This is the final week of the discussion of the origins of the various Vatican Library collections, concluding with the letter V. In previous weeks we have covered, A and B, C through N, O through R, S, and U. The last collections are the various Vaticani Fonds, organized by language. This is the catch-all open collection that simply accumulates manuscripts, organized by language, or occasionally concept (Music).

• Vat.ar - arabi - This collection of Arabic manuscripts includes six that were formerly part of the Urbinate collection
• Vat.arm - armeni - Currently four Armenian manuscripts are digitized, though one is from microfilm. Vat.arm.1 is a biblical manuscript with many full-page miniatures. Vat.arm.3 is an illuminated collection of ecclesiastical and other assorted texts made before 1287 in Cilicia, and was the first Armenian manuscript in the collection. It may have been brough by Armenian delegates to the Council of Ferrera-Florence, held between 1438-1445.¹
• Vat.copt - copti - This collection of Coptic manuscripts includes several non-canonical Gospels and other apocryphal biblical texts, eg. The History of Joseph the Carpenter in Vat.copt.66. It also includes Vat.copt.9 a Gospel book in Bohairic Coptic copied by Georgis, in Cairo in 1205. It is illuminated in a hybrid Byzantine/Arabic Style, see f.1v to the right for an example
• Vat.ebr - ebraici - Due to the funding provided by the Polonsky Foundation almost all of the Hebrew MSS in this collection have been digitized. It includes some Hebrew works originally part of the Ottoboni collection. More information on these manuscripts can be found on the online copy of Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library by Benjamin Richler.
• Vat.estr.or - estremo-orientali -Manuscripts from East Asia, including China, Japan and Korea. The first mention of such a collection is in the late 16th C when Nicolas Audebert references some manuscripts, including a Alphabetum idiomatis de Cina, but the collection includes older manuscripts, including a 14th C Buddhist manuscript from China. It was formally organized in 1922 by the French academic Paul Pelliot.
• Vat.et - etiopici - The Ethiopic manuscripts in this Fond are, along with the Cerulli, Comboni and Raineri collections, part of the largest holding of such manuscripts outside Ethiopia. ². It includes a 15th C Psalter, Vat.et.20, which is held to have inagurated the study of Ethiopic in Europe and furnished the source for Johannes Potken's 1513 Psalterium, itself the first book printed in Ethiopic.
• Vat.gr - greci - This sprawling collection of Greek manuscripts includes Vat.gr.190, one of the most important witnesses of Euclid's Elements, the Menologion of Basil II Vat.gr.1613, and Vat.gr.1001, the oldest surviving manuscript of Procopius' Secret History. Note that many of these manuscripts are still presented as digitized microfilm. At the bottom is a detail from f.2r of Vat.gr.1626, a 15th C copy of the Iliad by the exceptional Humanist scribe Bartolomeo Sanvito.
• Vat.iber - iberici - In this case not referring to Spain and Portugal, but Caucasian Iberia, that is modern Georgia. It appears that there is but a single manuscript in this collection
• Vat.ind - indiani - A small collection, 74 manuscripts, in multiple languages of the Indian subcontinent and surrounding regions. It includes Vat.ind.49, a copy of the Mālālankāravatthu, an illustrated life of the Buddha³. A more unusual document is Vat.ind.19 a translation of a work on the Apostles into Tamil called The Lives of the 13 Saints. It is written on palm leaves in the characteristic form of Southern India.
• Vat.indocin - indocinesi - This collection was only formed in 2004, and contains only a single manuscript. It is a Laotian manuscript sent as a gift to Pope Paul VI in 1973³.
• Vat.lat - latini - Currently roughly 6,700 have been digitized from more than 15,000 works. The collection spans the early Middle Ages through the 20th C. As this is an open collection works are still being added, Vat.lat.15495, the journey-book of Bernardino Albizeschi, was only added in 2018.
• Vat.mus - musicali - A collection of musical manuscripts that is almost entirely undigitized. Of the more than 500 manuscripts in this Fond, only two have been fully digitized.
• Vat.pers - persiani - A collection of 158 manuscripts in Persian. It includes Vat.pers.4, a copy of the Gospels in Persian from 1312 which was possibly brought to Rome by Mar Yosef when he came from Malabar in 1568. ⁴
• Vat.sam - samaritani - Samaritan manuscripts.
• Vat.sir - siriaci - Syriac manuscripts from the Christian community of Syria. The website syri.ac contains a detailed, though incomplete listing. Among the ancient manuscripts is Var.sir.622, written in gold on black paper in 1907 and given to Pope Pius XII in 1950 by the Chaldean patriarch.
• Vat.slav - slavi - Manuscripts in Russian and other Slavic languages. Within the collection is Vat.slav.14, the Sluzebnik, or liturgical miscellany, owned by Isidore of Kiev, Russian delegate to the Council of Ferrera-Florence in the 15th C.
• Vat.turc - turchi - A sizable collection of Turkish manuscripts. It includes a Turkish translation of the Arabic story of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) in Vat.turc.430. Vat.turc.73 is an anonymous map of the Nile, made in about 1685, painted on cloth. ⁵

Notes

1. https://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/h-orient_to_rome/Eastern_lang.html
2. Bausi, Alessandro. “Ethiopian Manuscripts in the Vatican Library.” Coptic Treasures from the Vatican Library, 2012, 53–60. https://doi.org/10.1400/213513.
3. https://ny.xmu.edu.cn/local/4/CA/37/EDCE11B76311142EABD023EA90687F109732A5EBA.pdf?e=.pdf
4. https://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/h-orient_to_rome/Eastern_lang2.html
5. Rossi, E. (1949). A Turkish Map of the Nile River, about 1685. Imago Mundi, 6, 73-75. Retrieved April 26, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/1149983