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.
![P345961.jpg P345961.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/63717dbefbfb65d71c3c3d668498404c.jpg)
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.
![Fragmentap0229.2.png Fragmentap0229.2.png](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/dfca2c3156b65de21aa0f61d127f0e29.jpg)
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
![MaryMargaretMcBride_01.jpg MaryMargaretMcBride_01.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/442bee43c26e806c53bfd920457e382c.jpg)
Special Collections holds modern manuscript materials in the form of books, correspondence, and personal papers. These materials were collected at…
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.
![bk0009h6b37.jpg bk0009h6b37.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/987dfe57093b2ee10075aa1cf5ea092f.jpg)
Special Collections maintains a small collection of European manuscripts intended to demonstrate the physical characteristics of the manuscript books,…
Pages from the Past Collection
![resolver (6).jpg resolver (6).jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/760cc8095869ae17754d314a6c5ee6a9.jpg)
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
Sententiarum libri
![FRAG087R2XL.jpg FRAG087R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/e7e4bc54ea52f649d6a156e0822c64e0.jpg)
Contents: Contains commentary on Ps. 134 (see PL 191:1187B). Reverse of this fragment is illegible.
Bible commentary on Canticle of Canticles
![FRAG082R2XL.jpg FRAG082R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/7e045c9ad94ac9ed071aa966f3f20e93.jpg)
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…
Microtegni
![FRAG088R2XL.jpg FRAG088R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/7d641470bb6fdee27eecbd860e8fef86.jpg)
Contents: The present fragment contains chapter 12 in the "translatio antiqua" (dating from the mid 12th century); the commentary might be that of…
[Manuscript leaf with parts of the service for St. Clare of Assisi.]
![tomaspg1a-300.jpg tomaspg1a-300.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/d3e17b8583476a926179c4c9ed0c81c9.jpg)
Parchment - 157 x 113 mm - 2 columns of 30 lines. Red and blue initials with colored penwork flourishing. Gothic script.
Canon Law
![FRAG148R2XL.jpg FRAG148R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/c7054a27ff4309259caee52316d92905.jpg)
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…