Manuscript Projects
Arabic Papyrology Database
The Arabic Papyrology Database is a tool enabling you to access the editions of Arabic documents written on different material such as papyrus, parchment or paper. The texts of 13.380 documents in stock are searchable on different layers and with variant readings within the tool ‘Documents’. The tool ‘Search’ allows to investigate linguistic peculiarities. Each document is also provided with its metadata, amongst others place and date of origin or its genre as for instance a contract of lease or a petition. The Arabic Papyrology Database is a project running under the patronage of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology (ISAP) and a partner of the Trismegistos metadata project of Greek, Demotic, Coptic, Arabic, etc. documents.
Chester Beatty Library Seals project
Database of seal impressions founded in Islamic manuscripts containing mainly images of seal impressions found in the more than 2600 manuscripts that make up the Chester Beatty Library’s Arabic Collection.
Chroniques du manuscrit au Yemen
The focus of this biannual journal is to inform about the manuscripts of Yemen.
Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies (COMSt)
The cooperative network COMSt is dedicated to academic dialogue in the field of Oriental manuscript studies.
Corpus coranicum (Berlin- Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
The aim of this project is to collect and publish online materials on the history of the Koranic text: manuscript tradition (manuscripts and readings), texts from the environment of the Koran and a chronological literary commentary.
ISMI (Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative)
This site aims to make accessible information on all Islamic manuscripts in the exact sciences (astronomy, mathematics, optics, mathematical geography, music, mechanics, and related disciplines), whether in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or other languages.
The Filāha Texts Project : The Arabic books of husbandry
Rich information on Arabic texts compiled by agronomists mainly between the 10th and14th centuries : bibliography, digitised texts, links to digitised manuscripts on various other websites.
Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation
It encourages researchers to send their proposed projects, either in the field of Islamicmanuscripts or Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and supports a selection of projects.
Manumed
Wide information on libraries holding written and intengible heritage of the North and South-Mediterranean region (Israel excluded) in Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Greek, Latin, Berber, etc. Manumed’s other activities include publication,
training, and supporting the conservation of manuscripts.
Memory of the world register (UNESCO)
Many manuscripts or collections of manuscripts from the Middle East are presented on this site. The program’s mission is to facilitate their conservation, to make them universally accessible and to make them known.
Established to save endangered collections (looting, illegal trading, inadequate housing,etc.) the programme presents manuscripts or manuscript collections from variouscountries, among others, in Asia, Africa and the Arab world. It conducts projects aimingto the safeguarding of manuscrips at danger and provides wide access to them.
Refaiya Library
Database-supported data collection, exploration and digital presentation of the Damascene family library Refaiya at the University Library in Leipzig, containing 3.200 manuscripts. A special attention is given to the bookbindings descriptions, with images of complete rubbings.
Tombouctou Manuscripts project
A South Africa-Mali Timbuktu Manuscripts Project was officially launched in 2003 and a major achievement of this project was the new library-archive building, which was inaugurated in Timbuktu in January 2009. The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is dedicated to research various aspects of writing and reading the handwritten works of Timbuktu and beyond. Training young researchers is an integral part of its work.
VECMAS-Tombouctou
This project proposes to carry out a critical edition of a significant number of manuscripts by a team of French academics (focused on ENS-LSH) and a team of academics and researchers from Mali (focusing the Mamma Haidara library). In November 2009 the two institutions signed a memorandum of cooperation.
West African Arabic manuscripts project
A Project coordinated by the Institute for Islamic Thought in Africa at Northwestern University, ILL (USA), this is mainly a data base with catalogue information of manuscripts held in various African countries, in The US and in France.