'Dragon Leaf,' detail. Latin Bible, Northern France, c. 1240, MS 314
Rare Books Collection, CU Boulder Libraries
This guide provides an introduction to the History of Christianity (HIST 2170) through the lens of manuscripts and early printed works held in the Rare Books Collection, Rare and Distinctive Collections, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries.
The Rare Books Collection holds a strong collection of medieval manuscript leaves and early printed works. These include one-of-a-kind medieval Christian manuscripts and rare printed religious works dating from Gutenberg's development of moveable type in the 1450s through works produced amid the Protestant- and Catholic-Reformations of the succeeding centuries.
This guide includes images based on our collection as well as digitized copies of key manuscripts held by the British Library and Cambridge University and elsewhere. To navigate this site, use the tabs at the top to navigate by time period and subject.
See below for links to our collections and other primary sources.
Guide and text by Susan Guinn-Chipman, 2021. Edits by Sean Babbs, 2022.
To search the Rare Books Collection's early modern manuscripts and early printed books:
To locate a vast array of early modern and modern printed works, available in full text:
Eighteenth-Century Collections Online:
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: