View source for Manuscript

{{short description|Document written by hand}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{tone|date=May 2025}}
[[File:Codex Bruchsal 1 68r.jpg|thumb|right|[[Christ Pantocrator]] seated in a capital "U" in an [[illuminated manuscript]] from the Badische Landesbibliothek, Germany (from {{c.|1220}})]]
[[File:De urinarum differencia negocium between 1210 and 1230 ..JPG|thumb|right|Image of two facing pages of the illuminated manuscript of "Isagoge", fols. 42b and 43a. On the top of the left hand page is an illuminated letter "D" – initial of "De urinarum differencia negocium" (The matter of the differences of urines). Inside the letter is a picture of a master on bench pointing at a raised flask while lecturing on the "Book on urines" of Theophilus. The right hand page is only shown in part. On its very bottom is an illuminated letter "U" – initial of "Urina ergo est colamentum sanguinis" (Urine is thus the filtrate of the blood). Inside the letter is a picture of a master holding up a flask while explaining the diagnostic significance of urine to a student or a patient. HMD Collection, MS E 78.]]
[[File:Illuminated letter U between 1210 and 1230 ..JPG|thumb|right|Inside the letter is a picture of a master in cathedra expounding on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. Initial "V" rendered as "U" of "Vita brevis, ars vero longa", or "Life is short, but the art is long". "Isagoge", fol. 15b. HMD Collection, MS E 78.]]

A '''manuscript''' (abbreviated '''MS''' for singular and '''MSS''' for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or [[typewritten]], as opposed to mechanically [[printing|printed]] or reproduced in some indirect or automated way.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manuscript|title=Definition of MANUSCRIPT|website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=15 April 2018|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018192258/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manuscript|url-status=live}}</ref> More recently, the term has come to be understood to further include ''any'' written, typed, or word-processed copy of an author's work, as distinguished from the rendition as a printed version of the same.<ref>{{OED|manuscript}}</ref>

Before the arrival of prints, all documents and books were manuscripts. Manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, [[music notation]], explanatory figures, or illustrations.

==Terminology==
[[File:Codex Manesse 193r - Albrecht von Rapperswil.jpg|thumb|Manuscript, [[Codex Manesse]]. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered.]]
[[File:Thucydides Manuscript.jpg|thumb|10th-century minuscule manuscript of [[Thucydides]]'s [[History of the Peloponnesian War]]]]
[[File:Satie sports preface.jpg|thumb|First page of [[Erik Satie|Satie]]'s ''[[Sports et divertissements]]'' (published as a facsimile in 1923)]]
The word "manuscript" derives from the {{langx|la|manūscriptum}} (from {{lang|la|manus}}, [[hand]] and {{lang|la|scriptum}} from {{lang|la|scribere}}, to [[write]]), and is first recorded in English in 1597.<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |date=1933 |entry=Manuscript |entry-url=https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%206/page/145/mode/1up |page=145 |volume=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=manuscript |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/manuscript_adj?tab=factsheet#37996804 |url-access=subscription |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=24 December 2024 |language=en}}</ref> An earlier term in English that shares the meaning of a handwritten document is "hand-writ" (or "handwrit"), which is first attested around 1175 and is now rarely used.<ref>{{cite web |title=hand-writ |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hand-writ_n?tab=meaning_and_use |url-access=subscription |website=OED |access-date=24 December 2024}}</ref> The study of the writing (the "hand") in surviving manuscripts is termed [[palaeography]] (or paleography). The traditional abbreviations are '''MS''' for manuscript and '''MSS''' for manuscripts,<ref>Harper, Douglas. "[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=manuscript Manuscript]". Online Etymology Dictionary. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228000013/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=manuscript |date=28 February 2008 }}. Accessed 10-11-2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=228 |title=Medieval English Literary Manuscripts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209203422/https://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=228 |archive-date=9 December 2008 |date= 22 June 2004 |publisher= University of Rochester Libraries}} Accessed 10-11-2007.</ref> while the forms '''MS.''', '''ms''' or '''ms.''' for singular, and '''MSS.''', '''mss''' or '''mss.''' for plural (with or without the full stop, all uppercase or all lowercase) are also accepted.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossM.asp |at="Manuscript" |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312145527/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossM.asp |archive-date=12 March 2016 |title= M - Glossary |website=[[The British Library]] Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts |access-date= 12 March 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ms "ms", "ms." and "MS"] in The Free Dictionary (American Heritage 2011 and Random House Kernerman Webster's 2010). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313035434/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ms |date=13 March 2016 }}. Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/MSS "MSS", "mss" and "mss"] in The Free Dictionary (American Heritage 2011, Collins 2014 and Random House Kernerman Webster's 2010). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313022826/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/MSS |date=13 March 2016 }}. Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mss- |title=MSS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313033228/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mss- |archive-date=13 March 2016 |website=Dictionary.com |access-date= 12 March 2016}}</ref> The second ''s'' is not simply the plural; by an old convention, a doubling of the last letter of the abbreviation expresses the plural, just as ''pp.'' means "pages".

