Manuscript Materials in Special Collections

FM #071
Hugh of Saint Victor,
Commentary on The
Celestial Hierarchy, IX 10, 11.

Scope and Contents

This guide lists the manuscripts that are owned in Special Collections. The earliest manuscript in this listing dates from about 1150 A.D., and manuscripts are listed chronologically. In addition to the listing on this page, the library also owns the Fragmenta Manuscripta Collection.

Restrictions on Access

The collection does not circulate. Photocopying generally is not permitted. Manuscripts may be used in the Special Collections reading room during service hours or by appointment.

The Fragmenta Manuscripta Collection

Fragmenta Manuscripta is a collection of manuscript leaves and fragments dating from the eighth to the seventeenth century. Originally gathered by seventeenth century book collector John Bagford, the collection offers scholars examples of book hands, decorations, and texts.

The Fragmenta Manuscripta collection has been completely digitized and is available through the Digital Scriptorium.

The Pages from the Past Collection

Pages from the Past is a collection of manuscript and rare book leaves compiled and sold by a New York book dealer Alfred W Stites from 1964 to 1967.

Professor Arthur Askins from the University of California at Berkeley notes that “while it is possible to find two sets of a given release of a given set having exactly the same content and presented in the same order, a safer approach for any studies dealing with his leaf books or of the various leaves contained is to consider each set as distinct”.

Our collection has Set no. I, "The History of the Written Word”. This is version “B” from the Stites’ third “release” of sets. Within the set I it is no.14 of 15 sets.

The Pages from the Past collection is available to patrons in the Rare Books department.

Other Manuscript Materials

Priscianus. De Constructione. 119 1eaves. South Germany, third quarter 12th century manuscript with late 15th or 16th century German pigskin, blind stamped binding. Written in Romanesque (minuscule) book script on parchment. Large red initials, first 5 lines in red, small initials and many Greek quotations accented by red filling. Constitutes books 17-18 of the author's Institutiones grammaticae. Books 1-16 are also known as Priscianus major, and books 17-18 as Priscianus minor.
RARE RES PA6624.A4 1150

Raymond of Penafort, St. [Summa de poenitentiate et matrimonio] Italy-S. or France. Manuscript probably 14th century. Foliation in roman numerals. Glosses numbered. Seventeenth century Spanish binding, southern parchment and ink. Binder's title: S. Raimund. D.P. Summa. An early manuscript with commentaries surrounding the text, and ornamental initials in color. No title page or colophon. Foliation in Roman numerals, but irregular and often indistinct due to closely cropped pages. Bound in leather.
RARE RES BX1757 .R39 1200

Koran. 1 leaf. [1207]. Red lettering is in Persian and black lettering is in Arabic with brushed gold borders and fillers. Codex was found in Tehran, Iran in 1952 by Stanley S. Slotkin and disassembled and distributed to various libraries.

Officium Beate Marie Virginis. 1 leaf. France [?], c, 1250. By an Italian scribe on parchment. Originally from a work of approximately 300 pages that was in the collection of the late Lord Berwick of Shrewsbury, England. Parts of the manuscript may date from the eleventh century.
RARE FO Z113 .P3

[Breviary]. Latin. 1 leaf. Mid 13th century. Parchment manuscript containing red and blue initials with pen flourishes, rubrics.

Bible. Latin. [Biblia Latina] 1300. Bound in parchment ms. with neumic notation over boards ; leaf [103] torn with part of 1 column wanting; small stain on p. 1 partly hides incipit; trimmed, headings mostly lost. Prehumanistic minuscule script; rubricated. Lectionary? with different pen on final 2 leaves. Contents: Prol. in libros Salomonis -- Proverbia -- Ecclesiastes -- Canticum canticorum -- Sapientia -- Ecclesiasticus -- Joshua -- Isaias --Jeremias -- Ezechiel -- Daniel -- Osee -- Joel -- Amos -- Abdias -- Jonas --Michaeus -- Nahum -- Habacuc -- Sophonias -- Aggaeus -- Zacharias -- Malachias -- Job - Judith -- Esther -- [Novum Testamentum]. Cover is a manuscript leaf of a parchment page with nuemes and a Gothic script with red initial letters from about about the same time.
RARE RES BS70 .B5 1300

[Manuscript leaves]. 13th to 14th century. 2 parchment leaves trimmed to fit between panel areas between the bands, pasted together to form back lining of spine of Julius Firmicus Materinus' De natiuitatibus, 1499. Cords are stitched through manuscript leaves and attached to cover. Minute Gothic script with marginal notations (chiefly Roman numerals). Red and blue Roman numerals and two pen-flourished initials.
RARE RES QB41 .F5 1499

[Psalter?]. 1 leaf. Mid 14th century. Latin manuscript on parchment with rubrics. Blue and red pen flourishing on initial letters.

