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University of Missouri

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.

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

The secret and Lily Hart : two tales

Fragmenta Manuscripta 175: Medical text

Medieval parchment with one column of text in light brown ink and paragraph markers throughout in red ink (recto).

One column with 30 lines, with bounding lines, with ink ruling on verso (hair).

Fragmenta Manuscripta 031: Bible, glossed

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in black and brown inks, with two columns, and text in various sizes (recto)

Contents: Contains commentary on Lamentations 32, 35, 36

Instructions to his son

Contents: H. G. Jones, "Peter Idley's Instructions to his son," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen74 (1973) 686-689.

Psalter commentary

Contents: Contains commentary on Ps. 59.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 129: Prayer

Medieval parchment fragment with text in one column in black ink (recto).

One column visible with 15 visible lines recto, 6 verso, with bounding lines, recto and verso ruled separately with penpoint.

Missal

Contents: Contains texts from the canon of the mass.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 016: Psalter, glossed

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in two columns with black ink over light parchment and in two letter sizes. Partial illumination and initials (recto)

Condition: Missing 90 X 95 portion in upper left corner.

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