A manuscript may be a [[codex]] (i.e. [[Bookbinding|bound as a book]]), a [[scroll (parchment)|scroll]], or bound differently or consist of loose pages. [[Illuminated manuscript]]s are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately embossed initial letters or full-page illustrations.

===Format===
* Format: [[Scroll]]; [[Codex]]

===Parts===
* [[Leaf (books)]] (or fragments thereof)
* [[Book cover|Cover]]
* [[Book design#Front cover, spine, and back cover|Flyleaf]] (blank sheet)
* [[Colophon (publishing)|Colophon]] (publication information)
* [[Incipit]] (the first few words of the text)
* Decoration; illustrations
* Dimensions ([[Book size]])
* [[Shelfmark]] or Signature in holding library (as opposed to printed Catalog number). Paper size number often precedes signature number with a ''circulus'' ([[degree symbol]]) following, but many libraries prefer spelling out the word (sometimes only in abbreviation) of the paper size (e.g. Fol[ia]., Qu[arto], Oct[avo, etc.). Some libraries use an equal sign instead of the circulus and may change the side on which the paper size number appears (8=3456 vs 3456=8) for indexing purposes.
* works/compositions included in same ms
* [[codicological]] elements:
** deletions method: erasure? [[overstrike]]? [[overdot|dots above letters]]?
** headers/footers
** page format/layout: columns? text and surrounding commentary/additions/glosses?
** [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]]s (passage not written by the original author)
** owners' marginal notations/corrections
** owner signatures
** dedication/[[inscription]]
** censor signatures
* [[collation]] (quires) (binding order)
* [[Pagination|foliation]]
* [[Page numbering|page numeration]]
* [[Bookbinding|binding]]
* manuscripts bound together in a single volume:
** convolute: volume containing different manuscripts
** [[Serial (literature)|fascicle]]: individual manuscript, part of a set (called a '''convolute''').

===Materials===
* [[paper]]
* [[parchment]]
* [[papyrus]] to preserve text
* [[ink]]
* [[writing implement]] used
* [[pencil]] to help with the writing process
* [[pastedown]] (blank paper for inside cover)

===Paleographic elements===
* script (one or more)
* dating
* [[line filler]]s
* [[rubrication]] (red ink text)
* ruled lines
* [[catchwords]]
* historical elements of the ms: blood, wine etc. stains
* condition:
** smokiness
** evidence of fire
** mold
** wormed

===Reproduction===
{{see also|Facsimile}}
The mechanical reproduction of a manuscript is called [[facsimile]]. Digital reproductions can be called (high-resolution) [[Image scanner|scan]]s or [[digital image]]s.

==History==
[[File:MS Indic 37, Isa upanisad. Wellcome L0027330.jpg|thumb|right|The Isha [[Upanishad]] manuscript]]
[[File:Gharib al-Hadith-page0019.jpg|thumb|right|Gharib al-Hadith, by [[Abu Ubaid al-Qasim bin Salam|Abu 'Ubaid al-Qasim ibn Sallam al-Harawi]] (d. 837 AD). The oldest known dated Arabic manuscript on paper in [[Leiden University Library]], dated 319 [[Hijri year|AH]] (931 AD)]]
[[File:Sargis Pitsak.jpg|thumb|A 14th-century [[Armenian manuscript]], with painting by [[Sargis Pitsak]]. The first page of the [[Gospel of Mark]]. Cod. 2627, fol. 436 r. ([[Matenadaran]])]]
Before the inventions of printing, in China by [[Woodblock printing|woodblock]] and in Europe by [[movable type]] in a [[printing press]], all written documents had to be both produced and reproduced by hand. In the west, manuscripts were produced in form of scrolls (''volumen'' in Latin) or books (''codex'', plural ''codices''). Manuscripts were produced on [[vellum]] and other parchment, on [[papyrus]], and on paper.

