skip to main content
Oregon State University
Special Collections and Archives
Research Center

Early Written Word Collection, 2046 BCE - 1837

Predominant Dates: 1200-1700
This collection contains leaves separated from bound manuscripts and printed texts. Some leaves were included as parts of commercially sold leaf portfolios compiled by Otto Ege and Alfred W. Stites. Cuneiform tablets from Iraq, a Balinese palm leaf book, and an example of early Chinese block printing are also included.
ID: MSS Word
Extent: 6.89 cubic feet
More Extent Information
Scope and Content Notes
Biographical / Historical Notes
Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.
Statement on Description:

We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful.  We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-racist Actions Statement online.

Please be aware that Box-Item 5.24 contains imagery that may be disturbing or activating; racist, derogatory language is used toward indigenous peoples. We acknowledge the racism represented by this imagery language and the harm it may cause our users. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein.

[Date of acknowledgement: April 2023]

Arrangement
Preferred Citation: Early Written Word Collection (MSS Word), Oregon State University Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Acquisition Note:  Source: At least part of this collection is assumed to have been purchased circa 1964.
Other

Container List

Series 1: No set identified, 2046 B. C. - 1780 Add to Shelf
The materials in this series have not been identified as belonging to a leaf set; however, they may have been part of an unrecorded version of one of the portfolios in other series. This series includes the most significant and rare items, including cuneiform tablets, an example of early Chinese block printing, Persian illuminated miniatures, and a Balinese palm-leaf book.
Box-Item 1.1: Tablet, Third dynasty of Ur, Amar-Suen, circa 2046-2038 B.C. Add to Shelf
Puzriš-Dagan (Drehem, Iraq). Clay. Receipt of slaughtered animals. Translation: "37 sheep and goats from 12 named Amorites from the town of BÀD and 7 sheep and goats from 3 named Sumerian officials delivered to Abbasaga who expended them for various unnamed purposes. The transaction took place on the 27th day of the month of Akitu in the 5th year of King Amar-Suen." Translator: David I. Owen, "Amorites and the Location of BAD/ki" in Immigration and Emigration within the Ancient Near East: Festschrift E. Lipinski, eds. K. van Lerberghe and A. Schoors. Peeters en Departement Oriehtalistiek, 1995.  Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative record.
Box-Item 2.1: Tablet, Third dynasty of Ur, Amar-Suen, circa 2046-2038 B.C. Add to Shelf
Puzriš-Dagan (Drehem, Iraq). Clay. Receipt of slaughtered animal. Translation: "1 sheep, slaughtered, the 10th day, from Nalu, Sulgi-irigu received. Month: Festival of Mekigal. Year: The en-priestess of Nanna was installed. 1 sheep." Translation by Changyu Liu, "An Edition of Twelve Ur III Administrative Cuneiform Tablets from United States Collections." Archiv Orientalni 87 (2019), p. 33-57. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative record.
Box-Item 3.1: Tablet, Old Babylonian dynasty, Rim-Sin, circa 1763 B.C. Add to Shelf
Larsa (Tell as-Senkereh, Iraq). Clay. Partial translation: regards barley shipments "under the reign of King Rim-Sim, thirty years after the city of Isin was conquered." Translator unknown. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative record.
Box-Item 7.1: Block printed leaf from a statesman's book, circa 960-1200 Add to Shelf
China. Paper, 23cm x 25.7cm. Previous translation note: "discusses the possibility of a concubine becoming an empress in the Han dynasty." Translator unknown.
Box-Item 4.1: Manuscript leaf from Lombardus, Petrus, Sententiarum libri IV, circa 1200-1300 Add to Shelf
England. Foliated 101. 13.9cm x 19.3cm. 50 lines, double columns. Matching leaves at Winthrop University, the Raab Collection, and Tufts University.
