The Manuscripts and Early Printed Book collection at Zach S. Henderson Library includes Georgia Southern University's oldest and most rare materials. Broad in scope, it includes works in many subject areas including classical literature, religious texts, and language. While materials are not able to be checked out due to their unique status, researchers are welcome to view and read the books by appointment in the Special Collections Reading Room.
The materials highlighted here represent the oldest materials housed in the collection. They were digitized and described by undergraduate researchers in the Digital Humanities program under the supervision of Dr. Robert K. Batchelor, Professor of History, and Autumn Johnson, Special Collections Librarian.
The 2020 Digital Humanities cohort included Dipe Adefikayo, Asia Vaughn, Chad Jerhada, Christopher Marler, Jacob Carmickle, Jasmine Starks, and Van Neeley. More information about the Digital Humanities program at Georgia Southern University is found at georgiasouthern.libguides.com/digitalhumanities.
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Book of Hours
1450
Manuscript on vellum. Written in Gothic letters (black and red) with initials in blue and red. Large capitals embellished with pen-and-ink flourishes. Full calendar in Dutch with major feasts in red. Bound in vellum, blind-stamped.
98 leaves; 19 cm.
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Joannis Gerson De contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi
1496
Printing assigned by Proctor to Georgius Arrivabenus. Signatures: pi♯A-K⁸L♯. Colophon, leaf 84b: Joannis Gerson cancelarij parisiensis: de contemptu mundi libri quattor vno cum tractatu de meditatione cordis felici numine finiunt. Impressu[m] Venetijs. M.cccc.xc.vi. die vlti[m]o Januarij. "Incipit tractat[us] d[e] meditat[i]o[n]e Joh[ann]is Gerso[n]: leaves 79b-84. Leaf 46a incorrectly headed: Liber secundus. Capital spaces, with guide letters.
84 leaves; 16 cm (8vo)
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Lvcanvs
1502
Signatures: a-r⁸, s⁴ (verso of last leaf blank). Edited by Aldo Pio Manuzio. Graesse IV, 271-2
[140] leaves. 17 cm
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Zwue Sermon auff das. XV. und. XVI. Capitel ynn der Apostel Geschichte
1526
Signatures: A-D. Colophon: Gedrucht durch Hans Lufft. Title within ornamental border.
30 leaves, 15 cm
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Dialoghi di M. Speron Speroni
1544
Colophon: In Vinegia, nell' anno M.D.XXXXV, del mese di Decembre. In casa de' figlivoli di Aldo. Aldo's device on title page and verso of last numbered leaf. Dedication by Daniello Barbaro. Graesse, v. 6, p. 466.
160 leaves, 17cm
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Biblia
1547
Title vignette (Holy child in the midst of a flaming sun, with legend: In sole posvit tabernacvlvm svvm); initials. First edition of the Louvain Bible. "Practically a reprint of R. Stephanus' Bible of 1538-40, with certain modifications of the text and marginal matter." It includes as other editions of the Vulgate of this period do "Liber Esdre [!] tertius" and "Liber Esdrae quartus". For description cf. Brit. and foreign Bible society, Hist. catalogue, pt. III, p. 936-937, no. 6129. Imperfect: t.-p. slightly mutilated, mended; 3 leaves following t.-p. (Privilegium, 1 p.; Præfatio, 2 p.; Index testimoniorum, 3 p.); blank leaf after fol. 375 (end of O.T.), and blank leaf at end of N.T. after fol. 95 wanting.
26 p., 375, 95, 34 numb. leaves 35 x 23 cm
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Tes Kaines diathekes apanta = Nouum Testamentum ex bibliotheca regia
1569
Printer's device on title page of each volume; verso of final leaf of v. 2. Colophon from v. 2. Excvdebat Rob. Stephanvs typographvs regivs Parisiis idib. Ianvar. anno M. D. LXIX. Signatures: v. 1. *, **, a-z, A-H⁸ (H⁸ blank). v. 2. aa-zz, Aa⁸ (yy⁴ blank). Pagination: v. 1. 16 p. l., 494 p.; v. 2. 342 p., 20 leaves. V. 2. has title: Ai tou agiou Paulou epistolai. Ai katholikai epistolai. Apokalupsis tou agiou Ioannou tou theologou. "Diversae lectiones ex antiquissimis exemplaribus desumptae": 20 leaves following text in v. 2. The text follows the elder Estienne's first edition of 1546, and in size and type as well, it closely resembles both that and the edition of 1549, known as the "O mirificam" edition. Critical notes have been added from the 1550 folio ed. Two variant editions occur, differing in date given on the general title-page. Variant A has date 1568 on title-page, variant B has 1569. Colophon in both reads 1569. Foliated Greek initials; head-pieces.
2 v. ; 13 cm (16mo
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M. Antonii Mureti I.C. et Civis. R. Orationes .XXIII earum index statim post praefationem continetur. Eiusdem interpretatio quincti libri Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum. Eiusdem hymni sacri, & alia quaedam poematia.
