7. Manuscripts and Painting
Aberdeen Bestiary
Index, commentary, and complete digital version of the Aberdeen Bestiary created by the University of Aberdeen.
Ad fontes
Interactive website that offers training in paleographic skills through a variety of tutorials and transliteration tools. Access is free but requires registering for a username and password. In German.
The Alchemy Website: Database of Alchemical Manuscripts
Database aims to include descriptions of all alchemical manuscripts in U.S. and European collections. Extensive bibliography and images.
Antike und mittelalterliche Handschriften in der Schweiz
Active project to provide access to cataloging, commentary, and digital images for all manuscripts in Swiss collections. In German and French.
Archimedes Palimpsest
This tenth century manuscript, in the collections of the Walters Art Museum,
is the unique source for two of Archimedes' treatises, The Method and Stomachion, as well as the unique source for the Greek text of On
Floating Bodies. The website documents research, conservation, and
digital imaging projects.
Austrian Literature Online: Erlebnisraum Altes Buch
Access to 59 fully digitized medieval manuscripts from Austrian university collections.
Bamberg Staatsbibliothek
Index of manuscripts held by the Bamberg Staatsbibliothek with
links to full descriptions and selected digital images. Includes link
to an associated bibliography.
Biblia Pauperum
Images and text from Avril Henry's Biblia Pauperum (1987).
Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon
Searchable database with images of manuscripts held by Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon. Contains more than 400 manuscripts and documents.
British Library Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
This searchable catalog contains descriptive records for manuscripts drawn from all the regions and periods represented in the British Library collections.
The British Library Manuscripts Collection
Very well-organized site with links to digital images and other useful MS resources. Includes a high resolution digital version of the Lindisfarne Gospel.
The Cary Collection
Fifty-one manuscript leaves from Western European 12th-16th century manuscripts from the collections of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
CEEC: Codices Electronici Ecclesiae Coloniensis
Multiple function website with hundreds of high resolution digital manuscripts from the Episcopal and Cathedral Library in Cologne. Some static pages, i.e. Project Description, are available in English.
Includes a link to a useful tool in English, The Medieval Manuscript Manual.
Centre for the Study of Fifteenth Century Painting in the Southern
Netherlands
Includes a list of approx. 1,700 paintings of 'Flemish Primitives' with
artist, title, and subject information. The list is based on Hélène Mund's Early
Netherlandish Painting (1400-1500) and is updated frequently. Also contains the Rogier van der Weyden Bibliography since 1984 with multiple images
of his works.
Codex Gigas
The Codex Gigas or the Devil’s Bible is a medieval manuscript at the National Library in Sweden. It is reputed to be the largest surviving European manuscript. It also contains a large, full page portrait of the Devil. This site contains a digitized version of every page of the manuscript as well as commentaries on its history, texts, script, initials and decoration.
Codices Electronici Sangallenses (CESG)
The Abbey Library of St. Gall online with high resolution digital
images, searchable manuscript descriptions, and digital versions of entire
manuscripts. Multi-language interface.
CORSAIR: The Online Research Resource of the Pierpont Morgan
Library
Digital images from the Morgan Library’s
collection of Medieval
and Renaissance manuscripts. Covers ten centuries of Western illumination
and contains manuscripts from all major schools.
Decentral Digital Incunabula Collection (vdIB)
This project, funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) was carried out in co-operation with the University of Cologne, the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Cologne, and the Herzog August Bibliothek. Over 1,000 incunabula between the years 1450-1484 have been fully digitized.
Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters Handschriftenarchiv
DScriptorium
List of links to digital images of medieval manuscripts from various U.S. collections.
Digital Medieval Manuscripts at Houghton Library
The Houghton Library’s collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts represents a significant resource for the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Western Europe. This Web site provides strategies for searching Houghton's medieval manuscripts as well as links to bibliographies related to these materials compiled by the Library.
Digital Scriptorium
The Digital Scriptorium was conceived as an image database of dated and datable medieval and renaissance manuscripts with the intent to unite scattered resources into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research. Catalog entries include images and bibliography. Searchable by multiple indexes.
e-codices: Virtuelle Handschriftenbibliothek der Schweiz
Collection of digital ms. from 11 Swiss libraries. May be browsed by author/title/age/signature or searched by keywords. English interface.
Early Manuscripts at Oxford University
This website provides access to over 80 early manuscripts in high resolution digital images. These manuscripts are held in 7 institutions associated with the University of Oxford. Access is through browsing full pages or thumbnails.
Enluminures
A joint production of CNRS and Direction du Livre et Lecture, this searchable database includes more than 14,000 images from over 1200 illuminated manuscripts. In French.
Gutenberg Bible
Digital version of the Göttingen Library copy of the Gutenberg Bible and also the Model Book for painting manuscripts which was used to illuminate the Göttingen Bible.
Handschriftencensus: Eine Bestandsaufnahme der handschriftlichen Überlieferung deutschsprachiger Texte des Mittelalters
Searchable index of manuscripts in German collections. Created and maintained by the Marburger Repertorien. In German.
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library
Use VIVARIUM to search for digitized manuscripts, art, rare books, photographs, audio, video, and other resources among the more than 90,000 manuscripts in the Hill Museum and Library. Use the “Catalogue Search” option to search the entire collection.
Honderd hoogtepunten uit de Koninklijke Bibliotheek
One hundred highlights from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in digital format based on a 1994 exhibition.
