Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
matches
- Language
- XAlbanian
- XAmharic
- XArabic
- XAzeri
- XBamum
- XBelorussian
- XBerber
- XBosnian
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- XChaghatay
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- Subject
- XAdministration
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- XAmulets
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- XVeterinary
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‘World Collections’ databank / collection
The ‘World Collections’ databank / collection holds the digitised outcome of the survey on the collections of Islamic manuscripts in the world, completed and published by the Al-Furqan Foundation in 1994, under the title “The World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts”.. This Survey is available in both the English and Arabic language.
This flagship project (the only one of this type to date) started in 1989, focusing on identifying and recording undocumented Islamic manuscript collections in the world, with the aim to support and instigate research into the field of Islamic manuscripts. A number of known scholars and experts contributed to this encyclopaedic work.
The Survey identified collections in 106 countries. It is a compilation of detailed independent studies, highlighting just over a million and a half Islamic manuscripts from just over 2,500 collections. These collections, in more than 40 languages, belong to public and private libraries in almost 1,300 cities. It gathered extensive information about these libraries, including details about their establishment and the status of their collections, unveiling in the process rare manuscripts. For example, the collection of manuscripts at the Institute of Oriental Culture (University of Tokyo) - that was acquired in 1987 - included several new and unique Islamic manuscripts. The noteworthy discoveries were two copies of Risala fi anwaʿ al-mashruʿat, a comprehensive work on the terminology of jurisprudence, by Luṭf Allah al-Kaydani (died 1349 AD /750 AH). These were significant findings, as they had not even been mentioned in the most renowned classical period references, such as Brockelmann's famous work Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL), Sezgin's Geschichte Des Arabischens Schriftums (GAS), and Kaḥḥala's Muʿjam al-muʾallifin.
A large number of the identified libraries have listed and included detailed descriptions about the manuscripts held in their collection, in a form of a document or publication. This publication is known as a ‘catalogue’; with most of them published and available for purchase. Another form of a published catalogue is one that was compiled by a group of libraries, known as ‘library consortium’. These libraries partnered to combine their collections into one unified published catalogue, known as a ‘union catalogue’.
Some libraries held collections that were not catalogued or documented. Others made an attempt to describe their collections in simplified lists and general documentations. These were usually not published and are known as ‘unpublished catalogues’.
A unique outcome of the Survey was the identification of all the various catalogues. Just over 5,500 catalogues of Islamic manuscripts were surveyed, including the listing of almost 700 union catalogues, and almost 1,000 unpublished catalogues.
All this information and much more is ready to be explored on theAl-Furqan Digital Library, under the ‘World Collections’ databank.
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| Contact: | Cortile del Belvedere V-00120 Vatican City |
| Telephone: | +39/06698.79411 |
| Date of establishment: | 1450 |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Status Details: | Public within the Vatican State |
| Condition of access: | Any person with an attested academic status is admitted for the purpose of personal research inside the library. On request copies, microfilms, etc. are made of the MSS needed for intensive investigation and editions. |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | ca. 4,395 (Arabic 2,605; a few Malay; Persian 1,267; Turkish 521). |