In [[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Southeast Asia]], [[palm leaf manuscript]]s, with a distinctive long rectangular shape, were used dating back to the 5th century BCE<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~zshi/Papers/kbcs04_261.pdf |title=Digital Enhancement of Palm Leaf Manuscript Images using Normalization Techniques
|author1=Zhixin Shi| author2=Srirangaraj Setlur |author3=Venu Govindaraju |access-date=2009-06-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616064125/http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~zshi/Papers/kbcs04_261.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-16 |location=Amherst, US|publisher=SUNY at Buffalo}}</ref> or earlier, and in some cases continued to be used until the 19th century. In China, [[bamboo and wooden slips]] were used prior to the [[History of paper|introduction of paper]]. In Russia, [[birch bark document]]s as old as from the 11th century have survived.

[[Paper]] spread from China via the Islamic world to Europe by the 14th century, and by the late 15th century had largely replaced parchment for many purposes there. When Greek or Latin works were published, numerous professional copies were sometimes made simultaneously by scribes in a [[scriptorium]], each making a single copy from an original that was declaimed aloud.

The oldest written manuscripts have been preserved by the perfect dryness of their Middle Eastern resting places, whether placed within [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] in Egyptian tombs, or reused as [[mummy]]-wrappings, discarded in the [[midden]]s of [[Oxyrhynchus]] or secreted for safe-keeping in jars and buried ([[Nag Hammadi library]]) or stored in dry caves ([[Dead Sea Scrolls]]). Volcanic ash preserved some of the Roman library of the [[Villa of the Papyri]] in [[Herculaneum]]. Manuscripts in [[Tocharian languages]], written on palm leaves, survived in desert burials in the [[Tarim Basin]] of Central Asia.

Ironically, the manuscripts that were being most carefully preserved in the libraries of [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] are virtually all lost. Papyrus has a life of at most a century or two in relatively humid Italian or Greek conditions; only those works copied onto parchment, usually after the general conversion to Christianity, have survived, and by no means all of those.

Originally, all books were in manuscript form. In China, and later other parts of East Asia, [[woodblock printing]] was used for books from about the 7th century. The earliest dated example is the [[Diamond Sutra]] of 868. In the Islamic world and the West, all books were in manuscript until the introduction of movable type printing in about 1450.{{clarify|date=May 2019|reason=Not clear whether this means movable type invention in 1040 AD or printing press in 1450 AD}} Manuscript copying of books continued for a least a century, as printing remained expensive. Private or government documents remained hand-written until the invention of the typewriter in the late 19th century. Because of the likelihood of errors being introduced each time a manuscript was copied, the [[Stemmatics|filiation]] of different versions of the same text is a fundamental part of the study and criticism of all texts that have been transmitted in manuscript.

In [[Southeast Asia]], in the first millennium, documents of sufficiently great importance were inscribed on soft metallic sheets such as [[intaglio printing|copperplate]], softened by refiner's fire and inscribed with a metal stylus. In the [[Philippines]], for example, as early as 900 AD, specimen documents were not inscribed by stylus, but were punched much like the style of today's [[dot-matrix printer]]s.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020|reason=Dubious. Perhaps a [[Braille embosser]]?}} This type of document was rare compared to the usual leaves and bamboo staves that were inscribed. However, neither the leaves nor paper were as durable as the metal document in the hot, humid climate. In [[Myanmar|Burma]], the kammavaca, Buddhist manuscripts, were inscribed on brass, copper or ivory sheets, and even on discarded monk robes folded and lacquered. In [[Italy]] some important [[Etruria|Etruscan]] texts were similarly inscribed on thin gold plates: similar sheets have been discovered in [[Bulgaria]]. Technically, these are all inscriptions rather than manuscripts.

In the Western world, from the [[Classical antiquity|classical period]] through the early centuries of the [[Christian era]], manuscripts were written without spaces between the words ([[scriptio continua]]), which makes them especially hard for the untrained to read. Extant copies of these early manuscripts written in [[Greek language|Greek]] or [[Latin]] and usually dating from the 4th century to the 8th century, are classified according to their use of either all [[majuscule|upper case]] or all [[lower case|lower case letters]]. [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] manuscripts, such as the [[Dead Sea scrolls]] make no such differentiation. Manuscripts using all upper case letters are called [[majuscule]], those using all lower case are called [[lower case|minuscule]]. Usually, the majuscule scripts such as [[uncial]] are written with much more care. The scribe lifted his pen between each stroke, producing an unmistakable effect of regularity and formality. On the other hand, while minuscule scripts can be written with pen-lift, they may also be [[cursive]], that is, use little or no pen-lift.

