Birnbaum, Eleazar - Turkish Manuscripts 5 - Turkey & Cyprus

Turkish Manuscripts: Cataloguing since 1960 and Manuscripts Still Uncatalogued, Part 5:
Turkey and Cyprus

Author(s): Eleazar Birnbaum
Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1984), pp. 465-
503
Published by: American Oriental Society
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TURKISH MANUSCRIPTS: CATALOGUING SINCE 1960
AND MANUSCRIPTS STILL UNCATALOGUED*
PART 5: TURKEY AND CYPRUS
ELEAZAR BIRNBAUM
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
CONTENTS
1. Introduction ................................................ 466

2. Statistics ................................................... 468
3. TOYATOK
.468
4. Istanbul Libraries: General .472
5. Istanbul. Suleymaniye Library .477
6. Istanbul. Topkapi Palace Library .479
7. Istanbul University Library .481
8. Istanbul. Beyazit State Library .482
9. Istanbul. Ataturk (incorporating Belediye) Library .482
10. Istanbul. Millet Library ......................................... 483
11. Istanbul Exhibitions, etc. ........................................ 483
12. Vakf/ Vakif Libraries ........................................... 483
13. Dissertations on Istanbul MSS . .................................... 483
14. Turkish Art MSSin Istanbul Collections .484
15. Ankara Libraries: Introduction .485
16. Ankara University Faculty of Arts Library .485
17. Ankara. Turkish National Library .487
18. Ankara Province Library ........................................ 488
19. Ankara. Turkish Language Society .489
20. Ankara. Turkish Historical Society .489
21. Fiche Catalogues of Anatolian Collections .489
22. Konya. Mevldna Museum Library .489
23. Konya Province Library. Yusuf Aga Library .491
24. Konya. Koyunoglu Library .492
25. Bursa Province Library .495
26. Bursa. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts .496
27. Manisa Province Library .496
28. Akhisar. Zeynelzade Library .498
29. Kayseri. Rapid Efendi Library .498
30. Edirne. Selimiye Library .500
31. Adana. Ramazanoglu Library .500
32. Diyarbakir Province Library ...................................... 501
33. Other Anatolian Collections ...................................... 501
34. Conclusion: Turkey .502
35. Cyprus. Sultan Mahmud II Library .502
36. Conclusion to Parts 1-5 of this series ................................ 503
* Earlier articles in this series have

appeared in JAOS: part 4 in vol. 104.2 (1984), pp. 303-314. In a forthcoming
Part 1 in vol. 103.2 (1983), pp. 413-420; part 2 in vol. 103.3 issue of JAOS I hope to provide indexes to all five articles of
(1983), pp. 515-532; part 3 in vol. 103.4 (1983), pp. 691-707; this series on Turkish manuscripts.
465
466 Journal of the American Oriental Society 104.3 (1984)
TURKEY"' Bibliotheques de Turquie.336It is based on a question-

naire answered by 278 active libraries all over Turkey.
Most libraries with manuscripts gave separate figures
1. Introduction
for their Turkish holdings. Some of these libraries
have since sent their manuscripts to other institutions,
Turkey was the heartland of the Ottoman Empire especially to the Stileymaniye library in Istanbul.
from the 14th century, and before that it had been the The latest figures now available include a selection
home of the Anatolian Seijuks, and various Turkish from an unpublished survey of 1967 listed by Mt1jgin
and other dynasties which were gradually displaced by Cunbur, director of the Turkish National Library, in
the Ottomans. Centres of Islamic scholarship flourished an article in 1970;337 how many of the manuscripts at
for centuries in many cities and towns of Asia Minor, each of these institutions are in Turkish is not stated.
and of Rumelia (the European provinces of the Otto- In 1978 the organizers of the new project called the
man Empire), attracting scholars and students from "Union Catalogue of MSS in Turkey" (TUrkiye Yaz-
across the Middle East and Central Asia. As a result, malari Toplu Katalogu) requested a count of MSS
vast numbers of Islamic manuscripts are to be found from libraries338but these figures remain unpublished.
all over modern Turkey, some even in towns which Even if they were to appear in print they would
have now become mere villages. A proportion of these probably be rather unreliable, for there are regrettably
manuscripts were written in places which were always few librarians in Turkey today who have the knowledge
beyond the confines of the Ottoman Empire, and and experience necessary to make it: a thorough
many of the manuscripts in fact long antedate it. knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Persian,
The whole of Turkey may be thought of as a kind and a strong background in traditional Islamic studies.
of manuscript warehouse, whose contents are only As for the owners of private collections, many of
partly known and still more slightly recorded or orga- them are chary of informing officials or bureaucracies
nized. If this is the situation with regard to manuscripts of their personal treasures.
