Digital Manuscript Collections
A guide to the reliable public collections where the manuscripts behind this library's texts can actually be seen. Each entry says what the collection holds for Ad Fontes authors and links out to it. No manuscript image is copied onto this site: the collections' own terms govern reuse of their images, so follow the link and read their terms before reusing anything.
Codex Sinaiticus Project
The 4th-century Greek Bible, including the oldest complete New Testament, plus the Epistle of Barnabas and part of the Shepherd of Hermas. Leaves are held in London, Leipzig, St Petersburg, and St Catherine's, Sinai; the project reunites them digitally with transcriptions.
For Ad Fontes authors: The Septuagint and New Testament texts behind the Fathers' quotations; Barnabas and Hermas in the Apostolic Fathers section.
Vatican Library — DigiVatLib
Digitised manuscripts of the Vatican Library, including Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209), the 4th-century Greek Bible that is one of the two great uncial witnesses to the Septuagint and New Testament, alongside a vast Greek and Latin collection spanning the Fathers and the classics.
For Ad Fontes authors: The biblical text behind the LXX & Vulgate Reader; Greek and Latin Fathers and classical manuscripts across the library.
e-codices — Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
Over 3,100 medieval manuscripts from 100 Swiss collections, including the Abbey Library of St Gall — monastic copies through which Latin Fathers and classical texts survived and circulated.
For Ad Fontes authors: Augustine, Jerome, and the Latin Fathers in medieval copies; classical Latin texts in monastic transmission.
Gallica — Bibliothèque nationale de France
The BnF's digital library: millions of digitised documents, including its Greek (BnF grec) and Latin (BnF latin) manuscript collections — the Paris copies of classical and patristic texts, plus early printed editions.
For Ad Fontes authors: Greek and Latin classics and Fathers in the Paris collections; early printed editions of the texts this site prints.
British Library — Digitised Manuscripts and Archives
Thousands of digitised manuscripts, including Codex Alexandrinus (Royal MS 1 D v-viii), the 5th-century Greek Bible, and the Hebrew manuscript collections. Catalogue records are at searcharchives.bl.uk; note that some digitised items are still being restored after the Library's 2023 cyber-attack.
For Ad Fontes authors: The Greek Bible behind the Septuagint essays; Hebrew manuscripts behind the Masoretic Text notes.
Walters Art Museum — Manuscripts
Digitised illuminated manuscripts, including biblical and classical texts in medieval copies, with full descriptions and IIIF images.
For Ad Fontes authors: The Bible and the classics as medieval readers owned and decorated them — the transmission side of the library's texts.
St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, and the Sinai Palimpsests Project · digitisation project
The monastery's library, celebrated for the antiquity of its volumes, holds part of Codex Sinaiticus and a large collection of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic manuscripts. The UCLA Sinai Palimpsests Project images and studies the palimpsests — erased texts recovered beneath later writing.
For Ad Fontes authors: Greek Fathers and biblical texts in one of the oldest continuously used libraries; Syriac fathers such as Ephrem and Aphrahat in the Syriac tradition.
Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
Photographs and descriptions of the Qumran manuscripts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, including the biblical scrolls cited in the Septuagint-versus-Hebrew essay (4Q37, 4Q44, 4Q51, 4Q70, 4Q72, 4Q73).
For Ad Fontes authors: The Hebrew witnesses behind the Septuagint readings; the manuscript evidence for the library's Genesis parallel texts.
Chester Beatty
The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri — early Greek papyrus codices of the Gospels, Acts, Pauline epistles, and Revelation (including P45, P46, P47) — alongside Islamic and East Asian collections.
For Ad Fontes authors: The earliest New Testament papyri behind the Fathers' quotations and the library's Bible translations.
Bodleian Library — Digital Bodleian
Digitised manuscripts and early printed books from Oxford's collections, including Greek, Latin, and Hebrew manuscripts of classical, biblical, and patristic texts.
For Ad Fontes authors: Greek and Latin classics and Fathers; Hebrew manuscripts behind the Masoretic Text.
Cambridge Digital Library
Cambridge's digitised collections, including Codex Bezae (MS Nn.2.41), the bilingual Greek-Latin manuscript of the Gospels and Acts, the Cairo Genizah fragments, and the Newton papers.
For Ad Fontes authors: The bilingual New Testament tradition; Genizah fragments of Jewish literature contemporary with the library's Second Temple works.
New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room (INTF, Münster)
The Institute for New Testament Textual Research's images and transcriptions of New Testament manuscripts, feeding the critical editions behind modern translations.
For Ad Fontes authors: The manuscript evidence behind every New Testament quotation in the Fathers and the library's Bible translations.
See also: Open-access bibliography · Guide to reliable editions · LXX & Vulgate Reader (which names its manuscripts witness by witness in its notes).