==Islamic world==
{{Main|Islamic Manuscripts}}
[[Islamic manuscripts]] were produced in different ways depending on their use and time period. [[Parchment]] (vellum) was a common way to produce manuscripts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/12|title=Paper before print : the history and impact of paper in the Islamic world|last=Bloom, Jonathan.|date=2001|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0300089554|pages=[https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/12 12]|oclc=830505350}}</ref> Manuscripts eventually transitioned to using paper in later centuries with the diffusion of paper making in the Islamic empire. When Muslims encountered paper in Central Asia, its use and production spread to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa during the 8th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/47|title=Paper before print : the history and impact of paper in the Islamic world|last=Bloom, Jonathan.|date=2001|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0300089554|pages=[https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/47 47]|oclc=830505350}}</ref>

==Africa==
{{Main articles|Timbuktu Manuscripts}}
{{See also|West African manuscripts}}
4,203 of [[Timbuktu Manuscripts|Timbuktu's manuscripts]] were burned or stolen during the armed [[conflict in Mali]] between 2012 and 2013. 90% of these manuscripts were saved by the population organized around the NGO "Sauvegarde et valorisation des manuscrits pour la défense de la culture islamique" (SAVAMA-DCI).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Le sort des manuscrits anciens du Mali au centre d'une conférence internationale à Bamako |url=https://news.un.org/fr/story/2015/01/304632 |access-date=25 September 2023 |website=United Nations |date=28 January 2015 |language=Fr}}</ref> Some 350,000 manuscripts were transported to safety, and 300,000 of them were still in [[Bamako]] in 2022.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2022-01-21 |title=Mali : les précieux manuscrits de Tombouctou – Jeune Afrique |url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1275798/culture/mali-les-precieux-manuscrits-de-tombouctou/ |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=JeuneAfrique.com |language=fr-FR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-21 |title=The Brave Sage of Timbuktu: Abdel Kader Haidara {{!}} Innovators |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140421-haidara-timbuktu-manuscripts-mali-library-conservation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318040104/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140421-haidara-timbuktu-manuscripts-mali-library-conservation |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 March 2021 |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Culture |language=en}}</ref> An international consultation on the safeguarding, accessibility and promotion of ancient manuscripts in the [[Sahel]] was held at the [[UNESCO]] office in Bamako in 2020.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

==Western world==
[[File:European Output of Manuscripts 500–1500.png|thumb|After plummeting in the [[Early Middle Ages]], the [[High Middle Ages|high]] and [[Late Middle Ages|late medieval period]] witnessed a sharp increase of manuscript production.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Buringh|first1=Eltjo|last2=Van Zanden|first2=Jan Luiten|title=Charting the 'Rise of the West': Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries|journal=The Journal of Economic History|date=2009|volume=69|issue=2|pages=409–445|doi=10.1017/s0022050709000837|s2cid=154362112}} (see p. 416, table 1)</ref>]]
[[File:Lectionary 183 K068971.JPG|thumb|right|[[Lectionary 183]]]]
Most surviving pre-modern manuscripts use the codex format (as in a modern book), which had replaced the scroll by [[Late Antiquity]]. [[Parchment]] or [[vellum]], as the best type of parchment is known, had also replaced [[papyrus]], which was not nearly so long lived and has survived to the present almost exclusively in the very dry climate of [[Egypt]],<ref group="Note">Examples for papyri that have survived outside Egypt include the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] (in a dry climate), the [[Herculaneum papyri]] (buried during the [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD|Eruption of Mount Vesuvius]]) and the [[Ravenna papyri]], which have survived in Italy</ref> although it was widely used across the Roman world. Parchment is made of animal skin, normally calf, sheep, or goat, but also other animals. With all skins, the quality of the finished product is based on how much preparation and skill was put into turning the skin into parchment. Parchment made from calf or sheep was the most common in Northern Europe, while civilizations in Southern Europe preferred goatskin.<ref name="Intro">Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: [[Cornell University Press]], 2008.</ref> Often, if the parchment is white or cream in color and veins from the animal can still be seen, it is calfskin. If it is yellow, greasy or in some cases shiny, then it was made from sheepskin.<ref name="Intro" />

