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

Fragmenta Manuscripta 017: Decretals, glossed

Medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in two colums with brown ink over aged parchment. Large Q initial and letters in red and blue (recto)

Gloss from s. XIII(in); n.b. vertical strokes within letters.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 184: Martyrologium

Medieval parchment fragment with partial lines of text in a tall Gothic script in black ink. Margins are small, with some marks showing on the left margin. (recto)

One column visible with 6 visible lines, neither bounding lines nor ruling are visible.

De civitate Dei

Contents: Contains part of xvii.23, 24, and xviii.1.

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

De fide catholica ex veteri et novo testamento

Contents: Contains parts of Book I, chapters 16, 17 and the very beginning of 18.

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…

Fragmenta Manuscripta 110: Consuetudinary

medieval parchment fragment written in one column with light brown ink. Large initial I written in red ink on the left margin and several smaller initials written in red and blue inks (recto).

One column visible with 20 visible lines, neither bounding lines nore ruling visible.

Moralia in Job

Contents: Letter of Bernhard Bischoff to M. Gatch, 13.x.77, "Warscheinlich ist das Stueck ein Membrum disiectum zu CLA viii.1144 (und zu CLA ii.155)."…

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