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Islamic Manuscript Studies

Resources for the study of manuscripts and manuscript cultures of Islamic cultural areas

Manuals, Handbooks and Bibliographies

For additional titles see Arabic Script Palaeography and Reading Lists

Déroche, François, et al. Manuel de codicologie des manuscrits en écriture arabe. [Paris] : Bibliothèque nationale de France, c2000

-------. al-Madkhal ilá ʻilm al-kitāb al-makhṭūṭ bi-al-ḥarf al-ʻArabī. Landan : Muʼassasat al-Furqān lil-Turāth al-Islāmī, 2005.

-------. Islamic Codicology: An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script. London: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2006.

------- and Valentina Sagaria Rossi. I manoscritti in caratteri arabi. Roma : Viella, 2012.

Gacek, Adam. "A Select Bibliography of Arabic Language Publications Concerning Arabic Manuscripts." Manuscripts of the Middle East (MME) 1 (1986): 106-108.

-----. The Arabic Manuscript Tradition: A Glossary of Technical Terms and Bibliography. Leiden: Brill, 2001 

-----. The Arabic Manuscript Tradition: A Glossary of Technical Terms and Bibliography – Supplement. Leiden: Brill, 2008 

-----. Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers. Leiden: Brill, 2009 

Ghelichkhani, Hamid Reza (Ḥamīd Riz̤ā Qilīchʹkhānī). Zarʹafshān : farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt va tarkībāt-i khūshnivīsī, kitābʹārāyī va nuskhahʹpardāzī dar shiʻr-i Fārsī = Zar afshān: a dictionary of terms relating to calligraphy, ornament, and the making of manuscripts as found in classical Persian poetry. Tihrān: Farhang-i Muʻāṣir, 2013. 

--------. A Handbook of Persian Calligraphy and Related Arts, edited by Shervin Farridnejad and translated by Rebecca Stengel. Leiden: Brill, [2021].

al-Ḥalwajī, ʻAbd al-Sattār. Naḥwa ʻilm makhṭūṭāt ʻArabī. al-Qahirah: Dar al-Qahirah, 2004.

Mikhaĭlova, I B and A B Khalidov. Bibliografii︠a︡ arabskikh rukopiseĭ. Moskva: Nauka, Glavnai︠a︡ redakt︠s︡ii︠a︡ vostochnoĭ literatury, 1982.

Roper, Geoffrey, Ed. World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1992-1994. (Available online via Al-Furqan Digital Library Portal "World Collections")

Ṣafarī Āqʹqalʻah, ʻAlī. Nuskhahʹshinākht: pizhūhishnāmah-ʼi nuskhahʹshināsī-i nusakh-i khaṭṭī-i Fārsī [= Handbook of Persian codicology: an introduction to the study of Persian manuscripts] bā muqaddamah-ʼi Īraj Afshār. Tihrān: Markaz-i Pizhūhishī-i Mīrās̲-i Maktūb, 2011.

al-Sāmarrāʾī, Qāsim. ʻIlm al-iktināh al-ʻArabī al-Islāmī. al-Riyāḍ: Markaz al-Malik Fayṣal lil-Buḥūth wa-al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah, 2001.

Sayyid, Ayman Fuʾād. al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī al-makhṭūṭ wa-ʻilm al-makhṭūṭāt. al-Qāhirah : al-Dār al-Miṣrīyah al-Lubnānīyah, 1997.

Important Journals

Āfāq al-thaqāfah wa-al-turāth = آفاق الثقافة والتراث

Dubayy: Idārat al-Baḥth al-ʻIlmī wa-al-Nashāṭ al-Thaqāfī bi-Markaz Jumʻah al-Mājid lil-Thaqāfah wa-al-Turāth, 1993-


ʻĀlam al-makhṭūṭāt wa-al-nawādir = عالم المخطوطات والنوادر

al-Riyāḍ: ʻĀlam al-Kutub, 1996-


Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen = حوليات مخطوطات اليمن

"Créée en 2006 par Eric Vallet et Anne Regourd, Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen est une revue du CEFAS consacrée à l’étude des manuscrits. Elle est diffusée exclusivement en ligne, ses articles sont en français et en anglais, accompagnés d’une traduction en arabe. « Manuscrit » est compris dans un sens extensif, sans distinction de période. L’ensemble des disciplines du manuscrit sont prises en compte (édition de textes, codicologie, histoire de l’art, catalogage, numérisation, conservation, etc.). Les n°1 à 18 (2006-2014) sont disponibles sur le site revue.org de OpenEdition."

