Welcome to The Manuscript Society

The Mission of the Manuscript Society is to encourage the collection and preservation of manuscripts and documents; to stimulate and aid collectors in their various collecting specialties; to facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among collectors, scholars, dealers and the general public; and to promote the highest professional and ethical standards.

Featured

Manuscript Mondays featured image.

Manuscript Mondays

The Manuscript Society is hosting monthly webinars on topics for collectors.  Each hour long webinar provides an opportunity to peek behind the scenes of valuations, writing & publishing, purchasing/selling, auctions and more.

Faneiul Hall in Boston, MA.

2026 Annual Meeting – Boston!

The Manuscript Society’s 2026 Annual Meeting took place in Boston May 27–31, 2026. This year’s meeting coincided with Boston 250, the city’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Pictures from the Manuscript annual trip to Oxford & Cambridge.

2025 Cambridge / Oxford Trip Recap

Over several days, Manuscript Society members explored some of the cities’ most storied libraries, museums, and archives—places that hold centuries of history and some of the world’s most extraordinary manuscripts.

Latest Digest

Digest – May-June 2023

Manuscript Digest: May – June 2023 – This complimentary e-digest, now published bi-monthly, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more news in this digest […]

June 6, 2023|

Recent Posts

Rendell Collection on Forgery to Grolier Club

Forging History: The Detection of Forged Historical Manuscripts From The Grolier Club: March 2021, New York The Grolier Club Library is pleased to announce the receipt of a major gift, the Collection on the Detection of Forged Handwriting, which is the most important and comprehensive collection on the [...]

April 20, 2021|

Resources Available: Auctions, Values, Catalogs

Manuscript Society members are always looking for an item to complete a collection.  A letter, an image, a photograph, it does not matter.  What will be a fair price for the sought after piece? What about the provenance?  Where can I find many different catalogs?  It has always been a [...]

April 19, 2021|

One Really Bad Egg and a Visit to Calling Cards

Book Reviews: It is all about education. Whether you collect books or autographs or both, the educated collector is the savvy collector. Just ask Bill Butts. Every year a stream of reference works, how-tos, exhibition catalogs, bibliographies, and memoirs useful to collectors come on the market. Few receive scant attention [...]

April 1, 2021|

Handwriting – Something to Celebrate

January 23rd - National Handwriting Day Page of Manuscript - In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust - 1913   To hand write a letter or send an email. Maybe a text. Perhaps a tweet. How do you stay in contact with your friends and family? The [...]

March 10, 2021|

1795 Epidemic – A Doctor’s Diary

  Anderson’s record of the 238 yellow fever patients admitted to Bellevue between August and October 1795; 137 of them died. (Alexander Anderson Papers / New-York Historical Society Library) Anderson's Diary Highlights Epidemic "Word of the disease in New York City came “from every quarter.” The place was [...]

March 5, 2021|

17th Century Letterlocking Letters Unlocked

Letterlocking Letterlocking used complicated folds to seal correspondence. (Unlocking History Research Group Archive) What do Mary Queen of Scots, Galileo, Marie Antoinette and Niccolò Machiavelli have in common? All practiced letterlocking! Letterlocking used complicated folds to seal correspondence.  Virtually hiding correspondence from prying eyes. Sometimes the recipient might [...]

March 4, 2021|

Interview: J.R.R. Tolkien Collection – Interview with Curator

Collecting Conversations: An Interview with William Fliss, Archivist of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University. Curator, J. R. R. Tolkien collection Kevin Segall William Fliss, Archivist of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University. Curator, J. R. R. Tolkien collection  J.R.R. Tolkien Collection - Marquette [...]

February 25, 2021|
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