Papyrus 52 and Papyrus 75 — Early New Testament Manuscripts

What They Are

Papyrus 52 (𝔓52) and Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) are two of the earliest known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. They are written on papyrus in codex form (the ancestor of the modern book) and contain portions of the Gospels of John and Luke.

Papyrus 52 (Rylands Papyrus)

A credit-card-sized fragment from the Gospel of John (18:31–33 and 18:37–38), held at the John Rylands Library in Manchester.
Traditionally dated to c. 100–150 C.E.; recent paleographic reassessments propose a broader range of c. 125–225 C.E. or later.
Written in Greek on both sides of the papyrus, proving it came from a codex, not a scroll.
It is the earliest surviving fragment of a canonical New Testament text.

Papyrus 75 (Bodmer Papyrus XIV–XV)

Contains most of Luke 3:18–24:53 and John 1:1–15:8.
Housed today in the Vatican Library (Hanna Papyrus 1, “Mater Verbi”).
Traditionally dated to the late 2nd to early 3rd century C.E. (c. 175–225); some recent scholars argue for a range extending into the 4th century.
Its text is remarkably close to Codex Vaticanus, one of the most important manuscripts of the Greek New Testament.

Why They Matter

𝔓52 shows that the Gospel of John was being copied and circulated within decades of the events it records (and possibly within the lifetime of eyewitnesses).
𝔓75 demonstrates textual stability: a 2nd/3rd-century papyrus already agrees closely with a major 4th-century uncial manuscript.
Together they support the conclusion that the New Testament text was transmitted carefully from a very early period.

KJV Connection

The KJV New Testament was translated from the Textus Receptus, a printed edition based mainly on later Byzantine manuscripts.
𝔓52 and 𝔓75 represent the Alexandrian text-type, which differs from the Byzantine tradition in many places.
Textual scholars use these early papyri — along with Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and others — to evaluate readings behind the KJV.

Sources

Wikipedia — Rylands Library Papyrus P52: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rylands_Library_Papyrus_P52
Wikipedia — Papyrus 75: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_75
John Rylands Library digital exhibition of 𝔓52.
Bodmer Papyri publications by Victor Martin and Rodolphe Kasser.
Brent Nongbri, “Reconsidering the Place of Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV (𝔓75) in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament,” Journal of Biblical Literature 135.2 (2016): 405–437.

Notes

Dating early papyri by handwriting alone is debated; scholars give ranges rather than single years.
These manuscripts do not “prove” the KJV text word-for-word, but they do show that the Gospel tradition was fixed and copied very early.
For KJV-related study, the main takeaway is the antiquity and relative textual stability of the New Testament manuscript tradition.