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University of Missouri

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.

Clay tablet with wedge-shaped writing

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

Bible

Contents: Contains part of Exodus.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 041: Civil law with gloss

medieval manuscript leaf fragment written in two columns in brown ink on parchment, with heavy mars in black ink and several initials in red and blue (recto)

Script: Gothic

Fragmenta Manuscripta 137: Royal document on soldiers serving in France

Medieval parchment fragment written in one column in brown ink with annotations on the margin

21 visible lines.

Psalter

Contents: Fragment contains parts of Pss. 68 and 70 with hierarchy accorded to the psalm "Salvum me fac," implying use in a liturgical context.

Missal

Contents: Part of services in Lent.

Fragmenta Manuscripta 125: Aurora

Medieval parchment fragment in one column written with brown ink and with two large initials, one in red and one in blue. (recto)

One column visible with 14 visible lines, with bounding lines plus 2 lines 5 and 10 mm to left of column to mark initial, with leadpoint ruling on…

Fragmenta Manuscripta 109: Bible

Medieval parchment fragment written in one column with black ink that has the letters QRQR written in red ink with blue decorative lines (recto).

One column visible with 25 visible lines, with bounding lines with recto and verso ruled separately with ink

Dialogues

Contents: Book IV, chapter 37-38 (PL 77:389B at break from one side of leaf to the other).

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