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
Book of Ruth
![Ruth_1.JPG Ruth_1.JPG](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/2956c7dc774f6cacfd165b974eac38b8.jpg)
In Jewish tradition there are five megillot (scrolls) that are read on five different holidays. All of them unrolled using a single roller, instead of…
Lectionary for the office
![FRAG001R2XL.jpg FRAG001R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/0127578be2a390c2c6e9f7eed4c01ee4.jpg)
Explicit: In tribus noctibus ante pascha domini leguntur tres primae lectiones in una quaque nocte declamationes Hierimie prophetae
Legal document
![FRAG215R2XL.jpg FRAG215R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/5e3ae36005fa9ab5d76f0d668878f9b8.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…
Sententiarum libri
![FRAG066R2XL.jpg FRAG066R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/53031f0fa27a02e158028e1b33905597.jpg)
Contents: Contains part of the preface to his commentary on the psalms, and the beginning of the commentary.
Lectionary
![FRAG217R2XL.jpg FRAG217R2XL.jpg](https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/files/square_thumbnails/15c4837b752471ff4e77f36378237b6d.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…