Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
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‘Our Library’ databank / collection
The ‘Al-Furqan Digital Library’ also includes the online catalogue of the holdings of the Al-Furqan’s physical Library. It is an electronic bibliographic database which describes the Library items, and the way of accessing them.
The Library Collection represents a cornerstone reference collection on major research areas, including Islamic manuscripts. The major subjects covered are: Qur’anic studies, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic theology, philosophy, science, medicine, history, geography, art and architecture, and literature; all of them written in the major Islamic languages, including Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Swahili, Gujarati, as well as European languages and Russian. The Library collection also includes multilingual dictionaries, Arabic biographical dictionaries and encyclopaedias, covering the classical period to the present time.
To date, the Library has collected over 11,000 titles in more than 16,000 volumes, on various subjects. Moreover, the Library's collections include almost 1,800 printed Islamic manuscript catalogues in around 2,500 volumes, from over 70 countries.
The library’s holdings are arranged and organised according to the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) for ease of use, while its collection of catalogues of Islamic manuscripts is classified by country.
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The Chester Beatty Library: a handlist of the Arabic manuscripts / | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| by Arthur J. Arberry.- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Details: | Date: 1955-1966 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place: Dublin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Emery Walker {Ireland}, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Physical Description: | 8v.; 25cm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes: | {World Survey of Islamic mss., v.2, p.57} Contents: v.1: 1955, mss. 3001-3250 - v.2: 1956, mss. 3251-3500 - v.3: 1958, mss. 3501-3750 - v.4: 1959, mss. 3751-4000 - v.5: 1962, mss. 4001-4500 - v.6: 1963, mss. 4501-5000 - v.7: 1964, mss. 5001-5500 - v.8: 1966, Indexes / by Ursula Lyons v.5: photocopy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language: | English الإنجليزية | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contributors: | ARBERRY, Arthur John (1969) (Compiler) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | Islamic manuscripts — Union catalogues & Reference works المخطوطات الإسلامية — فهارس موحّدة والمراجع | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Item Shelf Details: | Library ID: 13121 Class Mark: Z6620.I5.D8.A72 Main Accession Number: 790 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LEADER | 00987aa a22000384u 4500 | |
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040 | | $aUKAFI $beng |
245 | 04 | $aThe Chester Beatty Library : $ba handlist of the Arabic manuscripts |
260 | | $aDublin$bEmery Walker {Ireland},$c1955-1966 |
300 | | $a8v.$c25cm |
100 | 0 | $6880-01$aARBERRY, Arthur John $d1969 $eCompiler |
880 | 1 | $6100-01/(B/r$a $d1969 $eمحرر |
650 | 0 | $aManuscripts, Arabic — Ireland — Dublin — Catalogs |
246 | 11 | $aThe Chester Beatty Library: a handlist of the Arabic manuscripts / |
740 | 4 | $aThe Chester Beatty Library: a handlist of the Arabic manuscripts / |
5XX | | $a{World Survey of Islamic mss., v.2, p.57} Contents: v.1: 1955, mss. 3001-3250 - v.2: 1956, mss. 3251-3500 - v.3: 1958, mss. 3501-3750 - v.4: 1959, mss. 3751-4000 - v.5: 1962, mss. 4001-4500 - v.6: 1963, mss. 4501-5000 - v.7: 1964, mss. 5001-5500 - v.8: 1966, Indexes / by Ursula Lyons / v.5: photocopy |
852 | 71 | $a$hZ6620.I5.D8.A72$p13121$2Al-Furqan Library Subject |
|
| Contact: | Dublin Castle, Dublin 2, Irland |
| Telephone: | 353-1-692386, 695187. |
| Date of establishment: | Sir Alfred Chester Beatty was a lifelong collector of Oriental art and manuscripts. His library at Baroda House, London was already recognised in the 1930s as a famous collection. It was more formally established when it was brought to Dublin in 1950, when building commenced at the present site at the above address [the above address is updated in 2016]. |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Condition of access: | It is open to the public, Tuesday-Friday 10.00–17.00, Saturday 14.30–17.00; on Sundays and Mondays the buildings are closed. |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | ca. 3,510 (2,896 Arabic; 1 Chaghatay; 1 Kurdish; 454 Persian; 158 Turkish). |
| Description of Collection: | The Chester Beatty collection is housed in three buildings. The largest of these is the gallery which contains the art treasures. There is a second building which is the original Library building. This now contains display and storage areas. The Arabic manuscripts are kept in a third, single storey building. At the time of writing the fourth building on the complex, originally the Librarian's house, is in the process of being turned into an administration block where all the staff will ultimately have their offices. It is proposed that all manuscripts will ultimately be stored in one atmospherically controlled location in the complex. There are three curators. The Islamic curator is responsible for all Islamic manuscripts and paintings, regardless of their origin. Almost all the manuscripts are in excellent condition. Indeed, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty chose the finest and best illuminated manuscripts he could find in