The register of Giovanni Scriba is not only the oldest existing notarial register, but also the oldest paper code in Western Europe. It represents the testimony of the activities and daily life of the inhabitants of a merchant city, Genoa, which was opening up more and more to the Mediterranean. Not by chance, some loose sheets attached are of Arabic manufacture and bear a text perhaps written by the Egyptian chancellery, according to the hypothesis of Michele Amari. The manuscript opens the long series of notaries, which counts 7 cartularies from the 12th century, 150 from the 13th century registers, 420 from the 14th century and over a thousand from the 15th century files, for a total of 1630 notarial archival units of the medieval period.