Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts in Special Collections & Archives

Manuscript on paper, text in English.1 v. (376 p.); 30 cm. By John Cotton, first minister of Boston. Two columns of text per page. Gift of the Honorable Paine Wingate (1739-1838). Date of gift not recorded; volume is listed in the Catalogue of the Library of Bowdoin College, 1863, but not in the 1821 catalogue.

Manuscript on paper, text in French. 1 v. (84 p.); 20 cm. Ca. 1700. Bound in original calf.
Manuscript treatise on making flavored ices, with additional recipes for mousses. Bookplates of George Vicaire, author of the Bibliographie Gastronomique, and of Robert Viel, celebrated restaurant proprietor and also a collector of cookery books. Purchased from Maggs Bros. in 1938 by E. Parmalee Prentice and given by him to Bowdoin College. Date of gift not recorded. Accompanied by a bound volume containing a typescript transcript of the text along with additional notes; included in the volume is a letter from Maggs Bros. to E. Parmalee Prentice providing additional context for the manuscript.

Volume (scroll) on parchment containing the Book of Esther, in Hebrew; attributed to Yemeni origin. Undated [17th c.]. Gift of Gila and Mishel Caspi, 2009.

On vellum. 1 item (l leaf); 79 x 98 cm. Bull abolishing a monastery of St. James at Zamora in Spain. Bottom edge folded up, seal attached. Leafwork on top margin and part of left margin. Not in Bullarium Romanum or Bullarium Dominicanorum Accompanying this document is a note in the hand of George T. Little, a former Librarian of the College, which states, in part: "Sacked in Napoleonic wars, taken by French invader." Gift of E[dward] F. Searles [1841-1920]. Date of gift not recorded.

Text in Yiddish and Hebrew. Title translation: Order of grace after meals and ocassional blessings, with illustrations, and the order of recitation of the Shema at bedtime and the confession. Miniature [87mm] illuminated codex on parchment, Vienna. Ca. 1700. Bound in contemporary parchment boards.