Registrum Brevium. 1 leaf. England. 1350. Red and blue initial letters in Latin. From a manuscript with records the judicial proceedings in the reign of King Edward III, including the cases tried in the Court of Law at Westminster.
RARE FO Z113 .P3

[Antiphonal]. Latin score. 1 1eaf. Late 14th century. Manuscript with musical notes on parchment with large red and blue letters and brown lettering with flourishes (with an acanthus leaf on one).

La Turade, Bernard de. [Notarial registry] 1383-1393. 2 vol. Written in several cursive hands covering various subjects: wills, marriage contracts, sales, etc. Vol. [1] has parchment tab: 1383 Bernard De La Turade; v. [2] has leather boss on center of front cover and tab with name and date: 1393. - Vol. [1] has 47 numbered leaves + 1 leaf + 1 gathering of 10 leaves, of which the first 36 have been nibbled by mice.
RARE RES DC95.A2N6 1383

[French missal]. 1 leaf. [1385?]. Sheepskin manuscript in Bâtarde script. Disassembled and distributed to various libraries by Stanley S. Slotkin.

[St. Paul Catholic Breviary]. 1 folio leaf, 57 cm x 38 cm. Late 14th century. North Italian. Service for St. Paul's Day (June 30th), from the services of Matins and Lauds. Large initial "E" with the bust of St. Paul, gold leaf and acanthus leaves. Contains the Latin anthem and musical accompaniment (continuing on the verso) with rubric directions.

[Manuscript leaf]. 14th century? 1 parchment leaf trimmed to fit between panel areas between the bands, forming the back lining of spine of Francesco Filelfo's Epistolae, 1488. Leaf is adhered to wood board cover. Gothic script with two columns of text and marginal gloss. Red parenthetical letters. Extensive worm holes on upper and lower margins.
RARE RES PA8520 .F5 E6

Catholic Church. Missa in honor Sct et Indiuidue Trinitatis. [Proper, Trinity Sunday] [1st quarter of 15th cent.?] [1] leaf (31 lines). Manuscript written in France (Paris?) in formal Gothic minuscule script on parchment. Recto bordered by flowering ivy-leaf vine sprouting from large red initial with blue and gold-leaf background. Smaller gold-leaf initials throughout.
RARE RES BX2015.9 .T7 1400

Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. [Soliloquia. 1433] Incipit liber soliloqiorum sancti Augustine episcopoli. Manuscript in two small Gothic book hands; p. [190]-[211] apparently a different hand from the rest. Titles in red; rubricated initials in alternate red and blue with penwork of opposite color. Bound in leather over boards; blind stamped quartered lozenge on front and back; 9 bosses front and back wanting. 211 p., 23 lines.
RARE RES BR65 .A87 1433

Simon, de Cermona. Sermones. Buxheim, Germany, 1434. 1 leaf, 30 x 22 cm. Written in Latin in a quasi-cursive gothic script, rubricated. From a Latin manuscript dated 1434, containing the "Sermones" of Simon de Cremona, prepared in the Scriptorium of the Carthusian monastery at Buxheim. Casper Misnensis was the scribe.
RARE FO Z113 .P3

Bible. O.T. Leviticus XXVII, 21-34. Latin. Incipit: quia ai iubilei veneit dies. 1 leaf (30 lines). Manuscript written in Bohemia (?) in late Gothic script on parchment. "cus" in top margin of left column of recto. Contains last 14 verses of Leviticus, followed by selections from, or paraphrases of parts of, Numbers. The 2 columns of recto separated by flowering vine around a staff growing from large initial D at beginning of passage from Numbers, and spreading into upper and lower margins.
RARE RES BS1254 .L3M6 1450

[German Manuscript] Germany, c. 1450. 1 leaf. Written in German with a gothic script. Blue and red initial letters. A religious work of unknown origins.
RARE FO Z113 .P3

Ambrosius, Saint, Bishop of Milan. Ambrosius Epus ad sorore sua Marcella de virginitate. [146?] German-Alsace-Lorraine. Second half of the fifteenth century. Manuscript written on 48 leaves of paper in a close chancery hand, 36 lines/page frame ruled, with headings and initials in red. 15th century, original parchment binding.
RARE RES BV4647 .C5A4 1460

