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Manuscript and Rare Books
With more than 900 illuminated manuscripts, 1,250 of the first printed books (ca. 1455 - 1500), and an important collection of post-1500 deluxe editions, this extraordinary collection chronicles the art of the book over more than 1,000 years. The collection is from all over the world, and from ancient to modern times. It features deluxe Gospel books from Armenia, Ethiopia, Byzantium, and Ottonian Germany, French and Flemish books of hours, as well as masterpieces of Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman manuscript illumination. It also includes important first printed editions of ancient texts by great thinkers such as Aristotle and Euclid, diaries written by Napoleon and intricate bindings crafted by Tiffany. The early printed book collection highlights the experimental nature of the first attempts at printing. Some of these books have been illuminated by hand, and many are unique objects.
| "Father, the hour has come" (John 17:1) | Title |
| 1594-1596 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.535.58R | Accession |
| "Look at the birds of the air" (Matthew 6:26) | Title |
| 1594-1596 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.535.82R | Accession |
| A Battle Scene | Title |
| Folio: late 10th century AH/AD 16th century; Borders: 13th century AH/AD 19th century (Mughal) | Period |
| W.683.A | Accession |
| alexander | Tags |
| A Battle Scene (Back) | Title |
| Folio: late 10th century AH/AD 16th century; Borders: 13th century AH/AD 19th century (Mughal) | Period |
| W.683.B | Accession |
| A Christian Girl on Her Deathbed After Converting to Islam | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.35B | Accession |
| A Church representing the Promised Land | Title |
| 1400-1404 (Medieval) | Period |
| W.171.117V | Accession |
| gothic | Tags |
| A Funeral Service | Title |
| ca. 1300-1325 | Period |
| W.104.74R | Accession |
| angels | Tags |
| A Juriconsult Giving Sexual Advice | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.51B | Accession |
| A King Looking at a Picture of His Son and His Tutor, who Fell in Love with Him | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.127A | Accession |
| A Learned Man | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.113B | Accession |
| A Man Exposing Himself Through a Hole in the Fence | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.91A | Accession |
| suckpenis | Tags |
| A Messenger from Seljuk Sultan Meliksah Being Received by the Byzantine King | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.69B | Accession |
| A Shamed Man Who Lied About a Three-day Journey from Mecca to Nishapur | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.84A | Accession |
| A Sodomite Disgraced | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.59A | Accession |
| A Thief Being Bitten by a Snake | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.60A | Accession |
| A Type of Thymelaea Called al-sarwi | Title |
| 7th century AH/AD 13th century | Period |
| W.750D.A | Accession |
| A Type of Thymelaea Called ilyusqufinus | Title |
| 7th century AH/AD 13th century | Period |
| W.750D.B | Accession |
| A Young Man Looking Out of the Window for His Lover Abdullah | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.130A | Accession |
| Above: How Astaraniqos slept on his bed using the picture of St. Michael as a pillow; Below: How a blacksmith toiled in making a panel for the picture of St. Michael | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.72V | Accession |
| Above: How Satan flew away like a raven/crow when Euphemia showed him the picture of St. Michael; Below: How Satan came (again) looking like four women and St. Michael trod on him | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.73R | Accession |
| Above: How St. Michael came on horseback to change the bad content of the sealed letter to good, and how the wife of the nobleman received the letter; Middle: How the wealthy man heard that they married Ba?ran to his daughter; Below: How the wealthy man f | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.79V | Accession |
| Above: How he put Bahran in a body of water, and how a shepherd found the child and brought him from the body of water; Below: How the shepherd delivered the child, and the nobleman gave a sealed letter to Bahran | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.79R | Accession |
