“book, paper, or other document written by hand with ink, pencil, etc.,” as distinguished from anything printed, especially one written before the use of printing, c. 1600, earlier as an adjective, “written with the hand, handwritten, not printed” (1590s ), from Medieval Latin manuscriptum “document written by hand,” from Latin manu scriptus “written by hand,” from manu, ablative of manus “hand” (from PIE root *man- (2) “hand”) + scriptus (neuter scriptum), past participle of scribere “to write” (from PIE root *skribh- “to cut”). The abbreviation is MS, plural MSS.
There are an astounding number of manuscripts that have been digitized for viewing on line. The following list is from the website of the University of Chicago Library.
(As we all know, sometimes links cease to function as they should. To keep this list in working order, let us know if any of these links fail.)
North American Collections
- Digital Scriptorium Website uniting a consortium of American libraries and museums committed to free online access to their collections of pre-modern manuscripts.
- Morgan Library and Museum Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts List List of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and rolls in the Morgan Library and Museum’s collection. Includes links to digitized images and bibliographic information.
- Beinecke Library Digital Collections, Yale University Webpage for searching digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.
- Goodspeed Manuscript Collection Sixty-eight early Greek, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic, and Latin manuscripts ranging in date from the 5th to the 19th centuries.
- Manuscripts and Rare Books | The Walters Art Museum Collection of digitized western medieval manuscripts in the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD). Searchable by name and date.
- Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Online database featuring digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Schoenberg Institute of Manuscript Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image | UPenn Database of illuminated manuscripts in the Schoenberg Center.
- J. Paul Getty Museum Digitized Manuscripts Database for manuscripts housed in the Getty’s collection both in site and online.
- Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App The DMMapp (Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App) links to more than 500 libraries in the world. Each one of these contains digital medieval manuscripts that can be browsed for free.
Latin
- Bibliotheca Latinitatis Mediaevalis Italian catalog of digitized Latin manuscripts from the 7-14th centuries.
- Library of Latin Texts – Series A Searchable database of digitized Latin texts, not necessarily digitized manuscripts. Search alphabetically or by title.
- Library of Latin Texts – Series B Searchable database of digitized Latin texts, not necessarily digitized manuscripts. Search alphabetically or by title.
English, Irish, and Scottish
- Scriptorium Database for searching and accessing digitized manuscript collections at Cambridge University Library. Website also contains image database and resources for digital manuscript studies.
- Digital Bodleian | Oxford Database of digitized western medieval manuscripts in the collection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- Digital Bodleain Illuminated Manuscripts | Oxford Database of digitized western medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library that contain illuminated images.
- Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries Database Digital catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges. *Make sure to adjust the settings to search for “Digital Facsimile Online” in order to locate digitized manuscripts.
- The British Library | Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts Database for searching the print and digitized manuscript collection at the British National Library.
- Collections Explorer| The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Database of digitized and searchable illuminated manuscripts at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts Searchable database for Irish texts, documents, and manuscripts.
French and Francophone
- Gallica Bibliothèque Nationale de France digital library. Contains links to digitized manuscripts in the BnF collection.
- Initiale Database of medieval manuscripts primarily from libraries in France. Includes images.
- Mandragore, base des manuscrits enluminés de la BnF Database of illuminated manuscripts housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Bibliothéque Nationale de France | Archives et manuscrits Database for searching for manuscripts in the collection of the French national library.
- Bibliothèque Virtuelle des Manuscrits Mediévéaux | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Database of links to partially and totally digitized manuscripts, including illuminated images.
- Institut de recherche e d’histoire des textes Research institution in France dedicated to the study of pre-modern manuscripts and incunabulae. Site includes links to databases for Latin, Latin liturgical, Arabic, and Syriac manuscripts as well. IRHT is affiliated with CNRS (Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique).
- Rosalis | Bibliothèque numérique de Toulouse Catalog of digitized French manuscripts and select Latin manuscripts.
- Belgica | Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique Digital Library Database of digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Belgian Royal Library.
Italian
- DigVatLab | Digital Vatican Library Digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Vatican Library. Ongoing digitization project of the library’s 80,000 codices of mostly medieval and early modern manuscripts.
- Firenze Biblioteca Centrale | Manoscritti Database of digitized manuscripts in the Biblioteca Centrale, Florence.
- Internet Culturale | Catologhi e Collezioni Digitali delle Biblioteche Italiane Searchable database containing digitized manuscripts from different national Italian libraries. Also includes a catalogue of images.
- Internet Culturale | Manoscritti della Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Venice) Selection of digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.
- Nuova Biblioteca Manoscritta | Banca Dati Collettiva dei Manoscritti Digitali Select collections of digitized manuscripts from various Italian libraries.
Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese
- Biblioteca Digital Hispánica | Biblioteca Nacional de España Digitized manuscripts in the collection of the Spanish National Library. Searchable by date, language, author name, and material.
- Libros de Horas | Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Collection of digitized Books of Hours in the National Library of Spain’s digitized manuscript catalog.
- Manuscrits de la Biblioteca di Catalunya – Barcelona Collection of digitized manuscripts in the Biblioteca di Catalunya. Searchable by author name, date, and material.
German and Dutch
- Manuscripta Mediaevalia Searchable digital catalogs of major manuscript collections in German libraries (Berlin, Munich, etc.). Also includes all digitized manuscripts.
- e-codices | Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
- Das Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (MDZ) Munich DigitiZation Center (MDZ) handles the digitization and online publication of the cultural heritage preserved by the Bavarian State Library and by other institutions.
- Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections Collection of digitized Dutch manuscripts, includes images and resources for paleography studies.