Box-Item 4.2: Manuscript leaf from a book of hours, circa 1300-1400 Add to Shelf
France. Foliated 27, with illuminated vignette of Mary nursing Jesus.
Box-Item 4.3: Manuscript leaf from a missal, circa 1400-1500 Add to Shelf
Italy. Foliated CCLII. 24cm x 33cm. 30 lines. Possibly Gwara HL 90 or 167; matching leaves at McGill and Tufts (recto) (verso) (misidentified).
Box-Item 4.4: Manuscript leaf from a psalter, circa 1450-1500 Add to Shelf
England. 11cm x 15cm. 5 4-line staves. One initial supplied after original was cut out.
Box-Item 4.5: Printed leaf from Berchorius, P. Liber biblia moralis, 1474 Add to Shelf
Ulm: Johann Zainer.
Box-Item 4.6: Two printed leaves from Brevarium herbipolense, 1490 Add to Shelf
Wurzburg: Georg Reyer. Removed from a binding.
Box-Item 7.2: Two manuscript leaves from a gradual, circa 1500-1600 Add to Shelf
Spain. 32cm x 44cm. 6 4-line staves. Decorated initials, red and black ink.
Box-Item 7.3: Manuscript leaf from a gradual, circa 1500-1600 Add to Shelf
Spain. 30.5cm x 44.5cm. 5 4-line staves. Decorated initials, red and black ink.
Box-Item 4.7: Printed leaf from Finit opus missar[um] specialiu[m] ad vsum diocesis Herbipolen[sis], 1509 Add to Shelf
Basel: Jacob von Pfortzheim. Removed from a binding.
Box-Item 7.4: Printed broadside, The Oxford Almanac for the Year of our Lord God MDCCXXIII, 1723 Add to Shelf
Oxford: George Vertue.
Box-Item 4.8: Printed leaf from Orbis sensualium pictus, 1780 Add to Shelf
Nuremberg: Georg Endt. p. 214, pl. CXIII, "Fortitudo."
Box-Item 4.9: Manuscript leaf from a Persian text, circa 1800-1900 Add to Shelf
Iran. 20.38cm x 17.9cm. Illuminated with scene of a couple releasing trapped birds. Text unknown.
Box-Item 4.10: Manuscript leaf from a Persian text, circa 1800-1900 Add to Shelf
Iran. 20.38cm x 17.9cm. Illumination of Sufi whirling dervishes. Text unknown.
Box-Item 6.1: Palm-leaf book, circa 1800-1900 Add to Shelf
Lontar, Bali. Text unknown.
Box-Item 6.2: Scroll, circa 1800-1900 Add to Shelf
Illuminated "magic" or healing prayer, Ethiopia. 12cm x 198 cm. Three pieces of goat vellum bound with leather thongs. Text unknown.
Series 2: Pages from the Past: Original Leaves from Rare Books and Manuscripts, 1400-1776 Add to Shelf
This set was issued by Foliophiles, Inc. in 1926 and 1927. It is the most complete of the sets. This series includes manuscript and printed leaves produced across Europe, including some from famous presses and rare editions, such as the Koberger Bible, the Nuremberg Bible, the King James Bible, and the Fourth Folio of Shakespeare. The set was meant as an educational aid to show the development of manuscript into print.
Box-Item 4.11: Manuscript leaves from a hymnal, circa 1400-1500 Add to Shelf
Italy. 24.4cm x 33cm. Foliated 117 and 32. 6 5-line staves. Matching leaf at University of South Carolina.
Box-Item 4.12: Manuscript leaf from a book of hours, circa 1400-1500 Add to Shelf
Netherlands. 8.5cm x 11.1cm.16 lines. Gwara HL 127. Matching leaves at Denison University and (likely) Washington State University; matching leaf in lot sold at Christies in 2013.
Box-Item 4.13: Manuscript leaf containing selections from the Sermones of Simon de Cremona, 1434 Add to Shelf
Germany. Paper.