in public collections of various types, it is far more Some rough idea of the magnitude of the problem
unsatisfactory in the case of manuscripts in private may be obtained by consulting Fuat Sezgin's Geschichte
hands, and virtually nothing is known about them. des Arabischen Schrifitums (GAS)339particularlyunder
The first "modern"general survey of libraries through- the heading "Ttirkei," in the section on libraries and
out Turkey, which included statistics of their manu- collections of manuscripts in several GAS volumes.
scripts, was published in 1957 by the Bibliographical The richest of these is in volume 6 (1978), pp. 428-
Institute of the Turkish National Library under the 454, but for completeness the same section in other
title Turkiye Kutuphaneleri Rehberi/Repertoire des volumes should also be consulted. Although Sezgin's
purpose in these chapters is to record collections of
Arabic MSS, he often gives also statistics of the Turkish
MSS in many of the libraries mentioned, and he notes
31 My thanks are due to many librarians in all parts of
Turkey who, over a period of many years, kindly granted me 336 The work is entirely in Turkish, except for the few
access to MSS in their charge, and also to a number of French words on the title page and an added French version
Turkish scholars who assisted me in various ways; I am of the introduction.
particularly grateful for many kindnesses to Dr. Gunay Kut, 337 M. Cunbur, "Yazma kutiphanelerimiz: buginku durum-
chief of the Istanbul bureau of the Turkiye Yazmalari Toplu larn ve meseleleri," in Turkiye Kutuphaneciler Dernegi Bil-
Kataloku project, to my hoca Prof. Fahir iz, to Prof. teni, XIX, 1 (1970) pp. 3-17, especially pp. 6-9.
Ercumend Kuran of Hacettepe University, and to Dr. Muam- 331
Unfortunately, these statistics have not been available to
mer Uiker, director of the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul. I me; but a citation from them is given by Gunay Kut in her
also wish to express my gratitude for financial support to the article "Manuscript libraries in Istanbul" (henceforth cited as
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, "MS libraries") in Current Turkish Thought (CTT) no. 43
to the Canada Council, and the University of Toronto (Istanbul, 1980) p. 19= Middle East Studies Association
Humanities and Social Sciences Research Board. Finally, I (MESA) Bulletin, vol. XVI no. I (July 1982), p. 33 = Istanbul
wish to record my great appreciation of Professor Jeanette Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Tarih Dergisi (TD), sayi 33,
A. Wakin, sectional editor for Islam of the JAOS, for the p. 364.
care which she has lavished on this article and on Parts 1-4 339 Leiden, Bd. 1-, 1967- , [in progress].
which preceded it.
BIRNBAUM: Turkish Manuscripts: Part 5 467
the availability there of card or other catalogues- nearly finished and the book based on this research
information which may not have been previously shall be published soon. It shall contain bibliographic
recorded in print anywhere. He also provides a guide information about the publications relating to Arabic,
to the transfer of MS collections from the provinces or Turkish and Persian manuscripts found in Turkish
local mosques and medreses to larger libraries, par- libraries. A wide range of libraries and their catalogues
ticularly to the Stileymaniye in Istanbul. Sezgin's GAS have been scanned to collect this information, e.g.,
is also of importance to Turcologists because in his National library, city libraries, private libraries, etc.,
main text he notes the locations and call numbers (in situated throughout Turkey. The listed publications
Turkey and elsewhere) of the Turkish translations of are in print as well as in manuscript forms [sic]." The
Arabic works, and adaptations of such translations. Research Centre announces in the same booklet that
They appear under the entries for their original Arabic it has "started working and developed a long-term
texts.340 project for the preparation of catalogues of Islamic
Apart from Sezgin's listings, there are two useful manuscripts. The first volume of the project is the
bibliographical articles, giving details of the libraries 'Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Koprtilil Library,
of Turkey. They were compiled by ismet Binark,4 Istanbul'. . . which contains 3000 manuscripts. About
and A. Turgut Kut.342 Like Sezgin, each lists the two thirds of this collection is in Arabic and the rest
material alphabetically by city in which the collection are in Turkish and Persian" (p. 30. A printed page of
is kept, subdivided by library where necessary. A this still unpublished new catalogue is reproduced on
majority of the items listed by both are in fact devoted p. 26 of the booklet).
primarily to Arabic MSS though this is not usually In the course of a lifetime's research on Turkish
clear from the titles cited. literature, Agah Sirri Levend (1894-1978) assembled
The "Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and a great deal of information on individual Turkish MSS
Culture" of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in uncatalogued collections in Turkey. As the crown
(IRCICA) in Istanbul produced a rather inadequate of his life's work, he planned a six-volume history of
first edition of its Guidebook to Islamic cultural institu- Turkish literature from the earliest times until the
tions in 1981 (see part 2 of this series of articles, 20th century, followed by a four-volume anthology.
