Palaeography & Manuscript Studies

Books Facsimiles Catalogues Microfilms Journals Original manuscripts Related collections

Books

There are over 21,000 volumes in the Manuscript Studies collection comprising books, pamphlets, and offprints on open access in the Special Collections Reading Room (see Special Collections opening hours). It is one of the major research collections on this subject in London, the UK and worldwide, and comprises secondary printed literature on various aspects of manuscript books and documents. Subjects covered include:

palaeography and handwriting
manuscript illumination
diplomatic and sigillography
codicology, the manuscript production, scribes and illuminators
the medieval book trade, manuscript readers and collectors, reading and literacy
history of medieval and renaissance libraries and collections
the tradition and transmission of texts
the care and modern cataloguing of manuscripts and archives

For information on the history of this collection and more details on its scope and coverage see our Palaeography Room page.

Manuscript Studies classmarks begin with the letters CC followed by a series of numbers and catchwords to indicate sub-divisions within the main subject. Note that the Manuscript Studies books are divided into three separate sequences according to their size: regular; folio (identified by the prefix f or fol); large folio (identified by the prefix lf).

What is palaeography?

See our latest acquisitions

Pre-1800 books

There are over ninety titles on the subject, including catalogues of manuscripts, printed before 1800. They are shelved in a separate sequence under the classmark *CC and are not available on open shelves.

Check here for the list of our earlier printed books.

Facsimiles

One of the main strenghts of the Manuscript Studies collection is reproductions of scripts and reproductions of medieval, liturgical, literary and historical manuscripts, usually in the form of published complete or partial facsimiles. Many are of near original quality and often the only available source for scholars who need access to manuscripts difficult to consult elsewhere due to geography or physical condition. Among the many treasures are facsimiles of the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Book of Kells, Chaucer and Virgil manuscripts. Other reproductions include the series of early Latin manuscripts and charters, Codices Latini Antiquiores and Chartae Latinae Antiquiores, and the series of Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile. There are also significant holdings of unpublished manuscript facsimiles, among which many are facsimiles of medieval library catalogues.

What is a facsimile?

Virtual exhibition of manuscript facsimiles - a modern revival of Julian Brown's 1968 original exhibition

Alphabetical listing of facsimiles in the collection

Roxburghe Club publications

Facsimiles of medieval manuscripts and of important works in Early and Middle English are a significant part of our Roxburghe Club holdings. Roxburghe Club volumes are shelved in a separate sequence and are not available on open shelves.

Check here for more details about this collection.

Catalogues of manuscripts

The Manuscript Studies collection is very rich in published and unpublished catalogues of manuscripts held in libraries, archives and private collections in the UK, Europe and internationally, accounting for a third of the entire Manuscript Studies collection. Most of our catalogues are arranged geographically by place or subject. There are many 18th and 19th century catalogues, and over one hundred facsimiles of medieval library catalogues in the collection.

Check here for a list of our medieval library catalogues facsimiles (under construction).

Check here for our catalogues' classmarks.

Microfilms of manuscripts

There are approximately 300 microfilms of manuscripts, most of which of manuscripts held in other libraries. They are listed individually by place and holding institution on the index cards in the Special Collections Reading Room.

De Ricci index cards

The Manuscript Studies collection is home to 60,000 handwritten index cards by the French scholar Seymour de Ricci (1881–1942), who compiled information on manuscripts of Britain and Ireland as part of his ambitious Bibliotheca Britannica Manuscripta project. He intended this work as a companion to his published Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. This is an important tool for research on manuscript provenance.

Check here for more details about this index.

Journals

The current issues of journals are on display in the Special Collections Reading Room. The bound volumes are shelved alphabetically according to the title at the end of the book sequence and have the classmark CC25.9 followed by the first word of the title. The series Corpus Christianorum, Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca are also available in the reading room.

A-Z list of SHL Palaeography journals
A-Z list of SHL Palaeography eJournals

Finding journal articles in Manuscript Studies (under construction).

Medieval manuscripts

The Senate House Library holds over 120 original medieval manuscripts and fragments, many of which used by palaeography teachers for teaching the subject to University of London students. Examples of manuscripts used for teaching palaeography and codicology:

Check here for the guide to all our medieval manuscripts.

Teaching materials and collections

Teaching materials are an important resource, used throughout the academic year in the many paleography classes taught in the library. Senate House Library also participates in the annual London Palaeography Summer School by providing teaching materials such as facsimiles.

Reproductions of scripts chronologically by century (classmark S/F)
Reproductions of manuscripts, including dated and datable manuscripts (classmark MS/F)
Samples of parchment skins
Dorothy K. Coveney collection of writing instruments

Papers of palaeographers

The Senate House Library holds the papers of former teachers of palaeography at the University of London and eminent palaeographers, amongst whom:

See also the palaeography archives guide.

Other ULRLS libraries also hold papers of prominent medievalists and palaeographers, including:

Closs/Priebsch family papers (Institute of Germanic Studies Library, ACO/ECT/HCL/RPR)
Papers of Herbert Hans Karl Thoma (Institute of Germanic Studies Library, HTH)

Related collections

Book Studies (open access books shelved in the Special Collections Reading Room) - for titles on the history of printing and libraries
English Studies - for textual criticism and textual editions of Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and early modern English literature
Classics - for textual editions of manuscripts in the classical languages, mainly Latin
Music - for facsimiles and studies of medieval music manuscripts
History - for printed medieval documents and local history periodicals
Archives collection - for original medieval manuscripts and palaeography teachers collections

Other libraries

Complementary holdings of monographs can be found at the Warburg Institute Library with modern editions of manuscripts of Classical texts, the Institute of Historical Research Library with many books on Diplomatic, and the Institute of Classical Studies Library with titles mostly relating to Greek papyri. These libraries' holdings can be searched using the combined ULRLS online catalogue.

Other libraries in London, mainly the British Library, the Wellcome Library and the National Art Library (Victoria & Albert Museum) also have books on Manuscript Studies but their holdings do not belong to discrete collections dedicated to this subject.