Rule for Nuns
 
The cultural revolution unleashed by the dissemination of printing technology throughout Europe did not instantly displace the practice of copying books by hand. We hold 24 manuscripts bound in book format that range in date from 1425 to the late seventeenth century. Records for each of these can be found in the Five Colleges Libraries Catalog: Codex Manuscripts in Archives & Special Collections. These codex manuscripts were a gift to the college from Professor Arthur Henry Baxter, professor of Romance languages at Amherst College from 1900-1937.
We also hold 30 Incunabula, books printed from moveable type before 1501. Highlights of our Incunabula collection include a fine copy of Hartmann Schedel's Liber chronicarum from 1493, commonly known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, and two leaves of the Gutenberg bible.  
Gutenberg leaf detail

Upon his retirement in 1939 Professor Harry DeForest Smith gave the library his outstanding collection of Greek letter printing. His collection includes a broad representation of the various styles of Greek letter printing ranging from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century.

         Henry DeForest Smith Collection of Greek Letter PrintingHarry DeForest Smith Collection of Greek Letter Printing