Handwritten Books
We have a small number of handwritten books and manuscripts in our collection at Trinity. But what is a manuscript? The word “manuscript” is Latin in origin, composed of the words “manus,” meaning “hand,” and “scriptum,” meaning “having been written.” So, in its broadest sense, a manuscript is anything that has been written by hand rather than typed and printed. There is no set genre, language, format, or use. If handwritten, anything from law codes, to religious documents, diaries, and many other texts qualify as handwritten.
The medieval European style of manuscript, which appears in this collection, is often the most recognizable and the most frequently collected by United States institutions. However, manuscripts can and do come from a wide breadth of global populations, which is not reflected in the Trinity University Coates Library Collection. To showcase a piece of the manuscript's global spread, these are a few examples not found in this collection.
In Medieval Europe, the word “manuscript” most often referred to handwritten books. Common texts included excerpts from the Christian Bible, copies of Roman texts in their original Latin, and translations of Latin as well as Greek and Arabic texts into Western European common languages. Some were colorfully illustrated as illuminated manuscripts, often created for wealthy clients, while others were plain and often covered more practical texts such as law codes, land deeds, or accounting ledgers.