Subject guide
Manuscript Facsimiles Collection
The Special Collections Reading Room houses a collection of 800+ facsimiles of Western manuscripts originating mostly from Medieval Europe. They enable students to consult a 3D version very close to the original manuscripts kept worldwide, especially those with contents or from cultural traditions that are scarcely represented in the holdings of the Library. Furthermore, they allow close comparison of the Leiden medieval manuscripts with those kept in collections from other libraries.
Quarto-sized facsimiles are placed in numbered bookcases at the rear of the Special Collections Reading Room. Other formats are placed in bookcases at the long side: plano (p), folio (f) or octavo (o).
Searching in the online catalogue with truncated holding information (*) is a fuzzy search; filter the result lists for relevant items. The bookcase numbers and letters of the shelves in the Special Collections Reading Room are indicated in the catalogue records.
More information:
- Zotter, H. (1976) Bibliographie faksimilierter Handschriften. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.
- Zotter, Hans & Zotter, Heidi (1996) Bibliographie faksimilierter Handschriften: von den Anfängen bis Ende 1992. 2. Aufl. auf Diskette. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.
- Database of Illuminated Manuscript Facsimile Editions (commercial website) — www.facsimilefinder.com
- DOUSA 87* — 290+ items
- DOUSA p87* — 20+ items
- DOUSA f87* — 70+ items
- DOUSA o87* — 140+ items
- Codices graeci et latini photographice depicti
(Leiden: Sijthoff, 1897-1970) | DOUSA 87 0* | p87 0* | f87 0*
- Umbrae codicum occidentalium
(Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1960-1966) | DOUSA 87 0*
- Codices selecti phototypice impressi
(Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1960-1992) | DOUSA 87 0* | p87 0* | f87 0* | o87 0* | FOLIO
- Interpretationes ad codices
(Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1977-1986) | DOUSA 87 06*
1201-1300 — Belgium
1601-1700 — Germany | DOUSA 87 16* | o87 16*
1701-1800 — Italy | DOUSA 87 17* |
1801-1900 — USA | DOUSA o87 18*
1901-2000 — United Kingdom
2001-2100 — France | DOUSA 87 20* | o87 20*
2301-2400 — Vatican | DOUSA 87 23*
3501-3800 — Manuscripts in Greek script
3501-3600 — — Bible manuscripts | DOUSA 87 35* | f87 35* | o87 35*
3601-3800 — — Other | DOUSA 87 36* | p87 36* | f87 36* | o87 36*
3801-4000 — Manuscripts in Cyrillic script | DOUSA 87 38*
4001-5000 — Manuscripts in Latin script
4001-4200 — — Bible manuscripts | DOUSA 87 40* | 87 41*
4201-4400 — — Liturgical manuscripts | DOUSA 87 42*
4401-4600 — — Classical authors | DOUSA 87 44* | 87 45*
4601-4700 — — Church Fathers | DOUSA 87 46*
4701-4800 — — Medieval authors | DOUSA 47*
4801-5000 — — Anonymous works | DOUSA 48*
5001-6000 — British Isles | DOUSA 87 5*
5001-5200 — — Early English, Anglo Saxon | DOUSA 87 50* | f87 50* | 87 51*
5201-5600 — — Middle English | DOUSA 87 52* | 87 53* | 87 54*
5601-5800 — — Irish | DOUSA 87 56*
5801-6000 — — Welsh
6001-7000 — German countries | DOUSA 87 6*
7001-7100 — Iberic Peninsula | DOUSA 87 70*
7101-7300 — Italy, Italian | DOUSA 87 71* | 87 72*
7301-7400 — Low Countries (Netherlands), Dutch | DOUSA 87 73*
7401-8000 — Scandinavia
7401-7500 — — Danish | DOUSA f87 74*
7501-7600 — — Icelandic | DOUSA 87 75*
7601-7700 — — Norse | DOUSA 87 76*
7701-7800 — — Swedish | DOUSA 87 77*
8001-8900 — Rest of Europe
8201-8300 — — Bohemic/Czech | DOUSA o87 82*
8501-8600 — — Hungarian
8901-9000 — Codices americani, in pictorial script | DOUSA 87 89* | p87 89* | o87 89*
9001-9999 — | DOUSA 87 9* | o87 9*
Classified by cultural tradition and nature of the illumination; partial facsimiles and facsimiles only containing illumination of the manuscript are included.
- DOUSA 88* — 170 items
- DOUSA p88* — 10+ items
- DOUSA f88* — 3 items
- DOUSA o88* — 90+ items
0101-0200 — In Greek context: Secular | DOUSA 88 01* | o88 01*
0201-0300 — In Greek context: Religious | DOUSA 88 02* | p88 02* | o88 02*
0301-0500 — Byzantine outside Greek context | DOUSA 88 03*
0501-1000 — General
1001-2000 — British Isles | DOUSA 88 1* | p88 1* | f88 1*
1001-1200 — — Before 1200 | DOUSA 88 10* | f88 10* | o88 10* | 88 11*
1201-2000 — — After 1200 | DOUSA 88 12* | p88 12* | o88 12* | 88 13* | o88 13*
2001-3000 — German countries | DOUSA 88 2* | p88 2* | f88 2* | o88 2*
2001-2300 — — Ottonian | DOUSA 88 20* | o88 20* | 88 21* | p88 21* | f88 21* | o88 21*
2301-2600 — — Romanesque | DOUSA 88 23* | o88 23* | 88 24* | o88 24*
2601-3000 — — Gothic | DOUSA 88 26* | p88 26* | o88 26* | 88 27* | p88 27* | o88 27*
| 88 28* | o88 28* | 88 29* | o88 29*
3001-4000 — France | DOUSA 88 3* | p88 3* | f88 3* | o88 3*
3001-3400 — — Carolingian | 88 30* | p88 30* | 88 31* | p88 31* | 88 32* | o88 32*
3401-3500 — — Romanesque DOUSA 88 34* | o88 34*
3501-3900 — — Gothic
3501-3600 — — — 13th century 88 35* | f88 35*
3601-3800 — — — 14th and 15th century | 88 36* | p88 36* | o88 36* | 88 37* | o88 37*
3801-4000 — — — Book of hours | 88 38* | o88 38* | 88 39* | o88 39*
4001-5000 — Iberic Peninsula | DOUSA 88 4* | o88 4*
4001-4200 — — Before 1200 | DOUSA 88 40* | o88 40*
4201-4500 — — After 1200 | DOUSA o88 42*
5001-6000 — Italy
5001-5100 — — Series
5101-5300 — — Before 1200 | DOUSA 88 51* | 88 52* | p88 52*
5301-5800 — — After 1200 | DOUSA 88 53* | o88 53*
6001-7000 — Low Countries (Netherlands)
6001-6200 — — Before 1200, general | DOUSA 88 61*
6201-6600 — — Southern Netherlands | DOUSA 88 62* | p88 62* | f88 62* | o88 62* | 88 63*
| 88 64* | o88 64* | 88 65*
6601-7000 — — Northern Netherlands | DOUSA 88 68* | o88 68* | o88 69*
7001-8000 — Scandinavia
8001-8700 — Other European countries and/or under influence of Latin tradition
8201-8300 — — Bohemia, Czechia, Slovacia | DOUSA 82* | o88 82*
8301-8400 — — Hungary | 88 83*
8501-8600 — — Poland
8701-9000 — Printed books with woodcuts influenced by miniatures | DOUSA 88 87* | o88 87*
9001-9999 — Manuscripts, special categories
9001-9300 — — Manuscripts with a diplomatic character (charters etc.) | DOUSA 88 91*
9301-9600 — — Manuscripts with music notation
9301-9500 — — — Liturgical | DOUSA 88 93* | o88 93*
9501-9600 — — — Secular | DOUSA 88 95* | o99 95*