| Description of Collection: | The manuscripts of the Vatican Library mirror the numerous and rich cultures of the Middle East, and no clear dividing line is drawn along the uncertain frontiers of these cultures. Originally the manuscripts were classified only on the basis of the languages chiefly used in them. In modern catalogues (especially by G. Levi Della Vida) divisions by religious affiliation were introduced, but with quite unsatisfactory results. The collection of Islamic MSS was begun under Pope Leo X (1513 – 1521) with MSS captured in the wars against the Turks (oldest MS. known: Vat. Turci 12 (11)). The most relevant study on the historical development of the oriental collection of MSS is: Ricerche sulla formazione del più antico fondo dei manoscritti orientali della Biblioteca Vaticana. By Giorgio Levi Della Vida.Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Studi e Testi, 92). 528pp. A more recent and more complete study is: La Bibliothèque vaticane de Sixte IV à Pie XI. Recherches sur l'histoire des collections des manuscrits.By Jeanne Bignami Odier with José Ruysschaert.Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Studi e Testi, 272). 478pp. See also: Khazīnat makhṭūṭāt Al-QassBawlus Sabāṭ. ByIghnāṭiyūs Saʿd. Majallat al-Qurbān, 6, 1931, pp. 230 – 232; 364 – 367. Al-Maktaba Al-Vātīkānīya.By Yūḥannā Sulaymān.Al-Risāla al-Mukhalliṣīya, 18, 1951, pp. 416 – 423. 1953 – 1954 Notizie preliminari.By Enrico Cerulli.Rendiconti Accademia Lincei, Sc. Mor., 1953, pp. 76 – 77; 1954, p. 40. Una nuova collezione di manoscritti persiani della Biblioteca Vaticana.By Enrico Cerulli.Rendiconti Accademia Lincei, Sc. Mor., 1954, pp. 507 – 515. The development of Islamic library collections in Western Europe and North America.By S. Roman.London: Mansell. All the Islamic MSS are in excellent condition and are kept in closely guarded depots together with the numerous MSS from other cultures and languages. The depots are very orderly and clean, equipped with air-conditioning and humidity controls. The library takes special care also of the codices that are damaged or have damaged bindings: they are either reinforced with fitting cardboard or professionally restored (Sbath no. 265 is a very fine example). The Islamic MSS are included (depending on their acquisition) in some 10 different collections (“fondi”). All of them are described in catalogues, although not all with the same precision and scholarship. For the Sbath collection (still truncated) only a preliminary catalogue is available. The subjects covered are: Qurʾān, tafsīr, Ḥadīth, fiqh, kalàm, Sufism, adab, poetry, grammar, lexicography, history, geography, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, alchemy. The earliest dated MS. is the K. al-Bawl by Isḥaq B. Sulayman Alisraʾili, dated 346 AH [957 CE] (Vat. Arab. 310). All later centuries are represented, but most of the MSS belong to the 18th and 19th centuries. Many MSS also contain artistic decorations, specimens of calligraphy, and valuable bindings. Of special importance, in my estimation, is the MS. Vat. Arab. 761: Al-Zīj al-Sanjarī, by al-Khāzinī (written before 529 AH/1135 CE). But literary works of great value are also present, such as Sbath 265: the Maqāmāt of al-Harīrī, dated as early as 583 AH [1187 CE]. Modern facilities of telecommunication, computers, etc. are being introduced in this library. |
| Notes: | See published World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. 1992 - 1994, Vol.3, p 630. |
| Published Catalogues: | 30 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 3 |
| Online access: | https://www.vatlib.it/home.php?ling=eng&res=1366x768 |
| Published Catalogues Total: 30 | 1719 – 1728 |
1827 | |
1831 | |
1876 – 1877 | |
1894 | |
1897 | |
1900 | |
1904 | |
1909 | |
1912 | |
1920 – 1921 | |
1923 – 1928 | |
1924 | |
1925 | |
1926 | |
1928 – 1934 | |
1935 | |
1937 – 1947 | |
1947 | |
1948 | |
1949 | |
1953 | |
1956 | |
1961 | |
1962 | |
1965 | |
1978 | |
1979 | |
1979 | |
1992 | |
| Unpublished Catalogues Total: 3 | Supplementum ad Catalogum Codicum Orientalium Bibliothecae Vaticanae. |
Inventar. By Oskar Rescher. | |
1984 |
| Bibliographical appendix Total: 21 | 1936 |
1938 | |
1949 | |
1958 | |
1958 | |
1967 | |
1968 – 1980 | |
1971 | |
1972 | |
1977 | |
1978 | |
1980 | |
1982 | |
1983 | |
1983 | |
1984 | |
1984 | |
1986 | |
1988 | |
1989 | |
1990 |
Cities surveyed
Libraries surveyed
Catalogues surveyed
