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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.

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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.

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​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

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Special Collections holds modern manuscript materials in the form of books, correspondence, and personal papers. These materials were collected at…

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.

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Special Collections maintains a small collection of European manuscripts intended to demonstrate the physical characteristics of the manuscript books,…

Pages from the Past Collection

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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

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Contents: Contains part of the preface to his commentary on the psalms, and the beginning of the commentary.

Bible

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Contents: Contains part of the Book of Kings, BK. 4, chapter 2.

Sententiarum libri

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Contents: Contains commentary on Ps. 134 (see PL 191:1187B). Reverse of this fragment is illegible.

Book of hours. Selections

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1 leaf : vellum, illustrations ; 177 x 122 (118 x 82) mm (12mo)

Auszug aus allerley Rechtsbüchern.

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ff. 76. Paper - 305 x 203 mm. Pagination in upper right corner begins with "1" on the present f. 9 (omitting the front matter).

Psalter

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Contents: Contains Ps. 123

Celestial Hierarchy IX 10, 11, commentary on

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Contents: Companion to Frag. Man. 026, recto of fragment was original verso of codex.

Bible

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Contents: The gospel of Luke begins bottom, recto.

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