from The Old English Illustrated Hexateuch The Production of An Illustrated Version

The Old English prose text of the Hexateuch was compiled probably early in the eleventh century by combining Ælfric's translation of some portions, made for other purposes, with an anonymous translation of the rest. Ælfric may never have known that his work was used in this way. By the earliest stage to which our extant copies witness, the text had already acquired serious defects. The production of an illustrated version took place separately at a later stage still, employing a text which by then had acquired further errors peculiar to itself.