Box-Item 4.14: Printed leaf from In psalterium expositio, 1491 Add to Shelf
Basel: Johann Amerbach. Psalms XXXVI.
Box-Item 4.15: Printed leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 Add to Shelf
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger. p. CCXV.
Box-Item 4.16: Printed leaf from Justinianus, Informatium, 1496 Add to Shelf
Venice: Baptista de Tortis. p. 81.
Box-Item 4.17: Printed leaf from a Bible, 1497 Add to Shelf
Venice: Heironymous de Paganini. From Matthew.
Box-Item 7.5: Manuscript leaves from an antiphonal, circa 1500 Add to Shelf
Spain. 38cm x 49.5cm. Foliated 94 and 81 in same hand. 6 5-line staves.
Box-Item 4.18: Printed leaf from Table eclypsium by Georg Purbach and Johann Regiomontanus, 1514 Add to Shelf
Vienna: Johannes Winterburger.
Box-Item 4.19: Printed leaf from Nova legenda Angliae, 1516 Add to Shelf
London: Wynken de Worde. Folio CCCXXII.
Box-Item 4.20: Printed leaf from Postillia super epistolas et evangelia, 1517 Add to Shelf
Basel: Adam Petri. Fol XIII with woodcut by Urs Graf.
Box-Item 4.21: Printed leaf from a bible, 1520 Add to Shelf
Lyon: Johannes Marion. From Maccabees.
Box-Item 4.22: Two printed leaves from a breviary, 1570 Add to Shelf
Unknown printer. Southern France.
Box-Item 4.23: Printed leaf from Postille majores cu questionibus, 1525 Add to Shelf
Lyons: Pierre Balli. Fol. CXLVIII.
Box-Item 4.24: Printed leaf from Biblia picturis illustrata, 1540 Add to Shelf
Paris: Pierre Regnault.
Box-Item 4.25: Printed leaf from a bible in Hebrew, 1544 Add to Shelf
Paris: Robert Estienne.
Box-Item 4.26: Printed leaf from a "Matthew" Bible, 1551 Add to Shelf
London: Nicholas Hyll. Fol. IV.
Box-Item 4.27: Printed leaf from a Latin version of the Bible, 1558 Add to Shelf
Paris: Guillard. p. 15.
Box-Item 4.28: Two printed leaves from Martin Luther's German translation of the bible, 1584 Add to Shelf
Wittenberg: Hans Krafft. p. 149 and p. 334.
Box-Item 4.29: Printed leaf from the Workes of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1598 Add to Shelf
London: Adam Islip. Fol. 308.
Box-Item 4.30: Printed leaf from a New Testament in English, 1600 Add to Shelf
Antwerp: Daniel Van Vliet. p. 370.
Box-Item 4.31: Two printed leaves from the King James Bible, 1611 Add to Shelf
London: Robert Barker. Genesis Chapter XL: I Samuel Chapter IIJ.
Box-Item 4.32: Printed leaf from quarto edition of King James Bible, 1612 Add to Shelf
London: Robert Barker. Apocrypha Chapter ij.
Box-Item 4.33: Printed leaf from Dutch translation of Life of Jesus Christ, 1618 Add to Shelf
Antwerp: Peter van Gehelen.
Box-Item 4.34: Printed leaf from Hieroglyphica, 1622 Add to Shelf
Edinburgh: Thomas Finalson. p. 56.
Box-Item 4.35: Printed leaf from a vulgate edition of the Bible, 1628 Add to Shelf
Antwerp: Christophe Plantin. p. 314.
Box-Item 4.36: Printed leaf from Anatomy of Melancholy, 1632 Add to Shelf
Oxford: John Lichfield.
Box-Item 4.37: Printed leaf from the first printed translation of the Bible in Irish, 1685 Add to Shelf
London: Moxon.
