Manuscripts

Ancient and antique manuscripts are beautiful and rare handwritten works of literature. Those that contain art and script are known as illuminated manuscripts. The oldest manuscripts date back circa 3500 B.C., and were found in Egyptian tombs. They were written on papyrus, an ancient paper originally woven from grass, like plants called sedge, from the Nile River.After papyrus, parchment became the more popular material for manuscripts. Parchment was made using the skin of a sheep or goat and proved much more durable. The majority of manuscripts are religious in nature. The Dead Sea Scrolls are perhaps the most famous manuscripts found in recent history. Illuminated ManuscriptsManuscripts were, and still are, an important way of passing down information and stories. Illuminated manuscripts provide a unique mix of art and handwritten text and are extremely beautiful and rare. By definition, an illuminated manuscript is one in which the text is adorned by decoration, illustration, borders and miniatures (small-scale pictures common in medieval manuscripts). They come in varying types, from the Purple Uncials--these were written on purple parchment in metallic inks--to multicolored, multiple-ink illuminated manuscripts. Non-illustrated, text-only ancient and antique manuscripts survive in collections, museums and art galleries, and many can be purchased. But be warned--prices can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the most coveted pieces. The vast majority of illuminated manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, while text manuscripts predate even these and reach as far into the modern era as the early 1900s.