Recently Digitized Manuscripts from the BAV

Welcome! This project is a continuation of the work started by Jean-Baptiste Piggin tracking new manuscripts added to the digitized manuscripts of the Vatican Libraries. Each week we add a new page with the manuscripts from the previous week, with title, author, date and incipt where possible. Announcements of the weekly update will be posted to Mastodon, anyone with additions, corrections or information about any manuscripts is invited to contact me there and I'll add it here.

Please note that this page only lists the most recent seven entries. For older entries, please look in the yearly archive files:

Manuscripts are browsable by Fond, the term for collection, in much the same way that they are on the official BAV website. The listing here provides all high-quality digitized manuscripts, that is those not from scanned microfilm, along with the same metadata one would find in the weekly listings and a thumbnail. For some of the collections, notably Latin collections, Vat.gr and Rossiani, this generates a very large page.

In addition to the weekly entries listed above, there are a series of custom pages where groups of manuscripts are pulled from the database using custom queries. These Ad Hoc query pages are available with brief descriptions of the contents and sometimes the reason for that specific query. Please contact the editor if you have an query you'd like generated as part of this collection.


Only four manuscripts were digitized this week, one each from Barb.lat and Vat.lat, and two from Ott.lat. To the right is f.16v from Ott.lat.3388, a collection of assorted polyphonic chants. This contains the start of the first two parts of a four-part setting of Alma Redemptoris Mater, an antiphon for the Feast of the Annunciation, but also sometimes f...
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A total of fifty-six manuscripts were digitized in the past week, the busiest week since early June. Following recent patterns, the largest number were from Ott.lat, which contributed twenty-two. Eleven came from each of Barb.lat and Capp.Sist, and six from Vat.lat. Finally one manuscript was added from each of the fonds Capp.Giulia, Capp.Sist.Diari, a...
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Another quiet week, only nine manuscripts were added, and all uploaded on Friday. Most were evenly split between Capp.Sist and Ott.lat, each with four. The final volume was Barb.lat. To the right is the first page, f.1r, from Ott.lat.3314. This is a late 15th C, dated in it's colophon to November 1, 1493, copy of a rather rare copy of De ratione subie...
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Only twelve manuscripts were digitized the past week, all on monday. Work continues to favor the Ott.lat fond, contributing nine of those volumes. The rest consisted of two from Barb.lat and a single codex from Vat.lat To the right is f.LXXVIIr (it's foliated in roman numerals, I don't know why) from Vat.lat.1194. This is a mid-to-late 12th C manuscri...
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A total of thirty-one manuscripts were digitized during the past week, all but two of them being uploaded on Friday. The largest fraction, ten, came from Ott.lat, with Barb.lat and relative newcomer Capp.Giulia adding six each. Both Capp.Sist and Vat.lat added two, and one each from Capp.Sist.Diari, Chig, and Ferr. To the right is f.3r from Ott.lat.3...
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Only nineteen manuscripts were digitized in this week, despite the summer vacation being officially over. Unexpectedly Capp.Sist contributed seven, the same number as the more anticipated Ott.lat. The rest of the week's work consisted of a single manuscript each from Barb.lat, Capp.Giulia, Pal.Lat, Vat.ebr, and Vat.gr. It's unusual to see Pal.lat in t...
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