Teaching with Medieval Books in Special Collections
This guide covers resources in Special Collections related to medieval European books, especially medieval manuscripts and early printed books (sometimes called "incunables").
Listed below are finding aids and digital resources at the University of Missouri that include medieval books. Other manuscripts and early printed books in Special Collections may be found in MERLIN.
Fragmenta Manuscripta is a collection of over 200 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 Department of Rare Books and Special collections maintains a small collection of incunabula (books printed before 1501) and early printed material.
The University of Missouri acquired the collection of Geoffroi Jacques Flach (1846-1919) in 1920. Dr. Flach's collection included several fine examples of medieval manuscripts and printing.
This page is an inventory of all medieval and Renaissance manuscript materials in Special Collections with links to digitized content where applicable.
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. Each set of Pages from the Past is unique. This collection is labeled 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.
Almost 900 Greek manuscripts and some of the most important papyri, ranging in date from the first to the 18th centuries, are now included in the Digitised Manuscripts site.
Digital Scriptorium is a growing consortium of American libraries and museums committed to free online access to their collections of pre-modern manuscripts. The website unites scattered resources from many institutions into a national digital platform for teaching and scholarly research.
ILLUMINATED invites you to view multiple images within each manuscript, zoom in on details, discover drawings hidden beneath the painted surfaces, learn about the pigments and the advanced scientific methods used for their identification, and explore the relationships between scribes, artists and original owners.
Assembled through gifts and purchase over the past two centuries, this collection includes works in Latin, Greek, and most of the vernacular languages of Europe that are the primary sources for the study of the literature, art, history, music, philosophy, and theology of the periods.
The Museum has built an expansive and balanced representation of the art form, with holdings totaling over 200 complete books and individual leaves that span the ninth to sixteenth centuries.
The Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts (DLMM) currently encompasses the Roman de la Rose Digital Library and the Christine de Pizan Digital Scriptorium. It offers a research environment in which the 13th-century narrative of the Rose and the works of late 14th/early 15th-century author, Christine de Pizan, can be explored in their manuscript context.
The Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection includes nearly three hundred manuscripts and documents ranging in date from ca. 1900BC to the 20th century, with particular focus on the eras of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
There are thousands of images from The Morgan Library & Museum’s renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts available on this website.
With more than 900 illuminated manuscripts, 1,250 of the first printed books (ca. 1455 - 1500), and an important collection of post-1500 deluxe editions, this extraordinary collection chronicles the art of the book over more than 1,000 years.
The Wellcome Library is a free museum and library based on the collection of Sir Henry Wellcome with particular strengths in medicine and the history of science.