the Near and Middle East. The collection is well kept and in no immediate danger, but a full conservation survey is still required. The collection, which is almost entirely catalogued, contains works on all subjects including poetry, history, law, fiqh, theology, logic, philosophy, medicine and exegesis of the Qurʾan. Some manuscripts date from the late Kufic period. There are 27 pieces of Arabic papyri from Egypt containing letters, documents and some fragments of the Muʿallaqat, the oldest known poetry in Arabic. These are uncatalogued, though Dr Yousef Ragheb of the CNRS, Paris, examined them several years ago with the object of including them in a forthcoming corpus of papyrus documents. There are in the Chester Beatty Library 2,500 catalogued Arabic manuscripts as well as a total of 244 manuscripts of the Holy Qurʾan originating from all Islamic countries, from West Africa to China. An additional 152 Arabic MSS, [see Unpublished catalogues in Info & Ref page]. include notably: MS. 5527: Al-Dhayl, Supplement to the History of Ibn Qaḍi Shuhba (d. 851/1448). Autograph copy dated 810/1407. MS. 5570: Kunuz al-Asrar, a collection of prayers by ʿAbd Allah al-Khayyaṭ al-Fasi, one of the finest manuscripts from Islamic West Africa. MS. 5571: An untitled eulogy of Gayt Bay (1468–96), by Muḥammad al-Qalqashandi. MS. 5596: An untitled military treatise written for Al-Naṣir Muḥammad (d. 1340). MS. 5632: Al-ʿIqd al-Manẓum fi Dhikr Afaḍil al-Rum by ʿAli Efendi (d. 1584). A fine 16th-century copy. MS. 5638: A history of Hadramawt between 501/1112 and 910/ 1532, by Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allah called ‘Shanbal’. MS. 5642: An illustrated treatise on magic and alchemy, the Kitab al-Aqalim al-Sabʿa, 17th-century. MS. 5651: The Damʿat al-Baki of Ibn Faḍl Allah al-ʿUmari. A collection of prose and verse made by Al-ʿUmari (d. 1349). The Persian MSS are notable especially for their miniatures, and they include, as well the important schools of Iran and neighbouring areas, well-known products of the Mughal court painters of the emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan, with the texts in Persian. There are an additional 23 Persian manuscripts which are included at the end of the catalogue of additional Arabic manuscripts by David James [see that catalogue in Info & Ref page], MSS pp. 419–32. They are almost all poetic in content, including selected quatrains from ʿUmar Khayyam, the second volume of a two-volume Shahnamah, three copies of the Divan of Azraqi and two copies of the Divan of Muʿizzi; a Persian translation of, and commentary on, the Burda of Al-Buṣiri and, in the same manuscript (p. 442), a work by ʿAli Shir Navaʾi on the art of poetics, followed by his Divan; these works by Navaʾi are all composed in the Chaghatay language. The important Turkish collection is particularly rich in illustrated manuscripts, including the History of Sultan Süleyman, MS. 413, the Zübdetül-Tevarih, MS. 414 and the Siyer-i Nebi, MS. 419. The Ottoman texts cover poetry, belles-lettres, moral tales and natural history, as well as religious books, e.g. commentaries on the Qurʾan and on the Burda of al-Buṣiri, and works on history, architecture, medicine, chess and the Arabic language. A few are fatwas. Most manuscripts date from ca. 1500–1900; one manuscript dates from before 1500. There is one manuscript in Chaghatay Turkic, MS. T281, a Divan of the poet Mir ʿAli Shir Navaʾi, dated 906/1500–1, with three fine miniatures, one damaged. Manuscript T65 contains eight specimens of Turkish calligraphy. There is also a firman of condolence dated 1207/1801 sent by the Ottoman Grand Vizir to Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Alexandria in that year. The firman has been translated into English by N. Hagopian, and this is appended to the document. There is one manuscript in Kurdish, MS. K413 entitled Tuḥfat al-Qadiriya, by Abu 'l-Maʿali Muslimi, a biography of ʿAbd al-Qadir Gilani, 18th-century, 362 folios. Two manuscripts are deposited in the Chester Beatty from University College, Cork. One is a copy of the Akhlaq-i Naṣiri in Persian, dated 1030/1621. The other is the Divan of the poet ʿAli in Turkish. The Library has a large archive of correspondence between Sir Alfred Chester Beatty and dealers, suppliers, and academics. This valuable material not only includes full details of Beatty's collecting activities from ca. 1914 onwards, but provides exact provenance for many of the manuscripts in the collection, together with information on material examined but not purchased, some of which has certainly disappeared. This material was provisionally sorted some years ago and is accessible by files, in alphabetical order, which contain the correspondence between Beatty and people whose surnames begin with the letter of the file. There is unfortunately no index to this material, which is currently stored in the Library boiler room. But it is available by file on request. |
| Notes: | The Chester Beatty Library was originally a private collection. Today it is administered by a board of trustees, and supported by an annual grant-in-aid given by the Irish Department of Finance. But like all major museums and art galleries in Ireland it comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister). Enquiries, however, should be directed to the Librarian/ Director of the Chester Beatty Library at the address given above. See published World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. 1992 - 1994, Vol.2, p 54. |
| Published Catalogues: | 14 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 4 |
| Online access: | http://www.cbl.ie/ |
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