Box-Item 4.38: Printed leaf from the Fourth Folio of Shakespeare, 1685 Add to Shelf
London: H. Herringman. p. 278, Tragedy of Coriolanus
Box-Item 4.39: Printed leaf from the Book of Common Prayer, 1762 Add to Shelf
Cambridge: John Baskerville.
Box-Item 4.40: Printed leaf from a bible in German, 1776 Add to Shelf
Pennsylvania: Christopher Saur.
Series 3: Original Leaves from Famous Books. Nine Centuries, 1460-1753 Add to Shelf
This portfolio was issued in many forms by Otto Ege in the 1930s and 1940s. OSU's incomplete set contains several leaves from the same French book of hours, and examples of the King James Bible, an early Chaucer edition, and a set of leaves from the press of Benjamin Franklin.
Box-Item 4.41: Three manuscript leaves from a book of hours, 1460 Add to Shelf
Three leaves. Northern France. 13.9 cm x 19cm. 17 lines. Gwara HL 55. 1 leaf framed.
Box-Item 4.42: Printed leaf from the Workes of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1598 Add to Shelf
London: Adam Islip. Fol. 72.
Box-Item 4.43: Printed leaf from the King James Bible, 1611 Add to Shelf
London: Robert Barker. From Paul Chapter I.
Box-Item 4.44: Printed leaves from Votes and Proceedings in the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, 1753 Add to Shelf
Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin. p. 385 - 411.
Series 4: Original Leaves from Famous Bibles. Nine Centuries, 1220-1590 Add to Shelf
This portfolio was issued in many forms by Otto Ege in the 1930s and 1940s. This incomplete set includes a manuscript leaf from a bible produced in Cambridge as well as leaf examples from other famous editions, including a Coverdale Bible and a Breeches Bible.
Box-Item 4.45: Manuscript leaf from a Cambridge Bible, circa 1200-1240 Add to Shelf
England. 19.5cm x 25.5cm. 60 lines, double columns. Gwara HL 6. Also issued in Ege's portfolio Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts.
Box-Item 4.46: Printed leaf from a Koberger Bible, 1483 Add to Shelf
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger. From Second Epistles.
Box-Item 4.47: Printed leaf from a "Great Bible", 1539 Add to Shelf
Paris: Myles Coverdale. From Deuteronomy.
Box-Item 4.48: Printed leaf from a "Matthew" Bible, 1549 Add to Shelf
London: John Daye. Folio lvi, from Mark Chapter 12.
Box-Item 4.49: Printed leaf from a Geneva or "Breeches" Bible, 1590 Add to Shelf
London: Christopher Barker. p. 539, Lazarus raised from the dead.
Series 5: Pages from the Past Set 2: Western Literature, 1200-1829 Add to Shelf
This set was issued by Foliophiles in 1964. It contains manuscript leaves from Germany, France, Italy, and modern Iran, as well as printed leaves from a variety of bibles, dictionaries, travel narratives, and other genres.
Box-Item 5.1: Manuscript leaves from a breviary, circa 1200-1300 Add to Shelf
Southern France. 10.7cm x 13.6cm. 30 lines, double columns. Matching leaf at Stanford.
Box-Item 5.2: Printed leaf from Chronicarum supplementum, 1486 Add to Shelf
Venice: Benalis. p. 254.
Box-Item 5.3: Printed leaf from Horace's Opera, 1498 Add to Shelf
Strasburg: Johann Gruniger. p. LIIII. First illustrated edition of Horace.
Box-Item 5.4: Printed leaf from the Commentaries on Boethius, 1512 Add to Shelf
Milan. Zanotus de Castelliono.
Box-Item 5.5: Printed leaf from Cornucopia of Nicholas Perottus, 1513 Add to Shelf
Venice: Aldus Manutius.
Box-Item 5.6: Printed leaf from Saturnalia of Macrobius, 1513 Add to Shelf
Venice: Agostino de Zanni de Portesio. p. IX.