Sanaa, Yemen : Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa, 2006-

(available freely online in French and Arabic) 


Gazette du livre médiéval

"The GAZETTE DU LIVRE MÉDIÉVAL has been published since 1982 by a group of medievalists from different countries. While bringing together a diversity of scientific interests, they share the conviction that the history of the book ought to encompass all aspects of this outstanding witness of medieval cultural life, and deserves to be treated as an autonomous discipline. They hope to remove the artificial barrier that tends to separate the manuscript and the incunable, and to extend the field of study and reflection to non-occidental civilisations, envisaging eventually a comparative synthesis.

The GLM has been conceived of as something more than a newsletter, but different from an academic review. The first half of each fascicle is devoted to short contributions that summarize recent activity in different areas of research, that reflect on methodological problems, or that present points of view on topical issues. The remainder of the journal offers the reader technical notes, short book reviews, a listing of recent bibliography, announcements or summaries of colloquia, seminars and exhibitions, information concerning research and documentation projects, and other news."

Paris: Éditions CEMI, 1982-

(some articles indexed in Index Islamicus ; contents listings - alphabetical and chronological - and select content available online)


Guzārish-i Mīrās̲ = Gozāresh-e Mirās. Bimonthly Journal of Textual Criticism, Codicology, and Iranology

گزارش میراث

Tihrān : Markaz-i Pizhūhishi-yi Mīrās̲-i Maktūb, 1384 [2005]-

(some contents listings online ; indexed by Noormags)


Journal of Islamic Manuscripts

"The Journal of Islamic Manuscripts explores the crucial importance of the handwritten book in the Muslim world. It is concerned with the written transmission of knowledge, the numerous varieties of Islamic book culture and the materials and techniques of bookmaking, namely codicology. It also considers activities related to the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections, including cataloguing, conservation and digitization. It is the journal’s ambition to provide students and scholars, librarians and collectors – in short, everyone who is interested in Islamic manuscripts – with a professional journal and functional platform of their own. It welcomes contributions in English, French and Arabic on codicology, textual studies, manuscript collections and collection care and management. Papers will be peer-reviewed to maintain a high scholarly level. The Journal of Islamic Manuscripts is published on behalf of the Islamic Manuscript Association Limited, an international non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Islamic manuscripts and supporting those who work with them. For enquiries and submission of articles for the Journal please contact the editor, Prof. Jan Just Witkam in Leiden"

Leiden: Brill, 2010-

(indexed in Index Islamicus ; online version available via subscription)


al-Khizānah : majallah ʻilmīyah niṣf sanawīyah tuʻná bi-al-turāth al-makhṭūṭ wa-al-wathāʼiq = 

الخزنة : مجلة علمية نصف سنوية تعنى بالتراث المخطوط والوثائق 

Karbalāʼ : Markaz Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-tābiʻ li-Dār Makhṭūṭāt al-ʻAtabah al-ʻAbbāsīyah al-Muqaddasah, [2017]-

(archive available online)


Majallat Maʻhad al-Makhṭūṭāt al-ʻArabīyah = مجلة معهد المخطوطات العربية

al-Qāhirah: Maʻhad al-Makhṭūṭāt fī Jāmiʻat al-Duwal al-ʻArabīyah, 1955-

(see online)


Makhṭūṭātunā = مخطوطاتنا

Baghdād : al-ʻAtabah al-ʻAlawīyah al-Muqaddasah, Qism al-Shuʼūn al-Fikrīyah wa-al-Thaqāfīyah, Shuʻbat Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth wa-al-Taḥqīq, [2014]-


Majallat al-wathāʼiq wa-al-makhṭūṭāt = مجلة الوثائق والمخطوطات

Ṭarābulus [Libya]: Markaz Dirāsat Jihād al-Lībīyīn Ḍidda al-Ghazw al-Īṭālī, 1986-


Manuscripta. A Journal for Manuscript Research.

St. Louis, MO: Knights of Columbus, Vatican Film Library, St. Louis University via Brepols Publishers, 1957-


Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research.

St. Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oriental Studies, 1995-

(indexed in Index Islamicus and FRANCIS, contents listings for several issues available online)


Manuscripts of the Middle East. A Journal Devoted to the Study of Handwritten Materials of the Middle East.

Leiden: Ter Lugt Press, 1986-1992.

