The word was borrowed from the Greek ἀπόγραφον ‘transcript, copy’ (cf. autograph).
An apograph is a new manuscript produced by a copyist who is copying a text found in an earlier manuscript, an exemplar. If the older manuscript is still extant the apograph is generally not used when a text is edited, since it contains nothing of independent value regarding the textual contents (codex descriptus). However, if a part of the older manuscript is not legible or even lost, the apograph may be used to provide information about that particular part. In addition, the apograph will provide the scholar with interesting information about the transmission of the text.
References
– Pasquali, Giorgio. 1952. Storia della tradizione e critica del testo. 2nd ed. Firenze: Le Monnier. || See p. 43.
– West, Martin L. 1973. Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts. Stuttgart: Teubner. || See pp. 12, 68, 86, 118–119.
In other languages
DE: Abschrift
FR: apographe
IT: apografo
GH