Medieval Manuscripts at Wilson Special Collections Library: Early Manuscript Collections
Medieval Manuscript Fragments in Bindings
Medieval manuscript fragments were often repurposed and used for the bindings of incunabula. In the case of Incunabula 111, the external binding is composed of vellum leaves from an earlier liturgical music manuscript.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 167, folio 102r, MacKinney Collection
Manuscript Collections
The Rare Book Collection at Wilson Library holds a rich collection of original medieval and early modern manuscripts in languages such as Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Arabic, and more. These materials can be viewed in person by appointment in the Wilson Library Research Room, or digital reproductions may be requested by contacting the Research & Instructional Services department.
Manuscripts by Language
Use these links to explore original manuscript materials by language at Wilson Library.
Aaron Burtis Hunter Collection
The Aaron Burtis Hunter Collection is a collection of manuscripts, including both medieval (pre-1601) materials and modern/early modern (post-1601) materials. Chiefly represented within this collection are books (such as commonplace books, handwritten copies of printed books), documents (such as legal agreements, marriage contracts, land deeds), and letters from the 15th to 18th centuries. Many of these materials are in Italian and Latin, but others are in languages including English, Scottish, and French.
Hanes Collection of Manuscripts
Materials in the Hanes Collection of Manuscripts were donated by the Hanes Family or purchased with funding from the Hanes Foundation for the Study of the Origin and Development of the Book. Dr. Frederic M. Hanes also gave several unique and special items from his personal collection including the Hanes Book of Hours (Bruges, 15th century).
See materials in the Hanes Collection of Manuscripts.
Related Collections
- The MacKinney Collection of Medieval Medical Illustrations: Loren C. MacKinney collected more than 1000 slides of medieval medical illustrations. The MacKinney slides were digitized from late June through August in 2007 using the Nikon SuperCool SCU 9000. In order to create a master archive of the images at the highest resolution possible, the slides were scanned five at a time at 4000 pixels per inch. Copies of these images were then adjusted in Photoshop; they were sharpened, cropped, and color adjusted. These manipulations of the digital images of the slides sought to represent accurately the condition of the original slide and to produce a natural appearance for screen-viewing.
- Incunabula: Incunabula are early printed books printed before 1501. Wilson Library holds a collection of over 700 incunabula, around 400 of which were purchased in 1929 at the establishment of the Rare Book Collection with support from the Hanes Family of Winston-Salem. Some of these incunabula even contain medieval manuscript fragments in their bindings, as bookbinding waste was often reused due to the high cost of materials like parchment and vellum (see image of Incunabula 111).
Bookplate of Aaron Burtis Hunter
Who was Aaron Burtis Hunter?
Aaron Burtis Hunter (1854-1933) was an American educator, clergyman, philanthropist, and book collector. He received his BA from Amherst College in 1876 and graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1879. In 1888, he accepted an appointment to teach theology at St. Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh. He received doctor of divinity degrees from Amherst and the University of the South in 1916. Hunter spent time traveling in Europe, particularly in Italy, where he collected hundreds of medieval and early modern manuscripts as well as early printed books. These materials now make up the Aaron Burtis Hunter Collection at Wilson Library.