Vellum comes from the [[Latin]] word vitulinum which means "of calf"/ "made from calf". For modern parchment makers and calligraphers, and apparently often in the past, the terms parchment and vellum are used based on the different degrees of quality, preparation and thickness, and not according to which animal the skin came from, and because of this, the more neutral term "membrane" is often used by modern academics, especially where the animal has not been established by testing.<ref name="Intro" />

===Scripts===
[[Merovingian script]], or "Luxeuil minuscule", is named after an abbey in Western France, the [[Abbey of Luxeuil|Luxeuil Abbey]], founded by the Irish missionary St [[Columba]] {{Circa|590}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brown|first= Michelle P. |title =Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts|location= Toronto|date= 1991|isbn = 9780802077288|publisher = University of Toronto Press}}</ref><ref>Brown, Michelle P. ''A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600''. Toronto,1990.</ref> [[Caroline minuscule]] is a [[Calligraphy|calligraphic script]] developed as a writing standard in [[Europe]] so that the [[Latin alphabet]] could be easily recognized by the literate class from different regions. It was used in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] between approximately 800 and 1200. Codices, classical and Christian texts, and educational material were written in Carolingian minuscule throughout the [[Carolingian Renaissance]]. The script developed into blackletter and became obsolete, though its revival in the Italian renaissance forms the basis of more recent scripts.<ref name = "Intro" /> In ''Introduction to Manuscript Studies'', Clemens and Graham associate the beginning of this text coming from the Abby of Saint-Martin at [[Tours]].<ref name="Intro"/>

Caroline Minuscule arrived in England in the second half of the 10th century. Its adoption there, replacing [[Insular script]], was encouraged by the importation of continental European manuscripts by Saints [[Dunstan]], [[Æthelwold of Winchester|Aethelwold]], and [[Oswald of Worcester|Oswald]]. This script spread quite rapidly, being employed in many English centres for copying Latin texts. English scribes adapted the Carolingian script, giving it proportion and legibility. This new revision of the Caroline minuscule was called English Protogothic Bookhand.
Another script that is derived from the Caroline Minuscule was the German Protogothic Bookhand. It originated in southern Germany during the second half of the 12th century.<ref name="script">Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. "English Protogothic Bookhand." In Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008. 146–147.</ref>
All the individual letters are Caroline; but just as with English Protogothic Bookhand it evolved. This can be seen most notably in the arm of the letter h. It has a hairline that tapers out by curving to the left. When first read the German Protogothic h looks like the German Protogothic b.<ref name="manu" >Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. "German Protogothic Bookhand." In Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008. 149–150.</ref> Many more scripts sprang out of the German Protogothic Bookhand. After those came Bastard Anglicana, which is best described as:<ref name="Intro"/><!--pg.164-->
<blockquote>
The coexistence in the Gothic period of formal hands employed for the copying of books and cursive scripts used for documentary purposes eventually resulted in cross-fertilization between these two fundamentally different writing styles. Notably, scribes began to upgrade some of the cursive scripts. A script that has been thus formalized is known as a ''bastard'' script (whereas a bookhand that has had cursive elements fused onto it is known as a hybrid script). The advantage of such a script was that it could be written more quickly than a pure bookhand; it thus recommended itself to scribes in a period when demand for books was increasing and authors were tending to write longer texts. In England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many books were written in the script known as Bastard Anglicana.</blockquote>

===Genres===
From ancient texts to medieval maps, anything written down for study would have been done with manuscripts. Some of the most common genres were bibles, religious commentaries, philosophy, law and government texts.

====Biblical====
{{Main|Biblical manuscript}}
"[[The Bible]] was the most studied book of the Middle Ages".<ref name="beryl">Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1983), xxvii</ref> The Bible was the center of medieval religious life. Along with the Bible came scores of commentaries. Commentaries were written in volumes, with some focusing on just single pages of scripture. Across Europe, there were universities that prided themselves on their biblical knowledge. Along with universities, certain cities also had their own celebrities of biblical knowledge during the medieval period.