(indexed in Index Islamicus ; available online via Prof. Jan Just Witkam's Islamic manuscripts reference library)


Mirʼāt al-turāth = مرآة التراث

al-Rabāṭ: al-Rābiṭah al-Muḥammadīyah lil-ʻUlamāʼ, Markaz al-Dirāsāt wa-al-Abḥāth wa-Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth, 2011-

(contents listings also available online)


Nāmah-ʾi bahāristān : majallah-i muṭālaʻāt va taḥqīqāt-i nuskhahʹhā-yi khaṭṭī (Nāmeh-ye Bahārestān) = نامه بهارستان

Tihrān : Kitābkhānah, Mūzih va Markaz-i Asnād-i Majlis-i Shūrā-yi Islāmī, 1379- [2000-]


Nouvelles des manuscrits du Moyen-Orient

accompanied by Fichier des Manuscrits Moyen-Orientaux Datés (FiMMOD)

Paris: École pratique des hautes études, 1992-2001.

(partially indexed in Index Islamicus ; available via ILL or Prof. Jan Just Witkam's Islamic manuscripts reference library ; the planned electronic version of the FiMMOD, using the Kabikadj software,  has not yet appeared)


Nuskhah-hā-yi khaṭṭī : nashrīyah-i Kitābkhānah-i markazī-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān = Bulletin de la Bibliothèque Centrale de l'Université de Tehran

نخسه‌های خطی

Tihrān : Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh Tihrān, 1961-


Pizhūhishʹhā-yi nuskhahʹshināsī : Majalah-i baynʹ almillalī-i muṭāliʻāt va taḥqīqāt dar qalamraw-i nuskhahʹhā-yi Islāmī-Īrānī = Codicological studies the international journal of research on Islamic and Iranian manscripts

پژوهش های نسخه شناسی : مجله بین المللی مطالعات و تحقیقات در قلمرو نسخه های خطی اسلامی

Tihrān : 1395 [2016]-


Turāthīyāt = تراثيات

al-Qāhirah: Dār al-Kutub wa-al-Wathāʼiq al-Qawmīyah, Markaz Taḥqīq al-Turāth, [2003]-

Databases and Online Reference Works

Additional databases and other resources for manuscript notes, seals, terminology, etc on the Manuscript Description page of this research guide

Islamic Manuscripts Reference Library (Prof. J J Witkam)

[Update: it appears that as of early 2024, it has been necessary to take down the site --- versions of the site from February 2007 to December 2023 are available via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine]

Professor Jan Just Witkam has compiled an incredibly valuable digital library of reference material relevant to Islamic manuscript studies:

 

 

Online Dictionaries

Online Date Conversion

In print, see Wüstenfeld-Mahler’sche Vergleichungs-Tabellen zur muslimischen und iranischen Zeitrechnung, miu Tafeln zur Umrechnung orient-christlicher Ären. Wiesbaden: Deutsch Morgenländische Gesellschaft, in Kommission bei F. Steiner Verlag, 1961.

Names

Encyclopaedia of Islam (EI, EI2, EIThree) Online (available through the Library's subscription to Brill online)

Beeston, A. F. L. Arabic Nomenclature: A Summary Guide for Beginners. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971. Available online

Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. The Islamic dynasties; a chronological and genealogical handbook. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 1967. 

_______. The new Islamic dynasties : a chronological and genealogical manual. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 1996.

Müller, Christian and Sublet, Jacqueline. Onomasticon Arabicum. Prosopographie de l’islam médiéval. Mise en mémoire des données biographiques, Paris, IRHT, 2006 (Ædilis, Bases de données et logiciels, 3) available online 

Schimmel, Annemarie. Islamic Names. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,1989. 

Sublet, Jacqueline. Le voile du nom: essai sur le nom propre arabe. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, c1991 

Zambaur, Eduard von. Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l’histoire de l’Islam. Hanovre: H. Lefaire, 1927. 

Zambaur, revised and enlarged Arabic ed. = Muʻjam al-ansāb wa-isrāt al-ḥākimah fī al-tārīkh al-Islāmī, Zakī Muḥammad Ḥasan Bakk and Ḥasan Aḥmad Maḥmūd, eds. [Cairo] : Maṭbaʻat Jāmiʻat Fuʾād al-Awwal, 1951.


Bouquet, Olivier. "Onomasticon Ottomanicum : identification administrative et désignation sociale dans l’État ottoman du xixe  siècle." Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 127 (juillet 2010), mis en ligne le 05 janvier 2012

Kunt, M. "Ottoman Names and Ottoman Ages." Journal of Turkish Studies 10 (1986): 227-234.

Türkischer biographischer Index [=Turkish biographical index]. München: Saur, 2004 

Selection of other online guides relevant to Islamic manuscript studies

Last Updated: Nov 19, 2024 1:43 PM