JAOS, 103.3 [1983], p. 516, note 8). In 1983 it pub- Only the first volume has been published343in which a
lished a small illustrated booklet entitled Research major bio-bibliography and the index occupy more
Centrefor Islamic History, Art and Culture, describing than half of the book. Between them the text and the
its current activities and plans for the future. It includes numerous footnotes include details of the authors,
the following statement (p. 26): "A Bibliography of titles and locations of hundreds of MSS, together with
Publications on Arabic, Turkish and Persian Manu- their library call-numbers. Since many of these libraries
scripts in the Libraries of Turkey. The project is are not yet catalogued, this constitutes a particularly
valuable feature. The authors and titles are accessible
through Levend's general index.
340 Statistics for MSS in 20 libraries in Turkey are given in Until most Turkish libraries have printed catalogues,
the latest edition of the annual reference book, The World of articles which describe individual MSS must also act as
Learning, 1982-83 (London, 1983, pp. 1353-54). The num- something of a substitute. Ramazan 5eqen published
bers are obviously compiled from sources of varying reli- one on "rare Turkish MSS" in 1978.344 This lists
ability, are at best very approximate, and some are totally
out-of-date. 343 Agah Sirri Levend, Turk edebiyatn wrihi, I. Giri>.
141
i. Binark, "Turkiye kutuphanelerindeki yazmalar hak- Ankara, Turk Tarih Kurumu, 1973. (-T.T.K. Yay. Seri
kinda yerli-yabanci kaynaklar bibliyografyasi," in Turk Kid- VIII, sayl 18.) Other works by Levend are often similarly
turu Ara~tirmalari, yiI III-VI, 1966-69 [1973], pp. 289-315 rich in references to locations and call numbers of MSS,e.g.,
including useful indexes. When an entry lists MSS from more "Din! edebiyatimizin ba~lica uiruinleri"in TDAYB 1972,
than one city, it is entered only under the first, and there is pp. 35-80.
no reference under the other city or cities (e.g., no references 344 R.
Seqen, "Turkiye kutuphanelerinde bulunan bazi nadir
from 6 of the 7 cities mentioned in item no. 169). Turkce yazamalar"in Istanbul (iniversitesi Edebiyat Fakuiltesi
342 A. T. Kut, "Tfirkqeyazma eserler kataloglari repertuvari" Tarih Enstitusu Dergisi, sayz 9 (1978), pp. 379-404. He has
in Turk Dili Ara~tirmalari Yilhgi-Belleten (TDAYB) 1972. prepared similar articles and books listing Arabic and Persian
Ankara. Turk Dil Kurumu, 1973, pp. 183-240; section on MSS in Turkish libraries. In particular see his Nawddir al-
Turkey, pp. 220-228. makhiitad al-'arabTyahft maktabdt Turkiyd. Bayrilt, Dar al-
approximately 236 MSS, in two parts: (a) titles by 121 works may be counted as Turkish MSS or not. The
authors (in a few cases several works, and sometimes same applies to bilingual dictionaries and to Turkish
more than one copy); and (b) about 40 anonymous commentaries on non-Turkish works. Other problems
works. Part (a) is arranged alphabetically by author's in obtaining current statistics result from the fact that
name and part (b) is by title. $eqen's work is essentially large institutions are increasingly receiving MSS from
an index listing, rather than a catalogue. Each entry smaller manuscript libraries, and at the same time
contains author, title, library and call number, folia- constantly buying MSS, or receiving them as gifts, from
tion, date (or estimated date) of copy, incipit (first private libraries or individuals. The statistics mentioned
words of the text), and script style. He sometimes in these pages, taken from publications or unpublished
adds the date of composition, for whom it was com- records, were actually compiled over an extended
posed (dedication), and also the subject, when that is period, some as long as 30 years ago. For all these
not clear from the title, as well as an occasional reasons, readers are urged to consider all the statistics
reference to a printed bibliography. It is a pity that given in these pages as rough guides only.
this article, which describes MSS from some 35 Istanbul
collections and some 28 provincial collections, was 3. TOYA TOK
not supplied with indexes to book titles and libraries.
