Tony Chartrand-Burke, on his Apocryphicity blog, posts a 10-page how-to for manuscript collating called Collating for Dummies. It even takes on the page layout of that well-known series. (h/t Jim Davila). It's a good read, though I'd hoped he'd give a little more info on the physical process of collation and comparison. But it's only 10 pages, and the bibliography looks to have some promising sources to follow up on.

Tony gives some props to Bruce Metzger as a resource for decoding ligatures and abbreviations in Greek. Metzger's book on paleography, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Paleography (amazon.com) is good and the recommended introduction. But you may require more information on abbreviations and ligatures in Greek MSS. If so, I'd recommend Abbreviations in Greek: Inscriptions, Papyri, Manuscripts and Early Printed Books (amazon.com). I've blogged about this book previously (here and here). It contains four monographs (some short, some long, some with extensive catalogues and other such material) having to do with abbreviations in Greek. These monographs are:

• "Abbreviations in Greek Inscriptions" by M. Avi-Yonah
• "Abbreviations and Symbols in Greek Papyri" by F. G. Kenyon
• "Abbreviations in Greek Manuscripts" by T. W. Allen
• "Abbreviations in Early Greek Printed Books" by G. F. Ostermann and A. E. Giegengack.

If you're only interested in ligatures/abbreviations, skip Metzger (amazon.com) and get Oikonomides (amazon.com). You'll save $40 overall (based on Amazon prices current as of original composition of this article) and get more information specific to your interest.