Manuscript Collections

Special Collections maintains a small collection of manuscripts that date from antiquity to the present. The collection is intended to demonstrate the physical characteristics of the book before printing, and it contains a wide variety of scripts and materials from various time periods. From antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, the collection includes:

Eight cuneiform tablets from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods
Around a dozen manuscripts in book form, ranging in date from ca. 1150 to ca. 1600
Over 200 leaves and fragments, including seventeenth century book collector John Bagford’s manuscript leaves and fragments, Fragmenta Manuscripta, dating from the eighth to the seventeenth century
A handful of leaves from the Koran, palm leaf manuscripts, and other examples of manuscripts from non-Western cultures

Finding Aids for Manuscript Collections

Cuneiform tablets.

Special Collections holds eight cuneiform tablets whose exact provenance is unknown. Six of the tablets date from the Ur III period (2100-2000 BCE),…

Fragmenta Manuscripta Collection.

Medieval manuscript fragment on parchment with Latin text in brown and red links and early musical notation<br />

Fragmenta Manuscripta is a collection of over 200 manuscript leaves and fragments dating from the eighth to the seventeenth century. Originally…

Literary and Historical Manuscripts

Special Collections holds modern manuscript materials in the form of books, correspondence, and personal papers. These materials were collected at…

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.

Medieval manuscript page with black lettering, occasionally highlighted with blue or red

Special Collections maintains a small collection of European manuscripts intended to demonstrate the physical characteristics of the manuscript books,…

Pages from the Past Collection

Papyrus fragment with Greek letters in black ink

Pages from the Past is a collection of original manuscript and rare book leaves compiled and sold by a New York book dealer Alfred W. Stites from 1964…

Selected Items

Prayer book

Incipit: Ave Ihesu christe verbum patris filius virginis agnus dei

Fragmenta Manuscripta 213: Book of Hours

Medieval manuscript fragment on parchment in brown ink and Humanistic script, written in Latin. It includes a border in gold and a red and gold initial.<br />

Contents: End of the prayer to the Virgin, following straight on after Fragmenta Manuscripta 212v; with concluding prayer to the Virgin, for her…

Fragmenta Manuscripta 174: Meditationes

Tentatively identified by Sir Sydney Cockerell.

Psalter commentary

Contents: Contains commentary on Ps. 59.

Legal Text

Contents: Notes and corrections to the text.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 210: Calendar May, June

Medieval manuscript fragment on parchment in red and brown links with an initial "KL" in blue with red decoration. Ruling in lead is visible on the parchment. (recto)

Contents: May: line 9, "secundum usum sarum.," line 11, "in festo reliquiarum eiusdem ecclesie sarum." Lessons counted up to nine; the "capitulum" of…