The MSS are almost equally divided between Istanbul A major cataloguing project envisages the inclusion
and the provinces: at a rough count, I noted 117 from of all MSS in Turkey which are still uncatalogued, in
the latter and 119 from Istanbul collections. About 52 Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, and apparently even
of the Istanbul MSS are presently in 25 of the Suley- other languages. This ambitious undertaking, called
maniye Library's constituent collections. The largest "Ttirkiye Yazmalari Toplu Katalogu" (the official En-
number of the other Istanbul MSS cited are in the glish designation is "The Union Catalogue of Manu-
Arkeoloji Muzesi (23 MSS) and Istanbul University scripts in Turkey") is already widely known by its
Library (22 Mss). Of those outside Istanbul, the largest acronym TOYATOK. Sponsored by the Turkish Min-
numbers noted by $eqen are in the Koyunoglu Library istry of Culture's General Directorate of Libraries
in Konya (26 Mss), Tire (14), Tavsanli (Kutahya prov- (Kutuphaneler Genel Mudurligil) and planned by
ince, 11), Kastamonu and Manisa (10 MSS each). Ozer Soysal345 when he was at the Directorate, the
Smaller numbers are cited from libraries in the follow- project was established in Ankara in 1978 under the
ing cities (I list them alphabetically): Akhisar (near leadership of Ismet Parmaksizoglu. In the following
Manisa), Ankara (Turk Tarih Kurumu library), Afyon, year, Gunay Kut, an academic specialist in classical
Bor, Burdur, Bursa, (ankiri, (orum, Diyarbakir, Turkish literature who had also had some library
Edirne, Erzerum, Inegol, Isparta, Kayseri, Kutahya, experience in America, was appointed to head the
Nevsehir, Orhangazi, Tokat, Trabzon, Orgip, Zile. In newly established "Istanbul bureau" of TOYATOK.346
addition to the Istanbul collections mentioned above, By 1983 five fascicles of TOYATOK had appeared.
small numbers of MSS are cited from the following Their external aspect is pleasing. The pages are large,
libraries in that city: Askeri Muze, Beyazit, Belediye, the printing in both Latin and Arabic characters is
Koprulu, Nuruosmaniye, Turk-islam Eserler Muzesi. clear and uncluttered, and the paper is good. The
general pattern is that each fascicle describes one or
2. Statistics more separate collections of MSS. The contents of each
of these is classified by subject, though not by language,
In the present article and others in this series many so that Arabic, Turkish and Persian MSS on one topic
statistics are given of the number of manuscripts are described side by side. Each catalogue entry deals
and/or the number of works in various collections. with a single work, whether it be part only of a
These terms mean different things to different people. physical MS or the whole of it, and is given a running
A single bound handwritten volume may contain more number. In succession there follow: a modified Dewey
than one book written in the same hand or written in
two or more different hands. Some librarians might 345 H. Y. Nuhoglu, review, "TUYA TOK 1. 1. Umumi
count it as one MS, some as two or more. Turkish Mutalaa"in Turk KumtphanecilerDernegi BUIteni,cilt XXIX,
translations or adaptations of Arabic and Persian sayi 1 (1980), pp. 44-47, particularly p. 45. Soysal's name
does not appear in the first fascicle, which has a preface by
Kitdb al-Jadid, vol. 1, 1975; vol. 2, 1980; [vol. 3, in prepara- the current director-general.
tion]. 346 She served full time till 1982
and part time thereafter.
decimal number indicating subject classification, the unsewn and fall apart after a few minutes use, these
number of the province in which the library is situated, fascicle numbers will quickly be lost. The fascicle title-
an abbreviation of the library's name (and, where pages themselves bear nothing but the words "T. C.
applicable, one for the collection within it) and, finally, Kultur Bakanligi, Kutuphaneler Genel Mudurlugu.
the call number of the MS (e.g., 34 Su-Tarlan 13 Thrkiye Yazmalari Toplu Kataloku. The Union Cata-
means "Istanbul, Suleymaniye, Tarlan collection MS logue of Manuscripts in Turkey," followed by the
no. 13"). Next come the work title in the Latin alpha- press imprint and date.
