From Antiquity to the Modern World

Types of Texts preserved in Manuscripts and Written Records
on Papyrus, Parchment, Paper, and other Materials

Specimens in a private collection
Reproduced by permission

Descriptions by Mildred Budny

PART I.  Here we group, by their Type of Text or by their Writing Material, a selection of specimens drawn from our Galleries of Scripts on Parade and other parts of the same collection.

So far:

I.      Texts on Papyrus
II.    Biblical & Liturgical Manuscripts
III.  Koran/Qur’an Manuscripts
IV.   Sanskrit & Prakrit Palm-Leaf Manuscripts
V.    Chinese & Related Materials
VI.     Occult, Astrological & Magical Texts

Here are specimens — mostly fragmentary — of manuscripts and documents in various languages, including both secular and religious concerns.  They represent, for example, records of divers transactions, Biblical texts of various kinds, the Qur’an/Koran in different copies, an Abbasid biographical collection, an apocryphal ‘Life of the Virgin’ in Byzantine Greek, a variety of Arabic and Ottoman Turkish texts using watermarked European paper, and the components of a composite Yemeni bookbinding with reused leaves from older manuscripts.

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I.     Texts on Papyrus

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Charter from France in Latin on parchment, dated 1429 CE, from Chambéry in Savoie. The text records a transaction between François Marchand and Bartholomeo Chabod (purchased online from a French seller). In 1421, Duke Amedeo VIII of Savoie recognized Bartolomeo Chabod as the illegitimate son of Giacomo Chabod (http://www.archividelmediterraneo.org/portal/faces/public/guest/home/km/kmUdDGen1?portal:componentId=kmUdDGen1&portal:type=render&portal:isSecure=false&snazid=122&sDocId=275209&sidFnz=D&sselected=ud_dtgen1&snumrecordpagecmp=10&sistid=120&sparentid=0).

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II.    Biblical & Liturgical Manuscripts

[More Coming Soon]

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III.  Koran/Qur’an Manuscripts

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Recto of a Qur'an/Koran leaf in Arabic on paper, probably Fatimid, 11th or 12th century CE, reused in a Yemeni binding of the 15th century (purchased online with the binding from Israel)

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IV.   Sanskrit & Prakrit Palm-Leaf Manuscripts

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Folio 122 recto of the same 7-line 'Palm-leaf' manuscript in Prakrit on paper, with decorative rather than functional 'stringing holes', from Western India, Gujarat or vicinity, circa 1500 CE. From the text of the 'Kalpa Sūtra', a Jain text containing the biographies of the Jain Tirthankaras (purchased in the Portobello Road Market, London)

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V.     Chinese & Related Texts

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« ‹ of 4 › »

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VI.     Occult, Astrological & Magical Texts

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« ‹ of 4 › »

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You can visit the Gallery of Scripts on Parade.

Other Galleries are in the course of installation for Latin, Western European Vernacular, and other Languages.

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