====Book of hours====
[[File:Pentecost 01.jpg|thumb|Illuminated letter S (for ''Spiritus domini'') from the [[Sherbrooke Missal]]: [[Aberystwyth]], [[National Library of Wales]], MS 15536E, fol. 169v, parchment, {{circa|1310–1320}}, depicting the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles at Pentecost.]]
A [[book of hours]] is a type of devotional text which was widely popular during the Middle Ages. They are the most common type of surviving medieval [[illuminated manuscripts]]. Each book of hours contain a similar collection of texts, [[Christian prayer|prayers]], and [[Psalms (Christian)|psalms]] but decoration can vary between each and each example. Many have minimal illumination, often restricted to ornamented [[initials]], but books of hours made for wealthier patrons can be extremely extravagant with full-page [[miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]]. These books were used for owners to recite prayers privately eight different times, or hours, of the day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lesenluminures.com/learn/34/|title=Learn: Basic Tutorial|website=Les Enluminures|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=28 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528174555/https://www.lesenluminures.com/learn/34/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Liturgical books and calendars====
{{main|Liturgical book|Liturgical calendar}}
Along with Bibles, large numbers of manuscripts made in the Middle Ages were received in Church{{Clarify|reason=received? revived? reviewed?|date=August 2016}}. Due to the complex church system of rituals and worship these books were the most elegantly written and finely decorated of all medieval manuscripts. Liturgical books usually came in two varieties. Those used during mass and those for divine office.<ref name="Intro" />

Most liturgical books came with a calendar in the front. This served as a quick reference point for important dates in Jesus' life and to tell church officials which saints were to be honored and on what day.

==Modern variations <span class="anchor" id="Typescript"></span>==
In the context of [[library science]], a manuscript is defined as any hand-written item in the collections of a library or an archive. For example, a library's collection of hand-written letters or diaries is considered a manuscript collection. Such manuscript collections are described in finding aids, similar to an index or table of contents to the collection, in accordance with national and international content standards such as [[Describing Archives: A Content Standard|DACS]] and [[ISAD(G)]].

In other contexts, however, the use of the term "manuscript" no longer necessarily means something that is hand-written. By analogy a '''''typescript''''' has been produced on a typewriter.<ref name="merriam-webster.com">{{Citation |author=Merriam-Webster |author-link=Merriam-Webster |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/typescript |postscript=. |access-date=22 February 2015 |archive-date=22 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222015904/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/typescript |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Publishing===
{{main|Manuscript (publishing)}}
In book, magazine, and music publishing, a manuscript is an [[autograph (manuscript)|autograph]] or copy of a work, written by an author, composer or copyist. Such manuscripts generally follow standardized typographic and formatting rules, in which case they can be called [[fair copy]] (whether original or copy). The staff paper commonly used for handwritten music is, for this reason, often called "manuscript paper".

===Film and theatre===
{{See also|Screenplay|Play (theatre)}}
In film and theatre, a manuscript, or ''script'' for short, is an author's or dramatist's text, used by a theatre company or film crew during the production of the work's performance or filming. More specifically, a motion picture manuscript is called a screenplay; a television manuscript, a teleplay; a manuscript for the theatre, a stage play; and a manuscript for audio-only performance is often called a radio play, even when the recorded performance is disseminated via non-radio means.

===Insurance===
{{see also|Insurance policy}}
In insurance, a manuscript policy is one that is negotiated between the insurer and the policyholder, as opposed to an off-the-shelf form supplied by the insurer.

==Preservation==
About 300,000 Latin, 55,000 Greek, 30,000 Armenian and 12,000 Georgian medieval manuscripts have survived.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Armenian philology in the modern era : from manuscript to digital text |editor-first=Valentina |editor-last=Calzolari |series=Handbuch der Orientalistik |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004259942 |page=24 |chapter=Collections and catalogues of Armenian manuscripts | first1=Bernard |last1=Coulie |year=2014 |oclc=872222210}}</ref> [[National Geographic]] estimates that 700,000 African manuscripts have survived at the [[University of Timbuktu]] in [[Mali]].<ref name="Timbuktu">{{Cite web |date=12 July 2020 |title=700,000 ancient African books survived in Timbuktu University, Mali |work=The African History |url=https://theafricanhistory.com/817 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121141630/https://theafricanhistory.com/817 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |access-date=14 March 2021}}</ref>

==Repositories==
Major U.S. repositories of medieval manuscripts include:
* [[The Morgan Library & Museum]] = 1,300 (including papyri)
* [[Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library]], Yale = 1,100
* [[Walters Art Museum]] = 1,000
* [[Houghton Library]], Harvard = 850
* [[Van Pelt Library]], Penn = 650
* [[Huntington Library]] = 400
* Robbins Collection = 300
* [[Newberry Library]] = 260
* [[Cornell University Library]] = 150
{{incomplete list|date=November 2019}}

