Islamic Manuscripts in the
Columbia Libraries

A.SiJHEYL UNVER
 

'HEN I wanted to examine the Oriental works in
Arabic, Persian, and Turkish in the Butler Library
at Columbia University, I found, after inspecting
some loo manuscripts registered on the catalog cards which had
been given to me, that the latter were inadequate and contained
many errors. My good friend. Professor Halasi-Kun, and I dis¬
cussed this situation with the Director of Libraries and also with
the Head of Special Collections. It \\"as finally decided that I
should undertake the preparation of a new catalog.

Manuscripts in the three languages which I have classified in
the Smith and Plimpton Collections comprise: Arabic, 375; Per¬
sian, 128; and Turkish, 43. If we examine the 375 Arabic manu¬
scripts one by one, we find that they include: 25 collections of
prayers written in Iran, 12 collections of prayers written in Tur¬
key, 44 Korans written in Iran, 14 collections of prayers written
in Arabia, 34 Korans written in Turkey and Arabia; 10 Coptic-
Arabic Bibles, Collections of Psalms, and of prayers; 40 Koran
fragments, half of them written in Arabia, and the other half in
Turkey; and 21 pages from the Koran. Apart from these religious
works, each of the remaining 175 manuscripts is designated in the
catalog simply as "Arabic MS." Among them, all branches of
learning and science are represented. Our classification of the 128
Persian writings is: 34 literary works, 15 religious manuscripts,
3 manuscripts of prayers, i history of Pahlavi, 3 8 scientific works,
24 works of philosophy or mystical folklore, 4 Persian translations
of the Koran, 3 histories, i dictionary, and 5 miscellaneous.

The 43 Turkish manuscripts include: 4 calendars, 2 registers of

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