Skip to navigation Skip to content

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

Moralia in Job

Content: Contains part of Book 13, Chapter 24

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)

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 112: Sermon (on saints?)

Medieval parchment fragment written in two columns in a brown ink (recto).

Two columns separated by 10 mm with 37 lines, with bounding lines and with leadpoint ruling on verso (flesh).

Fragmenta Manuscripta 033: On Catholic Faith against Manicheans and Donatists

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in dark brown ink on parchment, in two columns, with two large initials in red and blue (recto)

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 189: Conferences

Medieval parchment fragment in a cursive Gothic hand written in brown and red inks. The image has two columns of text and an initial letter "O" in blue ink on the second half of the second column. (recto)

Two columns with 29 visible lines, with bounding lines, with recto and verso ruled separately with ink

Fragmenta Manuscripta 153: Chess problem

Contents: From the same manuscript as Fragmenta Manuscripta 194.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 083: Psalter

Medieval manuscript fragment on aged parchment written in one column of Gothic text. Large red initial and text in red and black inks.<br /> (recto)

Contents: Contains Ps. 123

Fragmenta Manuscripta 121: Bible with Interpretations of Hebrew Names

Medieval parchment fragment in two columns written in black ink. Each line starts with a blue or red initial. Round cut towards lower margin (recto).

Two columns visible of 59 lines, with bounding lines plus line dividing columns, plus outer bound line 2mm on right and left, with recto and verso…

Browse More Items