The National Library of Medicine has in its collection over 100 European manuscripts written before 1601. The short-title list is provided as a courtesy to researchers who specialize in medieval and early modern European manuscripts.
Many of NLM's manuscripts are recorded in Dorothy M. Schullian and Francis E. Sommer, A Catalogue of Incunabula and Manuscripts in the Army Medical Library (1950) and Seymour De Ricci and W. J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States (1935-1940), supplemented by C. U. Faye and W. H. Bond, Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (1962). Manuscripts added to the Library's collection since 1950 are not recorded in Schullian and Sommer. Manuscripts added since 1962 are not recorded in the Census.
The original list appeared as a print publication in 1989 called Early Western Manuscripts in the National Library of Medicine: Short-Title List and was organized by De Ricci/Faye and Bond numbers. The current short-title list is organized by the NLM call number, or shelf mark, and provides links to cataloging records in NLM's online catalog, LocatorPlus Catalog, and, where available, to digitized copies in NLM Digital Collections. Additional columns provide information about author, short title, century of production (if known), language(s), country/region of production, and a brief description of any decorations in the item. The right-most columns provide references to the corresponding entries in the De Ricci/Faye and Bond and Schullian/Sommer catalogues.
Each column in the table may be clicked on to sort alphabetically or numerically (as appropriate) by the information in that column. For example, clicking on Title will reorder the table as an alphabetical list by manuscript title. Similarly, clicking on Century will reorder the list by ascending date of production, and clicking on Language or Country/Region will reorder the table alphabetically by name of language or country/region, respectively.
Keyword access to common (and not so common) decorations in the manuscripts has been provided. Keywords are provided for illustrations, illuminations, initials, and other rubrication. Initials is a catchall term that includes ornamental, historiated, and rubricated initials. The term rubrication is used for headings, paragraph marks, initial strokes, etc. Less common keywords used in the Decorations column include borders, penwork, and wax seal.
Although the table is the most complete list of NLM’s early European manuscripts, and care was taken to highlight special features within each manuscript, researchers should view the cataloging records and standard bibliographies for more complete information.
For select images of manuscripts, which have not been digitized, especially the 12th-century Treatises on Medicine (MS E 8) and the 13th-century Articella (MS E 78), researchers are invited to check out the online exhibition: Medieval Manuscripts in the National Library of Medicine.