Open Access Manuscripts Collection: SLUB Dresden

"Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) manuscript collection contains over 448 Islamic manuscripts (196 Ottoman, 184 Arabic, 68 Persian). Following clashes with the Ottomans in the Baltic region, these manuscripts arrived in Europe and were acquired in the 18th and 19th centuries from collections of nobility and scholarly estates. In the 19th century, a large number of Tibetan (438) and Mongolian (58) manuscripts were purchased. Other Oriental manuscripts, i.e. Chinese (18), Japanese (3), Indonesian (9), Sanskrit (1), Hebraic (10) and Ethiopian (4), were bestowed upon the library by private persons.

With the exception of a few recent acquisitions, most of the Islamic manuscripts are registered in the "Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium Bibliothecae Regiae Dresdensis", which was published in Leipzig in 1831 by the Orientalist Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (1801-1888). This index is available digitally at diglib.hab.de/wdb.php.
A complete list of the Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, Hebraic, and Ethiopian manuscripts as well as a partial list of the Indonesian manuscripts can be found in the "Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland" (Index of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany, VOHD; Wiesbaden / Stuttgart 1961ff.)."

Noteworthy examples:

• Kitab-i Dede Korkut (Mscr.Dresd.Ea.86): The only fully preserved manuscript narrating national epic of the Oguzes, a nomadic Turkish tribe.
• Mulana Fuzûli, Benk u Bâde (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.362): An Ottoman poem, written on rose paper, narrating a dispute about rank between wine and hash (cannabis).
• Kemāl Paša-Zāde: Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.391): The story of the Ottomans in a two-volume manuscript with 25 depictions of cities, fortifications and harbor facilities.
• Seyyid Loqmān, Qiyā-fet al-insānīyeh fī shemā’il othmanīyeh (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.373): Book of the Ottoman Characteristics, containing 12 portraits of Turkish sultans.
• Machsor mecholl haschana (Mscr.Dresd.A.46.a): Jewish prayer book for the High Holidays, in Southern German handwriting from the end of the 13th century. Further information

Alphabetical List of Open Access Islamic Manuscripts Collections