Catholic Church. [Fragments] Book of hours (Tory manuscript). 15??. [6] leaves : parchment. Manuscript leaves from the atelier of Geofroy Tory written in Latin in a fine humanistic roman minuscule, 33 lines to the page. With capitals in gold on red or blue background, lines filled out with painted decoration, and a decorative gold border. Border, which has simple loops at corners and center top, and becomes more elaborate at bottom, is a rope on both sides of two of the leaves, and a closely-trimmed vine or branch on both sides of the other four. Text includes three leaves of prayers and three leaves giving the calendar for May-June and September-December, and hence has also been described as part of a psalter. Substitute note for our leaves from the Books of hours (Ms. Tory): Two additional leaves of this manuscript are also in the Library of the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Fragmenta Manuscripta collection.
RARE RES BX2080 .A1 1500

Catholic Church. Missal (Prague, Czechoslovakia). 1501 182 leaves, 15 lines. Manuscript written in Prague [?] in large Gothic book script on paper. Bound in late manuscript parchment on boards from an antiphonal. Includes propers for translation of relics of St. Wenceslaus to St. Vitus' Cathedral, Prague on f. 109. Rubrics in red; some initials in red, some in blue. Cover is a manuscript leaf of a parchment antiphonal page with neumes and a humanistic script dating from 15th or 16th century.
RARE RES BX2015 .A2 1501

Catholic Church. Pope, 1513-1521 (Leo X). Letter, 1517 Mar. 27, Rome, to Ottaviano Fregoso, Doge of Genoa. [Genoa?] 1 leaf. (29 lines). Manuscript written by Ludovico degli Arrighi at Rome in a chancery script on parchment, signed by Jacopo Sadoleto as Papal Secretary.
RARE RES D221 .C3L4 1517

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Second half of the 16th century. Italy. Written in rounded humanistic script on paper. No title page, but each of the 15 books has half-title, sepia drawing at the beginning of text, and ornamental sepia initial. Interlinear Italian translation in similar hand of first 24 leaves. Illustrated with pen drawings. 512 1eaf.
RARE RES PA6519 .M2 1550

Klammer, Balthassar. [Auszug aus allerley Rechtsbuchern] Luneburg, between 1560 and 1578. With large inked chapter headings. These selections from various jurisprudential works were compiled by Balthasar Klammer for his son Otto who was entering public office. They were intended to provide a concise handbook to clarify the confusing legal literature of the time. 136 leaves.
RARE RES KK276 .K56 1560

Perez, Antonio. Carta de el secretaro, Antonio Perez, al duque de Lerma de la manera que seharia de governar en la privanza. Between 1568 and 1579. 154 leaves. (13-18 lines per leaf). Manuscript written in Spain. Bound in old parchment with red velvet ribbon place marker secured to cover by metal seal with crown and decorative initials. Letter written by Antonio Perez, secretary to Philip II of Spain, addressed to the duke of Lerma, providing advice for princes on governing from privilege, illustrated with examples from the Spanish court.
RARE RES JC393 .B3P4

Italian and English phrases. London? 1600-1626. Manuscript containing 90 pages of Italian phrases, accompanied by English translations, followed by 30 p. of poetry, etc. Signed at end: Giouanni Aurelio, notario publico de Londra. On front fly-leaf in ms.: "Questo libro appartene a mi Carlo Longland, April XXI, 1626." Accompanied by a seal in red wax, without a name.
RARE RES PC1121 .I82 1600

Dictionnaire historique et geographique de la Suisse. N.p., n.d. 283 p.
RARE RES 914.94 D56

Homer. Selections. Compendium Homericum continens ex 27562 Iliados &c: et Odysseee versibus. Verus tantum 4074 (nec eos ubique intergros) in quibus appellativa utriusque Operis omnia, dialectj, et epitheta suis prout fierj potuit, annexa substantivis una cum versione latina Limatiore inveniuntur.... [London. 1699-1713] 3 vols. Greek and Latine manuscript. Inserted in vol. 1: a pamphlet containing a manuscript index.
RARE RES 888 H8co

Seville (Spain). Catedral. Tesoro de la Sta Iglesia Patriarchal y Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Sevilla / por Don Bernardo Luis de Castro Palacios, Maestro de Ceremonias de la dicha Santa Iglesia. [Seville?, 17??] vol. 2 (21 lines). Vol. 2 is a manuscript in cursive script on wove paper. Recounts events important of cathedral in calendar order: chronologically from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31st, but interfiling events of various years.
RARE RES DP402 .S45S4

Mémoire historique sur l'origine, l'essence et les droits de la Pairie et du Parlement, Cor des Pairs. Paris, [December 29, 1763 to May 29, 1764]. 376, [12] pp. A historical memoir of the origin, essence, and laws of Paris and the Parliament. Attributed to Monsieur Drouyn de Vandeuil, first President of the Parliament of Toulouse. Contains a history of France and register of French royalty. There is also an extract of the minutes of the French Parliament.
RARE FO KJV3747.F73 1763