| Above: How the Heathen made the Christian swear when he loaned him gold, and one of his hands was paralyzed; Below: How the Heathen was baptized when he saw the power of St. Michael, and how he served with the Christian inside the church of St. Michael | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.111R | Accession |
| Above: How the Jew went to the residence of the Metropolitan when he was cured; Below: How the Metropolitan baptized the Jew | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.116R | Accession |
| Above: How the sick woman slept under a picture of St. Michael and he appeared to her; Below: How her household gave her a painting of St. Michael, and how she embraced it and offered gold to the church of St. Michael | Title |
| late 17th century (early Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.108R | Accession |
| Above: St. Michael with Moses at the Burning Bush; Below: St. Michael instructs Moses to touch his staff to the Red Sea | Title |
| late 17th century (Gondarine) | Period |
| W.835.59R | Accession |
| Abraham sacrificing Isaac | Title |
| late 12th-early 13th century (Medieval) | Period |
| W.33.53V | Accession |
| Abridgment of the Book of Kings (Shahnama) | Title |
| 13th century AH/AD 19th century | Period |
| W.597 | Accession |
| book, islamic | Tags |
| Adam | Title |
| ca. 1300 (Gothic) | Period |
| W.102.28V | Accession |
| Adimari Book of Hours | Title |
| 1448 (Renaissance) | Period |
| W.767 | Accession |
| medieval, trunk | Tags |
| Adoration of the Magi | Title |
| mid 13th century | Period |
| W.78.1V | Accession |
| Adoration of the Magi | Title |
| late 17th century (High Renaissance) | Period |
| W.498 | Accession |
| adoration, magi, religious, nativity, christmas | Tags |
| Adoration of the Magi | Title |
| second quarter 15th century | Period |
| W.188.108R | Accession |
| Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane | Title |
| ca. 1470 | Period |
| W.918.104V | Accession |
| Album of Indian Miniatures and Persian Calligraphy | Title |
| late 12th century AH/AD 18th century-13th century AH/AD 19th century (Rajput) | Period |
| W.669 | Accession |
| Album of Ottoman Calligraphy | Title |
| 10th century AH/AD 16th century-12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.672 | Accession |
| Album of Persian Calligraphy | Title |
| 11th century AH/AD 17th century | Period |
| W.673 | Accession |
| Album of Persian Miniatures and Calligraphy | Title |
| 10th century AH/AD 16th century-14th century AH/AD 20th century | Period |
| W.671 | Accession |
| hatt | Tags |
| Album of Persian and Indian Calligraphy and Paintings | Title |
| late 10th century AH/AD 16th century-13th century AH/AD 19th century (Mughal; Safavid; Qajar) | Period |
| W.668 | Accession |
| Album of Persian and Indian Calligraphy, Miniatures, and Prints | Title |
| 10th century AH/AD 16th century-13th century AH/AD 19th century (Mughal; Qajar; Zand) | Period |
| W.670 | Accession |
| Album of Persian and Indian Miniatures, Calligraphy, and European Engravings | Title |
| 11th century AH/AD 17th century-13th century AH/AD 19th century (Mughal; Safavid; Qajar; Zand; Deccan) | Period |
| W.771 | Accession |
| erotic | Tags |
| All Saints | Title |
| 1594-1596 | Period |
| W.535.73R | Accession |
| Alphabet Book | Title |
| 16th century (Renaissance) | Period |
| W.200 | Accession |
| gold, creature, butterfly, insect, iris | Tags |
| Amplified Poem in Honor of the Prophet Muhammad | Title |
| 767 AH/AD 1366 | Period |
| W.581 | Accession |
| An Adulterous Husband and His Lover Butted by a Ram | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.55B | Accession |
| An Assassin Sent by the King of Yemen Searching for Hatem | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.46B | Accession |
| An Imam Who Put Ink, Rather than Rosewater, on His Face | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.48A | Accession |
| An Innocent Youth Being Entertained by a Group of Sodomites | Title |
| 1133 AH/AD 1721 (Ottoman) | Period |
| W.666.88B | Accession |
| Anaphora of Mary (Mass book) | Title |
| 2nd quarter 20th century | Period |
| W.829 | Accession |
| Ancestors of Christ | Title |
| 1262 (Medieval) | Period |
| W.539.15R | Accession |