bet transcribed according to a conventional "scholarly" The first part, bearing the roman numeral I on the
or "Arabic"pronunciation of the vowels (i.e., limited to spine only, is dated Anakara 1979.347 It is introduced
a, i, u, with macrons added when length is indicated), by two brief official prefaces, and an eight page
the Arabic article always being expressed as al-; then introduction by Muigan Cunbur, outlining the history
the same title transcribed in a form based on "Turkish of Islamic manuscript cataloguing and the establish-
pronunciation" of the vowels (i.e., including also e, i, ment of the TOYATOK project. A further page is
o, b, U) and different treatment of the Arabic article. devoted to a transcription table, with a quite inade-
The title is then printed in Arabic script, followed by quate explanation of how it is applied, and another
the name of the author, romanized only according to page to a pitifully short list of reference works. For
"Turkish pronuciation" (regardless of whether the au- Turkish, only the following are noted: Blochet's Cata-
thor was a Turk or not) and then also in Arabic logue of the Turkish MSS in the Bibliothbque Nation-
script, followed by death date, if known. From this ale, Paris; the II fascicles of the Catalogue of Turkish
point on, the entry describes the MS in a series of long Historical MSS in Istanbul Libraries; Katib 4elebi's
narrative sentences! It would have been far clearer, as Kashf al-Zuntn; the Topkapi Museum's catalogue of
well as more economical, to have used standardized Turkish Mss; and Bursah Mehmed Tahir's 'Osmlnlh
headings for the regular items that follow: incipits Mui'ellfleri. The main portion of fascicle I consists of
(opening words), language of MS, dimensions, lines two separately numbered sequences of pages. The first
per page, foliation, paper, rubrics, binding, explicits (pp. 1-78) describes successively three collections in
(closing words), previous marks of ownership. Ankara: the Mss in the Anitkabir (Ataturk's tomb,
One would have expected to see a real description items 1-16), the Office of the President of Turkey
of the text being catalogued, with some indication of (Cumhurba~kanhgi, items 17-50), and the Turkish
how it compared with copies recorded in the catalogues Parliament (Ttlrkiye B0ylk Millet Meclisi, 51-154). It
of other libraries or in scholarly literature. This very is completed by two indexes, one limited to authors,
essential information is in most cases either totally the other to titles, both of them lacking some essential
absent or very perfunctorily noted. As a result those cross-references. It is a pity that the indexes were so
who consult TOYATOK in its present form will find mechanically and unintelligently compiled (e.g., Yazi-
it often bears the character of a handlist more than of cioglu Ahmed B-can's cAcadib ul-mahl1Fkdtis entered
a scholarly catalogue. in the title index only under the letter R: Risdle-i
Nevertheless, TOYATOK will be an essential tool cacd'ib-i mahliikat). The second sequence (pp. 1-58)
for scholars, and further parts will, in.I/aih, be pub- of fasc. I has its own title-page, one that does not bear
lished in rapid succession for years. The discussion any fascicle or part number or even a date. It describes
below, with detailed criticism of the first five fascicles, 132 works in Adiyaman, and is followed by its own
is written with constructive intent-in the hope that separate author and title indexes.
the editors and cataloguers preparing future fascicles Fascicle I exemplifies a basic failing in all parts of
will come up with better products. T(YYATOKso far issued: the lack of a strong editorial
There are so many maddening deficiencies, especially hand to impose standards of quality and consistency
in the fascicles which were prepared by the Ankara on the various cataloguers. Even the form of an
office, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Even author's name chosen for main entries in the catalogue
the numbering of the fascicles (or its absence) and the and in the index varies, not only between fascicles,
internal pagination will cause endless confusion. The but even within a single fascicle. For example, in the
present discussion cannot even refer to the fascicle or Ankara portion of fasc. I, the author index has the
part number printed on the title-pages or front covers, Persian poet Cami under C, but in its Adiyaman
because they contain no such information! We must
therefore use the peculiar numbers printed only on the 347 It was not issued till 1980. See
Soysal's complaint in the
paper spines; since the first three fascicles at least are article referred to in note 345 above.
portion it is under N (for Niireddin). A spot check of on p. 64 seem to correspond with those of the equally
fasc. I also revealed the omission of several authors unexplained binding reproduced on the outer front
and titles from the index. The main entries are also cover of each fascicle. Is it reasonable to create such
full of minor errors, misprints and instances of careless- unnecessary mysteries in a major scholarly reference
ness which should have been caught before publica- work?
tion. Birgili Mehmed's death date appears correctly in The TOYATOK fascicle numbered 2 on the spine
several entries as 981/1573, but in two cases348as (not roman II) and dated 1980352describes three
891/1486. A cataloguer obviously miscopied the first separate Anatolian libraries, at Giresun, Ordu and
two numbers in reverse, and then looked up this Rize (items 1-549, 550-617, and 618-619 respectively).