Charter of Catherine the Great. Russia. Sovereign (1762-1796 : Catherine II). Bozhieiu milostiiu, My Ekaterina Vtoraia, Imperatritsa i Samoderzhitsa Vserossiskaia ... Aleksandr" Mukhanova ... dlia ego okazannoi k" sluzhbie Nashei revnosi i prilezhnosti ... Sekund"-rotmistrom" Vsemilostivieishe pozhalovali i uchredili. ... My sie sobstevennoiu Nasheiu rukoiu podpisali i gosudarsvennoiu Nasheiu pechatiiu ukriepit povelieli. Dan" v" Sanktpeterburgie, lieta 1790, dekabria v" 24 den'. V Sanktpeterburgie. [24 Dec. 1790]. 1 sheet ([2]) p.: 28 x 39 cm. The document carries the signature of Catherine II, Empress of Russia, and is witnessed by the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Life-Guards Horse regiment. Parchment; illuminated with the monogram of Catherine II, allegorical figures of Minerva and Mars; carries traces of the Russian Imperial wax seal. Manuscript note on verso: Pri zapechatanii v" kollegii inostrannykh" diel" [no.] 424.
RARE RES DK168 .R87 1790

Noyes James, The lucubrator; containing essays on various subjects. [1797?] 155 p., folded manuscript sheet laid in. Holograph? Each essay is dated, the first two only with the year 1794, most others with day and month. The final essay is dated August 25, 1797.
RARE PS811 .N75L8

Macedo, Jose Agostinho de. Assim o querem, assim o tenhao: Satira em o anno de 1811 ... pelo Executor de alta Justica. Holograph? A poem. 19 p.
RARE RES PQ9261 .M2A8

Halford, Henry, Sir. An account of what appeared on opening the coffin of King Charles the First, in the vault of King Henry the Eighth in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, on the first of April, MDCCXIII. London: Printed for White, Cochrane and Co., and J. Hatchard, 1813. After printed text is 22 pages of manuscript additions, copied from contemporary works. Manuscript notes on the title page read "Ex Libris Gulielmi Dewe, A.D. 1813".
DA396.A2 .H34 1813

Auchey-les-Moins. St. Silvin (Abbey). Cartulaire imprime de l'abbaye d'Auchy-les-Moins, copie en 1808 par M. L. A. Le Ver. Imprime en 1788 ou 1789. 1828? 629 p. Notes and folded map in pocket.
RARE RES 944.27 Au2

Brontë, Charlotte. The secret and Lily Hart : two tales / by Lord Charles Willsby [Charlotte Brontë]. Verdopolis [i.e. Haworth?], 1833. [16] p. 8 hand sewn leaves of Kraft paper 12 cm. x 11 cm. black ink wrapped in maroon morocco cover 31 cm. x 12.5 cm. magnifying glass. Manuscript signed at the end : Haworth, 1833, Charlotte Brontë. Written in an exceedingly minute hand, almost impossible to read without the aid of magnifying glass. In case: maroon morocco in brown upper case. On spine of the case: The secret. C. Brontë. On the bottom: Haworth 1833. On front cover of the manuscript big oval ink stain and 3 small ones, back cover has long 7.5 cm. ink stain and 2 small ones.
RARE RES PR4167 .S43

Hunt, Leigh. [Autograph letters and other Leigh Hunt material] 1 box.
RARE 828 H913au

Shumard, Benjamin Franklin. Notes on geological survey of Missouri. 1856-1858. 3 vols.
RARE 557.78 Sh92n

Christoffel, Elwin Bruno. Infinitessimal geometrie.[between 1850 and 1900] [167] p. Paper; pencil (some ink) handwritten. Pages [80-96] blank. Arranged in five chapters; chapter four is in two parts; some pages are dated with month and day, not year. In German and English. May relate to the course "Infinitesimalgeometrie" Christoffel taught at the University of Strasbourg beginning in 1878. Cf. Butzer, P.L. E.B. Christoffel.
RARE QA615 .C45 1850

Lawson, John Davison. Whist bibliography. n.d. Manuscript copy.
RARE 016.795 L44

Palmer, William Kimberley. [Scrapbook] n.d. Loose-leaf notebook containing clippings, letters and miscellaneous material. It includes poems by W. K. Palmer, some of them autographed.
RARE 040 P182