1575
Signatures: A-V, a-c. Title vignettes: portraits of Aldus Pius Manutius. "Aristotelis Ethicorum ... M. Antonio Mureto interprete" ([6], 37, [5] p.) has half-title and separate paging and signatures.
[16], 320, [6], 37 p. : port. ; 16 cm (8vol)
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Platonis opera quae extant omnis. Ex nova Ioannis Serrani interpretatione, perpetuis eiusdē notis illustrata ...
1578
Library copy imperfect: water stains; covers detached. Printer's mark on t.-p. of v. 1. Greek and Latin in parallel columns. Vols. 2 and 3 have half-title only.
3 v. 38cm
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Thesaurus linguae Romanae & Britannicae
1578
Printer from STC (2nd ed.). Signatures: pi⁴( -pi4) A-Y⁶ 2A-2Y⁶ 3A-3Y⁶ 4A-4Y⁶ 5A-5Y⁶ 6A-6V⁶ 7D-7O⁶ 7P-7Q⁴. "Dictionarium historicum & poeticum propria locorum & personarum vocabula breuiter complectens": leaves 7D1-7Q4.
[1712] p. (1st leaf blank) ; 32 cm. (fol.).
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The Bible, translated according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in diuers languages..
1583
The Geneva version, first published in 1560. Includes the Apocrypha. STC 2135; Herbert. Hist. cat., 178.
[21], 532, 137, [10] l. illus., maps. 40 cm
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A summarie of the chronicles of England
1604
Headlines cropped and text imperfect in several places.
[487], 2 pages
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L'Enide di Virgilio del commendatore Annibal Caro. Con l'aggionta delli argomenti, & le figure in rame ...
1608
Graesse, t.7, p. 363. Printed in double columns. Illustrated t.p.; head- and tail-pieces; initials. Signatures: [Hand]♯, A-Z♯, Aa-Bb♯.
4 p. l., 200 p. illus., port. 22 cm.
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Caii Suetonii Tranquilli de xii Caesaribus libri viii: eiusdem de illustribus grammaticis et de claris rhetoribus: Isaacus Casaubonus ex fide vetustissmorum librorum recensuit & libros adiecit animadversionum
1611
Includes index. "C. Suetonii Tranquilli Liber IIX., sive Tres imperatores Caesare Vespasiani, interpretati, & emendati ʻa Theod. Marcilio professore eloq. reg."--109, [41] pages at end.
[30], 750, [52], 109, [41] p. ; 24 cm.
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De XII. Caesaribus libri VIII. Eiusdem De inlusnribus grammaticis et de claris rhetoribus Isaacus Casaubonus ex fide vetustissimorum librorum recensuit & libros adiecit Animadversionum. Edition altera ab auctore emendata & locis quamplurimis aucta
1611
C. Suetonii Tranquilli Liber IIX., sive Tres imperatores Caesares Vespasiani, interpretati, & emendati à Theod. Marcilio professore eloq. reg.
750, [44], 109, [41] p.
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The historie of Guicciardin: containing the warres of Italie and other parts, continued for manie yeares vnder sundrie kings and princes, together with the variations and accidents of the same: and also the arguments, with a table at large expressing the principall matters through the whole historie
1618
Signatures: A-4A⁶. Includes index. Covers the years 1490-1534. Printer's device on t.p. Side-notes.
The third edition, diligently reuised, with restitution of a digression towards the end of the fourth booke, which had bene formerly effaced out of the Italian and Latine copies in all the late editions..
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M. Accl Plauti Comoediae superst: XX. Ad doctissim: virorum editiones repraesentatae
1619
Engraved t.p., title within ornamental borders. With gilt edges and gold tooling. "Marci Accii Plauti vita, ex Petro Crinito & Lilio Gyraldo desumpta": p. [748]-[750]. "De Plauto et ejus scriptis veterum auc︠t︡orum testimonia": p. [750]-[752].
747, [5] pages 12 cm.
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Tēs Kainēs Diathēkēs apanta
1633
The editor, according to Reuss, must have taken as the basis of this text Beza's third major edition, emending it in places by the help of other editions, especially R. Stephanus' second edition. Engraved title-page. Text not divided into verses, but with verse-numbers in the margin
454 p.; 11 cm..
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C. Plinii Caecilii Secvndi Epistolsarvm libri x. & Panegyricvs. Accedunt variantes lectiones.
1640
"C. Plinii Cæcilii Secvndi Vita per Ioannem Mariam Catanæum composita": p. [8-10].
1 p. l., [22], 414, [28] p. 13 1/2 cm.
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Theatrum botanicum: the theatre of plants; or, An herball of a large extent
1640
Added engraved title page. Hunt 235. STC 19302. Imperfect: sig. Hhhhhhh6-Iiiiiii6 wanting.
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M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolarum ad familiares libri XVI: ad optimas editiones collati. Epistolae ad familiares.
1645
Title vignette, intials. Forward by P. Manutius.
490, [6] pages; 13 cm.
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Lexicon Hebraicum et Chaldaicum cum brevi Lexico Rabbinico Philosophico
1646
[18], 999, [70] pages 17 cm.
