Christopher,
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Is the copy of the BOTNS which is given to Thecla in her cell Severian's first manuscript, or a copy? (I don't know if we have a definite answer to this).
There is no reason to think that it is not a printed book, one of a print run, very likely with a buckram cover (I speculate on the brown cover to make the point that on Urth books as they are today survive). TNOTNS differentiates between manuscripts and books, and it is definitely a book.
-alga-