Field, Eugene. The monstrous pleasant ballad of the Taylor pup : original manuscript / by Eugene Field. 1894 May 5. 13 leaves, bound. Poem. Holograph signed. "I gave the printer's copy to Harb Taylor," signed E.F.--Leaf 1. Bound in dark blue morocco with gilt border and cover lettering; blue moire endpapers with external papers bordered in gilt lined morocco; last endpaper stamped "The Monastery Hill Bindery."
RARE RES PS1667 .M66 1894

Severance, Henry O. (Henry Ormal). The public library as a factor in education (an essay). [Ann Arbor], University of Michigan, 1899. 29 p., iii leaves.
SPEC MU Z718 .S4

Académie de Toulouse cours secondaires de jeunes filles de Condom, cours préparatoire: exercises, 8 Octobre 1902-30 Juin 1903. 1903. 178 p. Compositions françaises -- Orthographe -- Exercices de grammaire -- Anglais -- Espagnol -- Arithmétique.
RARE PC2111 .A258 1903

Severance, Henry O. (Henry Ormal). History of the Library of the University of Missouri. [Columbia], University of Missouri, 1911. 149 leaves. Typescript with author's handwritten corrections; printed title page; 18 photographs, chiefly ports of librarians, tipped in; 1 of the 18 is wanting. Another typescript draft of the forward by President Jesse is laid in.
SPEC MU Z733 .M693S4 1911

Jesse, Mary Polk. The wind: a poem. The rain: a poem. 1920. [12] p. Pamphlet; paper; ink watercolors, hand-lettered hand-colored paper covers. A children's book; probably a student project in the School of Education, University of Missouri-Columbia. Mary Polk Jesse was daughter of Richard Henry Jesse, president of the University of Missouri. Last four pages blank.
SPEC MU PE1119 .J47 1920

Wulfekammer, Verna M. (Verna Mary). Pottery. 300 leaves. Paper; typescript, ink handdrawn. Subject arrangement in chapters. Last leaf dated May 24, 1929. With numerous, detailed pen and ink drawings. Title handlettered within border, with title vignette.
SPEC MU TP808 .W8 1929

Williams, Tennessee. Beauty is the word. 13 leaves., illustrations. Columbia, Mo., 1930. Play submitted by Thomas Lanier Williams for the University of Missouri Dramatic Arts Club Dramatic Price Plays contest for 1930.
SPEC MU PS623 .D7 1930 no. 6

Wulfekammer, Verna M. (Verna Mary). Basketry. 160 leaves. Illustrations include detailed pen and ink drawings, one watercolor. Title within ornamental borders.
SPEC MU TT879 .B3W8 1930

Williams, Tennessee. Hot milk at three in the morning: a one act play. 8 leaves. Columbia, Mo., 1932. Play submitted by Thomas Lanier Williams for the University of Missouri Dramatic Arts Club Dramatic Price Plays contest for 1932.
SPEC MU PS623 .D7 1932 no. 13

Berry family. The Berry family history. 1936-1958. 6 vols. v. 1. Correspondence.--v.2. Information.--v.3. Book draft.--v.4. Other manuscripts.--v.5-6. Correspondence. Typescript (some carbon copies) and holograph correspondence of J. H. Berry, of L. E. Berry, and of M. R. Riley and other genealogical material used in preparation of: Hudson Berry and his descendants, by Lloyd E. Berry, and, A compilation of the Berry, Gaines, and Harrison families, by Mary R. Riley. Vol. 3 is a typescript draft of the book with 1956 copyright notice.
RARE CS71 .B526 1936

Gentry, North Todd. University building with nine names: paper. 1937. 9 leaves, 1 leaf of plates. Typescript, with photograph of painting. Building erected 1857 at 7th and Elm Streets, known successively as Primary School Building, English Building, President's House, Normal School Building, Model School Building, English and Art Building, Medical Building (twice), and Library Building, and razed in 1903.
SPEC MU LD3475.M4 G4

Russell, Bertrand. How to Become a Philsopher. How to Become a Logician. How to Become a Mathematician. 1942. 95 leaves. Holographic manuscript of three essays published in pamphlet format as nos. 7, 8 and 9 of the "How-To Series" by E. Haldeman-Julius in 1943. Contains letter of donation from the publisher to the Missouri Academy of Sciences dated 1943. The published pamphlet is included in a pocket on the inside back cover.
RARE RES B1649.R91 H355 1942

Brabner, Joyce and Harvey Pekar. Our cancer year. 1992. 135, 132 leaves. Computer typescript. Script of comic book without illustrations, but with panels of illustrations numbered and indicated in script. Two versions of script with slight revisions. Without illustrations of Frank Stack.
COMIC RC265.6.F45 B73 1992