Special Collections

Special Collections

Complementing HMML’s digital collections is the Special Collections at HMML and Saint John's University, which include more than 11,000 printed books and hundreds of manuscripts that support HMML’s global field work in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Used for teaching and research, the Special Collections include five distinct collections with materials spanning the ancient to modern periods:

Collection strengths include the history of the Benedictines, European history (canon law, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation texts), Biblical studies, liturgical studies, print history, manuscripts, and facsimiles highlighting early manuscript history. Consult Subject Areas, linked on this page, for collection highlights. Each collection contains both manuscripts and printed books. The Saint John’s collection includes c. 5,000 printed titles, Arca Artium holds c. 5,000, and the HMML collection contains an additional 600 printed titles. HMML Special Collections also includes The Saint John’s Bible, the first handcrafted Bible commissioned by a Benedictine abbey in more than five hundred years.


Highlights



  • Date Range

    6th-20th century
  • Languages

    English, Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Ge’ez, Arabic, Dutch, Hebrew; with examples of script and print in many other languages, including Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Church Slavonic, Georgian, Persian, Samaritan
  • Curator

    Dr. Matthew Z. Heintzelman, Curator of Western European Manuscripts & Curator of Rare Books for rare books and manuscripts
  • Visit

    To visit Special Collections or The Saint John’s Bible, contact HMML hmml@hmml.org

Special Collections Stories

Bethune Breviary-Missal from 13th/14th-c. France (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/511651'>Bethune Ms. 2</a>)
Bethune Breviary-Missal from 13th/14th-c. France (Bethune Ms. 2)
16th-c. Rule of Benedict (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/511654'>BX3004.I7 1501</a>)
16th-c. Rule of Benedict (BX3004.I7 1501)
10th-c. Georgian Palimpsest with Syriac underwriting dating to the 6th-8th-c. (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/512195'>HMML Ms. Frag 32</a>)
10th-c. Georgian Palimpsest with Syriac underwriting dating to the 6th-8th-c. (HMML Ms. Frag 32)
18th-c. Office of the Dead for the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/510482'>HMML 448</a>)
18th-c. Office of the Dead for the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (HMML 448)
20th-c. fine press book, Eric Gill’s The Four Gospels. <a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/519252'>Arca Artium Rare Z232.G6 1931a Oversize</a>
20th-c. fine press book, Eric Gill’s The Four Gospels. Arca Artium Rare Z232.G6 1931a Oversize

Other Collections

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