Skip to navigation Skip to content

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.

Clay tablet with wedge-shaped writing

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.

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

Pages from the Past Collection

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

Fragmenta Manuscripta 024: Epistulae

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in black ink, two columns, on parchment, with lead ruling visible (recto)

Contents: Contains part of a letter of Arnulf of Lisieux to pope Alexander III.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 217: Lectionary

Medieval manuscript fragment on parchment with two columns of Latin text in Gothic script, one line of red text, and two initialis in red and blue.<br />
(recto)

Two columns of 27 lines, with bounding lines, horizontal lines extend through center, all vertical and top 2 and bottom 2 horizontal lines extend to…

Life of Our Lady

Provenance: John Bagford (1650s-1716) to St. Martin-in-the-Fields; sale 1861 to Sir Thomas Phillipps, n.15758; his sale 22 May, 1913, lot 742; Sir…

Fragmenta Manuscripta 038: Pontifical

medieval manuscript fragment written in red and silver/blue inks with initials in green and some words in brown ink (recto)

Contents: Contains part of the service for the dedication of a church. See London, BL Add 28188 (Ramsey ?) and CCC 44 (Canterbury)

Fragmenta Manuscripta 027: Lectionary

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment in two columns written with dark brown ink and with several initials in different colors (recto)

Contents: Contains part of the office for August ?, Bible, Proverbs vi

Dialogues

Contents: Book IV, chapter 37-38 (PL 77:389B at break from one side of leaf to the other).

Fragmenta Manuscripta 052: Lections on the Blessed Virgin Mary

medieval manuscript fragment written on parchment with brown ink, large blue initial and decoration in red ink (recto)

Contents: Texts relate to her birth and early life.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 202: Book inscription

Paper fragment with the name "Myles Blomfylde owe…" "thys booke" in red ink.<br />

Circle containing two teardrops, each containing a smaller circle with a line connecting circle and teardrop.

Browse More Items