Many European libraries have far larger collections.
* [[Arnamagnæan Institute]]
* [[Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies]]
* {{section link|British Library|Collections of manuscripts}}
* [[Kungliga biblioteket]]

Because they are books, pre-modern manuscripts are best described using bibliographic rather than archival standards. The standard endorsed by the [[American Library Association]] is known as AMREMM.<ref name="AMREMM">Pass, Gregory. Descriptive Cataloging of Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Manuscripts. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2002.</ref> A growing digital catalog of pre-modern manuscripts is [[Digital Scriptorium]], hosted by the [[University of California at Berkeley]].
{{incomplete list|date=November 2022}}

==See also==
===Examples===
{{colbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Annotated link |Gandhāran Buddhist texts}}
* {{Annotated link |Dead Sea Scrolls}}
* {{Annotated link |Spitzer Manuscript}}
* {{Annotated link |Archimedes Palimpsest}}
* {{Annotated link |Codex Zouche-Nuttall}}
* {{Annotated link |Codex Arundel}}
* {{Annotated link |Sinkang Manuscripts}}
* {{Annotated link |Heiligenstadt Testament}}
{{colend}}

===General===
{{colbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Annotated link |Calligraphy}}
* {{Annotated link |Conservation and restoration of illuminated manuscripts}}
* {{Annotated link |Manuscript culture}}
* {{Annotated link |Miniature (illuminated manuscript)}}
* {{Annotated link |Music manuscript}}
* {{Annotated link |Palm-leaf manuscript}}
{{colend}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|manuscript|handwrit}}
{{Commons category|Manuscripts}}
* {{cite web |url=http://prodigi.bl.uk/illcat/glossary.asp |title=British Library Glossary of manuscript terms, mostly relating to Western medieval manuscripts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205223621/http://prodigi.bl.uk/illcat/glossary.asp |archive-date=5 December 2006 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html |title=Centre for the Studies of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/chb/ |title=Centre for the History of the Book, University of Edinburgh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624072331/http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/chb/ |archive-date=24 June 2008 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://chinesecodicology.blogspot.com/ |title=Chinese Codicology}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.digital-scriptorium.org/ |title=Digital Scriptorium}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.shapell.org/ |title=Shapell Manuscript Foundation}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/ |title=Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221054339/http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/ |archive-date=21 December 2008 }}
* The [[Sarasvati Mahal Library]], has the [https://web.archive.org/web/20041129095134/http://www.sarasvatimahallibrary.tn.nic.in/ richest collection of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu]
* [http://www.schoyencollection.com/contents.htm The Schøyen Collection – the world's largest private collection of manuscripts of all types, with many descriptions and images]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Manuscripts}}
* [http://cooperative-society.org/ Newberry Library Manuscript Search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517142856/http://cooperative-society.org/ |date=17 May 2017 }}
* [http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/making/ Getty Exhibitions]
* [http://eurofresh.se/manuskrypty/index_eng.html Polish manuscripts in Sweden]
* [https://archive.today/20130409231855/http://libcudl.colorado.edu:8180/luna/servlet/s/e3i64d Medieval Manuscript Leaves, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries]
* [http://lichfield.as.uky.edu Manuscripts of Lichfield Cathedral] – Digital facsimile of the 8th-century St Chad Gospels and Cathedral's 15th-century Wycliffe New Testament, 2010. Includes the ability to overlay images captured with 13 different bands of light, historical images (starting in 1887), and multispectral visualizations. Also includes sixteen interactive 3D renderings. College of Arts & Sciences, University of Kentucky
* [http://lichfield.as.uky.edu/historical-images Historical Image Overlays] – See how an early medieval manuscript is aging
* [https://www.academia.edu/44071487/Le_lexicon_Mise_en_page_et_mise_en_texte_des_manuscrits_h%C3%A9breux_grecs_latins_romans_et_arabes Introduction to codicology : Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Roman and Arabic Mss by Philippe Bobichon]

{{historiography}}
{{Quranic manuscripts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Manuscripts| ]]
[[Category:Book terminology]]
[[Category:Textual criticism]]
[[Category:Textual scholarship]]
[[Category:Fiction forms]]
[[Category:Copying]]