The word manuscript derives from the Medieval Latin manuscriptum, a word first recorded in 1594 as a latinisation of earlier Germanic words used in the Middle Ages: compare Middle High German hantschrift (c. 1450), Old Norse handrit (bef. 1300), Old English handgewrit (bef. 1150), all meaning "manuscript", literally, "written by hand". In publishing and academic contexts, a "manuscript" is the text submitted to the publisher or printer in preparation for publication, usually as a typescript prepared on a typewriter, or today, a printout from a PC, prepared in manuscript format.

Manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, explanatory figures or illustrations. Manuscripts may be in the form of scrolls or in book form, or codex format. Illuminated manuscripts are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately engrossed initial letters or full-page illustrations

Before...                                                                                                                       Next....

Birth gifts ; birthday gifts ; father's day gifts ; mother's day gifts ; party gifts ; retirement gifts ; secretary gifts ; valentines's gifts ; astrology gifts; humor gifts; keepsake gifts ; poem gifts; gifts for children; gifts for couples; gifts for her; gifts for him; gifts for teenagers.