Middle Eastern Studies
Arabic manuscript illustration in miniature of sea creatures. Probably from Iraq, Basra.zoology manuscript, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
General Manuscript Sources
These sources contain full-text scans of public domain works including manuscripts, many of which live in research libraries,
Library Manuscript Resources
To find facsimiles, catalogs, scholarly research, and more in book form, try these searches:
Sample Searches
Manuscript Reference Sources
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KhizanaAn effort to create a comprehensive reference work on people and works related to Arabic manuscripts, focusing on the period between the 12th and the 19th centuries CE. As a reference work on Arabic literature, it integrates sources relevant to Bibliotheca Arabica.
Digitized Manuscripts
Library Databases
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Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library (1475-1900) This link opens in a new windowFull-text searchable digital library of early printed books in Arabic script. Covering religious literature, law, science, mathematics, astrology, alchemy, medicine, geography, travel, history, chronicles, and literature, and including European translations of Arabic works and Arabic translations of European books, it exemplifies the long exchange of ideas and learning between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world.
Open Web Manuscript Collections
Available to anyone with an internet connection.
Note that most collections have only been partially digitized.
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Arabic Manuscripts and Maps at Bodleian LibraryOver 100 manuscripts from one of the most extensive Arabic manuscript collections.
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Bibliothèque nationale de France, GallicaDigitized sources include manuscripts from the medieval period.
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Islamic Manuscripts at Cambridge University LibraryThis collection of Islamic manuscripts dates from the origins of Arabic scholarship in Cambridge in the 1630s and has grown to include over 5,000 works. In this selection is the full collection of the earliest Qurʼānic manuscripts copied during the first four Centuries of Islam.
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Islamic Manuscripts Collection at University of Michigan LibraryMore than 1,100 volumes, plus a small number of fragments, dating from the 8th to the early 20th century primarily in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish.
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Manuscripts at American University of BeirutA collection of 1,800 manuscripts in several languages, the majority of which are in Arabic. The core clusters were acquired as early as the late 19th century from prestigious private libraries. Scroll down to view digitized manuscripts.
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Manuscripts of the Islamic World at Princeton University LibraryA curated selection of manuscripts, which are predominantly in Arabic, but there are also many in Persian and Ottoman Turkish.
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Marmara Üniversİtesİ Dİjİtal Nadİr Eserler KoleksİyonuThe collection contains 2,450+ manuscripts primarily in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. To access digitized manuscripts, click "Üye Ol" near the top of the page and create an account.
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Minasian (Caro) Collection of Persian and Arabic Manuscripts at UCLA LibraryOne of the most extensive post-classical Islamic manuscript collections in the United States, which primarily consists of works related to the studies of theologians and scholars at centers of learning in Iran during the 17th and 18th centuries.
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Orientalische Handschriften, Bayerische StaatsbibliothekThe library holds ~5,300 manuscripts volumes primarily in Arabic, Turkish, and Hebrew.
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Orientalische Handschriften, Universitätsbibliothek LeipzigThe collection of ~3,200 manuscripts includes the so-called "Refaiya" (Rifā‛īya), the private library of the Rifā‛ī family from Damascus.
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Ottoman Text Archive Project (OTAP)Transcribed Ottoman texts created in a collaboration between the University of Washington in Seattle and Bilkent University in Ankara.
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Shahnama Project at Cambridge University LibraryA massive collection of manuscripts of the Shahnama and a display of the miniature paintings in each one. It allows you to see and compare all the different depictions of a particular scene in the narrative and to explore text-image relationships across the corpus.
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SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Digital Library = Национална Библиотека "Св. св. Кирил и Методий", Дигитална библиотекаDigitized materials include manuscripts and other documents related to the Southern Europe's Ottoman past.
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Taylor-Schechter Cairo Genizah Collection at Cambridge University LibraryThe world's largest single collection of medieval Jewish manuscripts. It consists of 193,000 manuscripts from a storeroom (genizah) of the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which is where the Jewish community of Fustat (Old Cairo), placed their worn-out books and other writings.
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Wellcome Arabic Manuscripts OnlineThe collection comprises around 1,000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine.
Manuscript Search Engines
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QalamosProvides direct access to metadata and digitized copies of Oriental manuscript collections in Germany. It comprises approximately 135,000 manuscript datasets from Asian and African script traditions containing descriptions of 120,000 physical objects written in more than 160 languages and 80 scripts.
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Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldThe combined holdings of contributing libraries across the United Kingdom. All participating libraries have been selectively collecting manuscripts from all subject areas, and of various geographical origins, dating from the 7th to the 19th century CE.
