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.
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
Processional
Contents: Contains processions for John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents and Thomas of Canterbury.
Coronation service
Contents: See The Coronation Book of Charles V of FranceHenry Bradshaw Society vol. 16 (London 1899) col. 44, here with Ordo ad Reginam benedicendam…
De constructione.
119 1eaves. South Germany, third quarter 12th century manuscript with late 15th or 16th century German pigskin, blind stamped binding. Written in…
Fragmenta Manuscripta 191: Death of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Explicit: f. 1r Transitus sive assumptio gloriose virginis marie Prohemium cuius incipit feliciter.; f. 1v [I]n tempore illo quo deus ad passionem…