erroreous date in conversion tables. In this way he The Giresun collection has now been moved perma-
"caused" Birgili's death almost a century before his nently to the Siileymaniye. (Its current MS call numbers
actual birth, a remarkable case of abortion! A similar there, starting "34-Su-Gir" are printed at the end of
fate befell Firi~teoglu, who died "before 879/1475." each entry and are intended to supersede those at the
The catalogue in one entry349puts his death at "1395," beginning of the entry). The fascicle contains two
which must be the result of rearranging the HijrTdate unnumbered plates of watermarks (from Giresun and
numbers as 798, and in another350at "978/1475"; this Ordu respectively), inserted facing pp. 140 and 234,
latter impossibility is probably the result of copying although the reason for this particular selection is
from the misprint in the index of the Topkapi Turkish unclear. Though better labelled than the watermark
catalogue, which has the identical mistake. plates in fasc. I, they do not refer to the catalogue
From TOYATOK descriptions it is usually not items from which they are reproduced, but only to the
possible to deduce even the approximate age of un- library's call numbers, so that the reader is put to the
dated MSS. It would appear that estimates are not trouble of tracking down the various MSS in the cata-
given on principle. Watermarks could have helped in logue. In contrast to the policy of fascicle I, the three
this regard, and occasionally indeed mention is made collections in fasc. 2 bear only a single sequence of
of watermark patterns, but this is usually too vague to entry numbers, and the authors and titles are in this
be of much help. Still less useful is the frequent case combined in one index. This fascicle shares most
description, "watermarked European paper." Yet the of the weaknesses of its predecessor. We see the same
standard work by C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes,35I awful paucity of bibliographical references and ample
must have been available to the editors, since an evidence of the failure to consult standard works in
unnumbered plate of watermarks inserted facing p. 16 order to produce a catalogue of maximum help to
of the Adiyaman MSS contains 5 watermarks with scholars. Further, in this fascicle too, we find much
explicit Briquet references, but the cataloguers were lack of system in choosing the final order of entry
evidently unable to use it for dating. (Incidentally the words and elements for authors' names. The form and
unexplained "H. K." under the Adiyaman watermarks order given in the "author" entry line in the body of
presumably means "Halk Kutdphanesi"). Also typical the catalogue's text often differs from that chosen in
of the project's weak editorial direction are the uncap- the index, and either or both sometimes conflict with
tioned reproductions (in terribly washed out colour) those chosen in fasc. I. Such irregularities are not of
of one "frontispiece" in Kufic script and two bindings merely philosophical interest, but have great practical
(facing pages 4, 16 and 64 of the Ankara section). To drawbacks, since catalogues of MSS are rarely read like
which MSS do they belong? The words in the lozenges historical texts or novels, from page one onwards, but
are primarily consulted from the indexes at the back.
Adiyaman, nos. 106 and 112. Editorial eccentricities might have been more easily
349 Ankara,no. 17. excusable if the indexes were more systematic, or at
350
Ankara, no. 103. the least, if the indexes filled their own gaps, by
351 Geneva, 1907; "facsimile of the 1907 ed., with supple- systematically cross-referencing from forms alternative
mentary material...," ed. Allan Stevenson. Amsterdam, to those adopted for the main entry. Let us test fasc. 2
1968. There is also a reference on the plate to Osman Ersoy's also (using its own romanization scheme), for works
"Bursa'da kagit fabrikasi meselesi" but not to his standard by Cmml.The index yields nothing under C, so we will
work, XVIII. ve XIX. Yuzyillarda Tirkiye'de Kagit (Ankara, try under his personal name 'Abd er-rahman; still
1963), nor to A. Sfiheyl Onver's illustrated article, "XVinci nothing, at which point most searchers would give up.
ydzyilda Turkiye'de kullanilan kakitlar ve su damgalari"
352
(Belleten, cilt 26, sayi 104 (1962), pp. 739-762. It was not issued until 1981.
But a persistent bibliographer might just try with an an external source. In this fascicle, too, there is a
honorific: Molld CdmTunder M, and he would get his gross imbalance between the very detailed physical
reward-a reference to the main entry under N: Nir description of a MS and the paucity of information on
eddTn. Similarly it would be unprofitable to seek the its contents, but there are some praiseworthy excep-
two major medieval commentators on the Qu'ran tions, where interesting material is noted, e.g., no.
under ZemahberTand BeyzavT,or their personal birth 290, detailing the contents of a meema 'a, and no. 173,
names; the former is entered only as Car-Allah (within which the catalogue draws attention to three alter-
out references), the latter is entered as Nasir ed-dTn native titles of the work which occur elsewhere, though
Ebil 'Abd-Allah Muhammed b. 'COmer(with a refer- not in this particular copy. Square brackets mark
ence from KddT Beyzavi). Fortunately several well- useful editorial emendations. This fascicle follows the
known Turkish writers fare better. Fuzili and Baki same regrettable lead as its predecessors in refusing to
appear under those forms; some are however entered estimate, even roughly, the copy date of undated MSS.
under their birth names, or various honorifics. Entry word choice, though often not the best, is better
The third fascicle issued by TOYATOK, not num- than in the previous fascicles and the title index is
bered on its title page but designated curiously on the fairly satisfactory. Yet "form headings" such as those
paper spine as I 3, looks at first glance the same as indicating translations or commentaries which begin
the preceding two, but closer examination shows that Tercemi-i (G0l4en ..., HadTs.. .), $erh-i (Gulistan ...)
it is a generally better piece of work in many ways. It etc., should at least have had a reference from the
is a catalogue of the MSS collected by (and some second element. The "index of persons" (broadened
actually copied in the handwriting of) Ali Nihad from the "index of authors" of fasc. I) is the most
Tarlan (1898-1978), who taught classical Turkish litera- comprehensive of this series, and faithfully includes
ture at Istanbul University from 1933 to 1972. The references to many non-authors who are only inci-
192 physical MS volumes described consist of 428 dentally mentioned in the descriptions. Still more
individual items, of which 242 are Ottoman Turkish, 2 important, a real scholar has interpreted the many
Chaghatay and 11 partly Turkish-a Turkish pro- divergent forms by which a single individual may be
portion far larger than the previous fascicles. A brief referred to, and generally brought them under a single
introduction outlines the life of Tarlan, and describes index heading, e.g., references in no. 178 to "Emir 'All
the fascicle as the first product of the Istanbul bureau Sir" are united with the index main entry "Mir 'All
of the TOYATOK project. $Tr Neva'f" (two items are inadvertently repeated
One notices improvements in detail compared with under "Neva'i"); the kazels by 'AzTzEf. (no. 223) are
the preceding fascicles. Many entries are supplied with attributed in the index to "[Karaqelebizade] 'Abd
el-'azlz. "
abbreviations referring to a wider range of printed
catalogues and bibliographical sources, although amaz- The index tends to have better entry words than the
ingly, no list is printed to explicate them. They include text but there are still far too few cross-references in
the British Museum Turkish Catalogue, the new Berlin the index. The numerous clashes between index entry-
Turkish catalogue by Flemming, Gotz and Sohrweide words and text entry-words should have been regu-
(evidently VOHD XIII, Bd. 1-3 only), the partial larized long before printing.
union catalogues of historical, dTvan and hamse MSS TOYATOK has recently catalogued five collections
in Istanbul libraries, the Topkapi MSS, and in a minor- of MSS from Antalya province, and the first two
ity of cases the call numbers of MSS in collections fascicles of the five projected have just come out.353
which have still no printed catalogues, such as Istanbul Again, no volume- or part-numbers appear on the
University Library and Nuruosmaniye. Occasionally title page or elsewhere in the text: however, the paper
the reader is directed to monographs or articles by spines bear the symbols I Eland II lrespectively.
distinguished scholars, to standard referenceslike Islam These two fascicles were prepared by the Ankara staff
Ansiklopedisi, and to printed editions of the work of TOYATOK. The first begins with an introduction
described. It would be misleading to imply that detailed briefly outling the history of the five collections, and
referencesare made in a majority of the MSS catalogued then describes MSS in the Antalya Museum (52 MSS),
in fasc. I [J. In fact they are usually conspicuously Alanya Museum (16 MSS), and the Yegen Mehmet
absent even when they could easily have been supplied,
e.g., cat. no. 135, Abujka, shows not a single one. A
positive improvement, however, is the noting of the 353 The title pages carry the imprint "Istanbul 1982," but
date of composition, even when this is derived from they were not released until the summer of 1983.
Papa library in the small town of Akseki (326 MSS), of Gunay Kut must be trained in sufficient numbers
totalling 394 physical MSS but 468 catalogue items, all and provided with reasonable salaries, so that they
inter-filed in a single sequence. The latter part of can devote the necessary years of effort to this vital
fascicle I and all of fascicle II are taken up with the task, without having to make the invidious choice
descriptions of MSS in the Elmali Ilge Halk Kiltd- between a career of scholarship for themselves and
phanesi, which were gathered there from several inevitable penury for their dependents on the one
medreses. Fasc. I includes items 469-571 and fasc. II hand, and some financially more rewarding means of
has 572-1612; more MSS from this library will follow livelihood on the other.
in the next fascicle. The Antalya fascicles will be
completed by descriptions of the 996 volumes from 4. Istanbul Libraries: General
the Tekelioglu library in the city of Antalya, which
were transferred to the Suleymaniye in Istanbul in It is clear that Istanbul libraries house more Islamic
1964. MSS than any other city in Turkey, and most likely in
In the two Antalya fascicles described here, the the entire world. Only a small portion of these have
comparatively few Turkish works (and the even smaller been described in printed catalogues, and a host of
number in Persian) are difficult to locate, scattered as them have not even been summarily listed on fiches or
they are in a sea of Arabic texts. It is very hard to cards. A well-qualified observer has recently written
determine which works are rare or unique, or are very optimistically that it would not be an impossible
important recensions of previously known works, fantasy to hope that the MSS in Istanbul libraries
because the cataloguing is so awfully uninformative. might be catalogued and classified by the year 2000!314
Hardly ever are written sources mentioned, and those The present section of this article deals with general
few are limited mainly to Kashf al-Zunuin,the Topkapi surveys of libraries of Istanbul and union catalogues
catalogues, TO)YATOK, and (scarcely ever) Brockel- describing MSS from several libraries. Six separate
mann's GAL. Some of the MSS seem to be of great sections then give information on the MSS in the
rarity and considerable interest. It is a pity that we are following major city collections: the Suleymaniye,
told almost nothing about such MSS as Ahvdl-i bahir Topkapi Palace, Istanbul University Library, Beyazit
by DervTf 'All Amid! (Fasc. II, p. 475, no. 1601), State Library, Ataturk Library and Millet Library.
