#BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE FOR FREE#
#BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE FULL#

What information is included on the manuscript page?Įach entry begins with the date, title, and a description of both the text and the decoration. Once you have found your chosen manuscript(s), select the image or title on the search results page. The date tab presents the items in chronological order, beginning with the earliest.

The author or title tabs display your findings alphabetically according to these two different fields. The default option organises your results according to manuscript shelfmark. There are four options for viewing your search results: by manuscript, author, title, or date. The Bankes Homer, 2nd century, Papyrus 114 For example, the manuscripts made in ‘Bruges’ include this exceptional copy of the Bible historialeby Guyart des Moulins.īibliography – enter any keywords to match against the bibliography field. You can search for the name of an individual or institution, or a specific geographical location. Provenance/Acquisition – enter any keywords to match against the ownership field. A search of ‘Homer’ filters all of the items by this epic Ancient Greek author, including the 2nd century papyrus with the Bankes Homer. Entering ‘Apocalypse’ in this field will identify all of the items which include the Book of Revelations, such as the illuminated Abingdon Apocalypse.Īuthor/Scribe – enter any keywords to match against the names of the authors and scribes. Title – enter any keywords to be matched against the item or text title.

For example, search for entries dated earlier than 600 AD, and discover amazing items such as this papyrus fragment with a drawing of a bear in the arena!

Limit your searches to a particular century or time period. To find the Bedford Hours write ‘bedford+hours’, or for the 3 volumes of the Parc Abbey Bible, write ‘parc+abbey’ (if you do not add ‘+’, it will bring up every entry with either word).Īs well as providing complete coverage of some of the most important manuscripts in our collection, it is also possible to discover new items through the search engine. In addition to searching by shelfmark or keyword, you can also explore the collection by specifying content in the following fields:ĭate range – restrict or expand the scope of your search by using the two slider controls. If you search for ‘Beowulf’ you will find Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, the single witness of this famous piece of Anglo-Saxon literature. If you do not know the shelfmark, enter the commonly used title of the manuscript or its main text in the ‘Keyword(s)’ field.

#BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE FULL#

‘Additional’ shelfmarks are abbreviated (without a full stop) to ‘Add MS ’. For example, enter ‘Cotton MS Nero C IV’ for the Winchester Psalter, or ‘Royal MS 19 C IV’ for Le Songe du vergier, attributed to Évrart de Trémaugon. You need to include ‘MS’ after the collection name. If you know the manuscript you are looking for, enter the shelfmark in the ‘Manuscripts’ field of the search engine.

#BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE FOR FREE#

Some of the highlights from our collection are the Codex Alexandrinus, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Articles of the Barons, the Book of Margery Kempe, the Macclesfield Alphabet Book, and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook.ĭigitised Manuscripts allows you to access for free every single folio, flyleaf, and fragment of these magnificent manuscripts, any time day or night, anywhere in the world. Portrait of Mark at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, from the Arnstein Bible (Job to Revelation), North-West Germany (Arnstein), c. It features complete digital copies and descriptions of thousands of manuscripts in the British Library’s collection, including almost 2,000 items curated by the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Section. One of the British Library’s most valuable electronic resources is our ever-growing Digitised Manuscripts website.

British library manuscripts online