Strange Texts
Manuscripts, unusual books, and the libraries and archives that preserve them. Explore their histories, contents, and curious details.
Manuscripts & Books
Individual works, from undeciphered codices to books of magic, scholarship, and controversy.
The Voynich Manuscript
An illustrated codex held at Yale, combining an unfamiliar script with botanical, astronomical, and other enigmatic imagery.
Read collection record →
Codex Gigas
An enormous medieval manuscript containing the Latin Bible and other texts, famous for its full-page portrait of the Devil.
Read collection record →
The Rohonc Codex
An illustrated manuscript filled with unfamiliar signs and scenes whose origins and interpretation remain contested.
Read collection record →
The Book of Soyga
A cryptic work of magic and astrology associated with John Dee, containing elaborate tables of letters.
Read collection record →
Malleus Maleficarum
An influential and deeply troubling printed treatise arguing for the prosecution of people accused of witchcraft.
Read collection record →
The Key of Solomon
A changing family of magical manuscripts attributed to the biblical King Solomon.
Read collection record →
The Lesser Key of Solomon
A compilation of ritual-magic texts best known for the Ars Goetia and its catalogue of spirits.
Read collection record →
Picatrix
A substantial treatise of astral magic whose translation helped move esoteric ideas across linguistic traditions.
Read collection record →Libraries & Collections
Libraries and archives whose holdings tell stories of preservation, scholarship, and discovery.
Harleian Collection
An extraordinary library assembled by Robert Harley and Edward Harley, rich in chronicles, literature, illuminated books, and historical documents.
Read collection record →
Cotton Library
The collection of Sir Robert Cotton, now associated with treasures including Beowulf and the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Read collection record →
Sloane Collection
Manuscripts gathered by Hans Sloane spanning medicine, natural history, languages, and many forms of learned inquiry.
Read collection record →
Royal Manuscripts
A historic body of manuscripts associated with the English royal library, including sumptuous illuminated and scholarly works.
Read collection record →
Custodes Archives
An archival collection of manuscript records, transcriptions, and related narratives set across different historical settings.
Read collection record →Custodes Archives · source linked in collection record
Arundel Collection
A collection associated with the Earl of Arundel, preserving manuscripts of historical, literary, and scholarly importance.
Read collection record →
Burney Collection
A scholarly manuscript collection particularly notable for Greek texts and the history of classical learning.
Read collection record →
Lansdowne Collection
A collection rich in British historical and political material, reflecting the interests of earlier antiquaries and statesmen.
Read collection record →
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
A specialist collection devoted to alchemy, Hermeticism, mysticism, astrology, and related intellectual traditions.
Read collection record →