Box-Item 5.7: Printed leaves from a work containing De Vita Sana by Marsilio Ficino, 1516 Add to Shelf
Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano.
Box-Item 5.8: Printed leaf from Hortus Sanitatus, 1517 Add to Shelf
Strassburg: Reinhard Beck. Woodcut depicting camels.
Box-Item 5.9: Two printed leaves from Divinia Commedia of Dante, 1529 Add to Shelf
Venice: Jacob de Burgofranco. p. LXXIX and CCL.
Box-Item 5.10: Manuscript leaf from an anti-Catholic text, 1551 Add to Shelf
Germany. Paper.
Box-Item 5.11: Printed leaf from Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, 1579 Add to Shelf
London: Thomas Vautrollier. p. 59.
Box-Item 5.12: Printed leaf from the Four Bookes of Husbandrie, 1596 Add to Shelf
London: Thomas Wight. p. 190, "the entreating of Bees."
Box-Item 5.13: Manuscript leaf of The Shahnameh of Firdawsi, circa 1600-1700 Add to Shelf
Iran. 32.4cm x 20.3cm.
Box-Item 5.14: Manuscript leaf from Il Malmantile racquistato by Lorenzo Lippi, circa 1600-1700 Add to Shelf
Italy. Paper.
Box-Item 5.15: Printed leaf from a New Testament in English, 1600 Add to Shelf
Antwerp: Daniel Vervliet. p. 760.
Box-Item 5.16: Two printed leaves from the King James Bible, 1613 Add to Shelf
London: Robert Barker. Exodus Chapter XIII and II Samuel Chapter XV.
Box-Item 5.17: Printed leaves from three famous miniature books, 1634, 1828, 1828 Add to Shelf
One from History of Savoy, Leyden: Elsevir, 1634, p. 201. One from Diamond Classics, London: William Pickering 1828, p. 203. One from an edition of Horace, Paris: A. Mesnier, 1828, p. 223.
Box-Item 5.18: Printed leaf from the Workes of Benjamin Johnson, 1616 Add to Shelf
London: Richard Bishop. p. 258.
Box-Item 5.19: Printed leaf from New World of Words, 1678 Add to Shelf
London: Edward Phillips. p. CY.
Box-Item 5.20: Printed leaf from Works of Clement of Alexandria, 1688 Add to Shelf
Cologne: Heinrich Johann Meyer. p. 46.
Box-Item 5.21: Printed leaf from Dryden's translation of Virgil, 1697 Add to Shelf
London: Jacob Tonson.
Box-Item 5.22: Printed leaves from Phaedri Aug. Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V, 1701 Add to Shelf
Amsterdam: Francis Halma. p. 34 and p. 106.
Box-Item 5.23: Printed leaf from Sonnets of Antonmaria Salvini, 1728 Add to Shelf
Florence: printer not identified.
Box-Item 5.24: Printed leaf from A New Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1745 Add to Shelf
London: Thomas Astley. Pl. 51, vol. II, p. 527.
Box-Item 5.25: Printed leaf from Johnson's Dictionary, 1755 Add to Shelf
London: W. Strahan. p. WRA/WRE.
Box-Item 5.26: Printed leaf from the Pharsalia of Lucan, 1760 Add to Shelf
London: Horace Walpole. p. 64.
Box-Item 5.27: Printed leaf from the Works of Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 1788 Add to Shelf
Parma: Ex Regio Typographeo. p. 45.
Box-Item 5.28: Printed leaf from the Works of Shakespeare, 1796 Add to Shelf
Philadelphia: Bioren and Madan. p. 217.
Box-Item 5.29: Printed leaf from The New York Mirror and Ladies Literary Gazette, 1829 Add to Shelf
New York: George P. Morris. Saturday, October 9, 1830.
Series 6: Pages from the Past Set 4: Woodcuts and Engravings, 1493-1837 Add to Shelf
This set was issued by Foliophiles in 1964. Leaves in this set show different printing methods over time, including examples from famous engravers such as Thomas Bewick.
