in part from uneven development of those negatives.
22. USQ, p. 44. Again, lack of film dictated copying two columns on each sheet of film.
23. Fortunately, one package of that kind of film was available in Jerusalem at the time. USQ, pp. 68, 73 and 79. The negative for Col. XI has been lost, and a new one was made for this volume from the color transparency.
24. USQ, pp. 79–80 and note 3. It was a film that had been newly introduced on the market the previous year. The colors tended to be somewhat too heavy and lacked sufficient magenta, thus producing a slight greenish cast. At the time a few 35 mm. copies were made on a well-tested color film and have provided a frame of reference for the correction of the plates used in this volume.
25. The 1QpHab fragment which appeared later (see USQ, p. 94) was photographed on the same blue background used for 1QIsᵃ by mistake, but it has been changed to red here. Small holes in the original leather of several columns have been given the red background to avoid confusion with the text.