A Hypertext Book of Hours
An introduction to the structure of a book of hours based on several sources. Includes explanatory materials, Latin/English facing pages texts, and numerous links to other books of resources.
Index of Medieval Medical Images
The Index of Medieval Medical Images in North America (IMMI) describes and illustrates the content of medieval texts and illuminations on medical topics from 6 North American libraries.
INKA - Inkunabelkatalog deutscher Bibliotheken
Union catalog that enables searching for incunables across German collections. In German.
IRHT: Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes
Sponsored by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the IRHT website provides a variety of research tools, publications and links for the study of French manuscripts from antiquity to the renaissance. Research categories include iconography, paleography, codicology, musicology and Byzantine sources. In French.
Koninklijke Bibliotheek Web Exhibitions
Includes a section, Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, which presents almost 11,000 unique illustrations from 400 illuminated manuscripts from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek and the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum in The Hague.
Late Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts on the Web
Finding aid to digital images from various manuscripts compiled by the CHD: Center for Håndskriftstudier i Danmark/Institute for the Study of Illuminated Manuscripts in Denmark.
Liber Floridus
Database supporting iconographical and other index searches of illuminated
manuscripts preserved in the Bibliothèque Mazarine and the Bibliothèque
Sainte-Geneviève. Includes digital images for all manuscripts. In French.
Mandragore
Database of manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Nationale with extensive images. Searchable by keyword.
MANUS: Censimento dei Manoscritti delle Biblioteche Italiane
Union catalog of manuscripts in Italian libraries. Includes links to forums, newsletters, events, and online exhibitions. In Italian.
Manuscript Libraries in Austria
Comprehensive list of MS in Austrian collections linked to extensive bibliography. May be searched by institution or MS name/shelfmark. Also contains links to MS Web sites and digital projects.
Manuscripta Medievalia
A feature of this site is that digital images of all printed mss. catalogues of German collections are searchable by incipit. Also contains high quality digital images of nearly 100 manuscripts, multiple indexes to iconography and manuscript literature. Supports searching by manuscript identifiers or thematically.
Manuscriptorium (Memoria Project)
Manuscriptorium is designed for collecting and providing access to information on historical book resources with links to a virtual library of digitized documents. The Manuscriptorium is created and maintained by the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections
This database contains descriptions of all medieval western manuscripts written in Latin script and produced up to c. 1550 now preserved in public and semi-public collections in the Netherlands. These include the collections of libraries, museums and archives, as well as the collections of monastic orders and some other private institutions that are open to researchers.
Medieval Manuscripts on the Web: A Brief Introduction
Guide to searching for medieval manuscript materials on the Internet created by a librarian at the University of Toronto.
A Medieval Mirror: Speculum humanae salvationis, 1324-1500
Full-text version of Adrian Wilson's 1984 study of the many versions of the Speculum humanæ salvationis. Includes all illustrations, bibliography, and index.
Memoriae Mundi Series Bohemica
Digitization project containing collections from more than thirty important Czech cultural institutions and co-ordinated by the National Library of the Czech Republic. Includes access to medieval manuscripts through the Manuscriptorium project.
Parker on the Web
A prototype interactive workspace designed to support use and
study of the manuscripts in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge, England.
Prato Haggadah
Digital images of an unfinished 14th century Spanish manuscript with "page
turner" features. There are pproximately 85 leaves of which 30 are fully illuminated
and 58 are partially illuminated.
Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts
Database containing more than 60,000 entries for manuscripts written
before 1600 and consisting of five or more leaves. It includes bibliographic
information from approximately 4,000 catalogues from 400 dealers and auction
houses since the early 19th century. This data is supplemented by entries
from inventories and catalogues of private and institutional libraries.
The Schøyen Collection
The Schøyen Collection comprises most types of manuscripts from
all regions spanning over 5000 years. It is the largest private manuscript
collection formed in the 20th century. The collection, MSS 1-5268, comprises
13,497 items: 6,850 from 3300 BC - 500 AD; 3,864 from the medieval period,
500 - 1500; and 2,783 from the post-medieval period.
Spätmittelalterliche Bilderhandschriften aus der Bibliotheca Palatina
Digital versions of 27 late medieval illustrated manuscripts from Heidelberg University. In German, French, and English.
Uncataloged Manuscript Control Center
Index to uncataloged and unlocated manuscripts in public and private collections in North America.
Formerly known as the Union Manuscript Computer Catalogue.
Utrecht Psalter
Digital version of the Carolingian period Utrecht Psalter, produced around 820-840 in the Benedictine abbey of Hautvillers near Epernay. Viewable only with Internet Explorer.
Virtual Library: History: Paleography
Subsection of the WWW Virtual Library for History devoted to paleography. Contains links to information about conferences and publications as well as analytical tools.
Virtual Library: History: Codicology
Subsection of the WWW Virtual Library for History devoted to codicology. Contains links to information about conferences and publications as well as analytical tools.
Vocabulaire Codicologique
A searchable, multi-language illustrated dictionary of codicological concepts and terminology. Created and maintained by the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes.
Walters Art Museum: Dressed in Gold: Books of the Italian Renaissance
Digital catalog of the collection of rarely seen 14th and 15th
century manuscripts held by the Walters Art Museum. Contains over 400
folios of 29 manuscripts produced in Venice, Milan, Rome, Florence, and
Naples during the Italian Renaissance.
Watermarks in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries
Searchable database of watermark descriptions and images. Created and maintained by the Royal Library, Netherlands.