Box-Item 5.30: Printed leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 Add to Shelf
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger. p. CCLI.
Box-Item 5.31: Printed leaf from Stutifera navis, 1498 Add to Shelf
Basel: Bergman von Olpe.
Box-Item 5.32: Printed leaf from Hortus Sanitatus, 1517 Add to Shelf
Strassburg: Reinhard Beck. Woodcuts depicting thyme.
Box-Item 5.33: Two printed leaves from Las quatorze decadas de Tito Livio, 1520 Add to Shelf
Saragossa: George Cosi, IIII Libri IX and Fo. CCCXXV.
Box-Item 5.34: Printed leaf from the Twelve books of the orations of Quintilian, 1527 Add to Shelf
Paris: Jean Petit.
Box-Item 5.35: Two printed leaves from Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus, 1555 Add to Shelf
Rome: Johannes Maria de Viottis. p. 152 and 265.
Box-Item 5.36: Printed leaf from Sebastian Munster, Cosmographia, 1559 Add to Shelf
Basel: Henri Petri. p. 483.
Box-Item 5.37: Printed leaf from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 1565 Add to Shelf
Venice: Johann Gryphius. p. 64.
Box-Item 5.38: Printed leaf from Nuova seconda selva, 1616 Add to Shelf
Venice: Bartolomeo and Ambrosio Dei. p. 10.
Box-Item 5.39: Printed leaf from Gerard's Herball, 1633 Add to Shelf
London: Thomas Johnson. p. 1615.
Box-Item 5.40: Printed leaf from Display of Heraldrie, 1638 Add to Shelf
London: Thomas Cotes. p. 297.
Box-Item 5.41: Two printed leaves from the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa, 1669 Add to Shelf
Venice: Niccolo Pazzana. p. 85 and 632.
Box-Item 5.42: Printed leaf from La Sicilia di Philipo Partuta, 1697 Add to Shelf
Lyons: Marco Maier.
Box-Item 5.43: Printed leaf from Dryden's translation of Virgil, 1697 Add to Shelf
London: Jacob Tonson. p. 434.
Box-Item 5.44: Printed leaf from Les august representations de tous les roys, 1714 Add to Shelf
Paris: F. Hurand.
Box-Item 5.45: Printed leaf from Fenelon's Telemachus, 1792 Add to Shelf
London: J. Davis. Stipple engraving by C. Taylor: Philocles discovered by Hegesippus.
Box-Item 5.46: Printed leaves from Bewick's Fables of Aesop, 1823 Add to Shelf
Newcastle-on-Tyne: E. Walker. p. 209 Jupiter and the Herdsman; p. 119 The Bear and the Bee-hives.
Box-Item 5.47: Two printed leaves from Icones veteris testamenti, 1830 Add to Shelf
London: Chiswick Press. p. VIII and XXIII.
Box-Item 5.48: Printed leaf from Book of Gems, 1837 Add to Shelf
London: Davenant. Plate from Spenser's Fairie Queene.
Series 7: Pages from the Past Set 6: Religions of the World, 1570-1688 Add to Shelf
This set was also issued by Foliophiles in 1964. It includes a notable example of printed music and an early edition of John Calvin's works.
Box-Item 5.49: Printed leaf from Book of Services for Christmas, 1570 Add to Shelf
Salamanca: Matthias Gastius.
Box-Item 5.50: Printed leaf from Liber sextus of Pope Boniface VIII, 1572 Add to Shelf
Venice: printer not identified. p. 145.
Box-Item 5.51: Printed leaf from the Sermons of John Calvin, 1572 Add to Shelf
London: Henry Bynemann. p. 145.
Box-Item 5.52: Printed leaf from the Works of Clement of Alexandria, 1688 Add to Shelf
Cologne: Heinrich Johann Meyer. p. 4.
Related Materials