Papyri

The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library has a collection of approximately 1400 Egyptian papyri, dating from the early third century B.C.E. to the 8th century, primarily in hieratic or demotic Greek. Among them are works of literature, sometimes hitherto unknown, magical texts and a variety of documentary texts, such as private letters, contracts, tax accounts, receipts, and petitions.

The entire Duke collections of papyri has been digitized in the Duke Papyrus Archive. The Duke collection is also a part of the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), a consortium of currently 22 institutions with significant papyrus holdings.

In addition to the information found at the Duke Papyrus Archive and APIS sites, all of the Duke papyri have been individually cataloged and may be located using the Duke online catalog advanced search, limiting location = Special Collections and using the phrase P.Duk.Inv in the call number field.

For general information about finding materials in the library's collections and how you can use them, requesting permission to reproduce, or other information as well as reference questions about the holdings in this area:

E-mail:	special-collections@duke.edu
Phone:	(919) 660-5822
FAX:	(919) 660-5934

If you are getting in touch via e-mail, please be sure to include your return e-mail address in the body of the message, since it sometimes gets stripped from the header in transit. Also, if you expect a response, make sure to include a phone or fax number or postal address where we can reach you, since sometimes it is difficult or impossible to respond via e-mail. Thank you!