Throughout most of Louis XIV's reign, Marin Marais served as viol player in the king's chamber and occasionally as opera composer and orchestra conductor. He is best known today as the most successful of Sieur de Ste-Colombe's protégés and the most prolific French composer for viol, publishing over 550 solo works. Until several manuscript pieces came to light in the 1970s, no known manuscript tradition was associated with Marais; these pieces for viol were brought from Paris to Scotland during the 1670s or 1680s. The three manuscripts, which include 44 unica and predate by several years Marais's first publication in 1686, have received only modest attention from scholars or performers. Furthermore, comparison of the handwritings with Marais's signature and other large examples in archival documents demonstrates that two of the manuscripts are predominantly autograph, the only such manuscripts known from any major French viol player.