At left, the title La mer is in the composer’s hand. Debussy used 28-stave paper to write out the manuscript, which is comprised of 21 leaves, or 21 pages of music altogether. He did not sign the title page, reserving that gesture for the last page of the manuscript. According to his own custom, he wrote only on the recto side of each leaf, which in our day has ideally enabled the Sibley Music Library’s preservation practices over the manuscript. In the 1970s, the leaves of the manuscript were encapsulated in polyester film sleeves; when the Library saw fit to commission a new encapsulation job in the year 2000, each leaf was given supportive backing of rice paper, which is non-acidic. Owing to Debussy’s practice of writing only on the recto side, the inclusion of the rice paper behind each leaf has not obscured any notation or any other writing on the verso side.

Inevitably, one notices the Sibley Music Library’s customary conventions on the title page, which are the stamped accession number (149543), indicating the manuscript’s position in the sequence of items acquired by the Library; the penciled call number; and at the bottom of the page, the institution’s embossment (UNIVERSITY LIBRARY / ROCHESTER, N.Y.). Such markings, while perhaps seeming either intrusive or else disrespectful of the artifact, i.e., the composer’s handiwork, were and are necessary gestures to signal ownership of the manuscript.