except the incipit and explicit, and that it contains 25 The most useful recent survey of Istanbul libraries
folios. From the catalogue subject heading and the containing Turkish manuscripts is a 1980 article in
class number we can deduce that it is about metrics English by Gunay Kut, "Manuscript libraries in
('arfj), and from the incipit line that it must be fairly Istanbul," in an Istanbul journal of very limited circula-
old, because it uses the imperative -gil. The explicits tion.355The Turkish original "Istanbul'dayazma kutup-
cited in these fascicles for some MSS are useless in haneleri," was not published until two years later356
being no more than standard final formulas (such as but must be consulted to elucidate ambiguities in the
prayers and blessings for Muhammad, e.g., catalogue English version. A slightly revised edition of the latter
items 1 and 6), which do nothing to identify the book. also appeared in 1982 in the MESA Bulletin in the
A few further suggestions to improve future fascicles United States.357Compared with the first English text,
of TOYATOK: Each one should routinely include (1) a the two 1982 publications each contain a few partly
detailed table of contents showing the subject classifica- different but useful updates. The text in the MESA
tion of the works; (2) concordances linking the cata- Bulletin regrettably lacked two valuable features of
logue number with the MS call numbers, since one is the first English version: (a) the number of Islamic
often used without the other; (3) for indexes, more MSS in each of the 128 separate libraries now gathered
practical modern rules for entry words of personal at the Suleymaniye library;358and (b) the alphabetical
names and book titles, combined with a systematic
policy of mass cross-referencing must be introduced 354 Meral Alpay, Istanbul Kuitphaneleri.
[Yazanlar] Meral
immediately. The introduction to fasc. I (p. XIV) Alpay, Safiye Ozkan. Istanbul, 1982, p. xxi.
wrote of plans to ultimately provide a union index to 35 G. Kut's article "MS libraries," cited in note 338 above:
fascicle indexes. Insuperable obstacles will prevent the CTT pp. 1-36.
realization of this dream if consistent systematization 356 See idem.
is delayed much longer. 357 See idem.
If TO)YATOK is to become an academic work of 358 Listed in G. Kut, "MS libraries," CTT 43, pp. 11-14; in
international scholarly repute, scholars of the calibre TD, 33 (1982) pp. 355-358.
index to the 30 present-day libraries described in the In 1982, Jean-Louis Bacqu6-Grammont and Nicolas
article.359(The Turkish original also lacked the index.) Vatin visited Istanbul libraries to update G6kman's
As Gunay Kut is the first director (appointed in work, and their results are set out in a very useful
1979) of the Istanbul bureau of TOYATOK (The 10-page article, "Bibliotheques d'Istanbul.. ." pub-
Union Catalogue of Manuscripts in Turkey), housed in lished in 1983, giving details of 33 existing libraries.363
the Suleymaniye itself, her article has special authority, The total number of Mss in each is noted, with a
since she had access to the best information available. further breakdown in some cases, giving figures for
In it she ventured to give statistics of Turkish Mss for Turkish, Arabic and Persian Mss respectively, if
only a limited number of the libraries in the city, and known.364 Like Kut, the authors give addresses and
pointed out that many libraries have no breakdown telephone numbers of libraries, and they go further
by "language of manuscript" available, and that those than she does in giving precise hours of opening for
which do are frequently in error. The only major each institution. The compilers of this handy vade-
library in Turkey with a published modern catalogue mecum were unaware of Kut's work until shortly
of Turkish MSS is that of the Topkapi Palace, with before their own went to press. In spite of a consider-
3088 entries. The numbers of Turkish Mss in other able overlap, the articles are partly complementary
major collections are given by Dr. Kut as follows: and those who wish to work in Istanbul libraries will
Istanbul University Library, 9941 (in 1978); Millet be grateful for both treatments.
Kutiiphanesi, 2515; Beyazit Devlet (Umfimi) Kutup- A survey and brief evaluations of 379 functioning
hanesi, 1536; Nuruosmaniye, 919; Istanbul University (or, in some cases, apparently malfunctioning!) libraries
Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Library, about of all types in Istanbul were made by Meral Alpay
600; Selim Aga, 595; Atif Efendi, 336; Koprulu and Safiye Ozkan in their book Istanbul Kiituphane-
Library, 224. Among private collections, there are leri (1982). It records the total number of Mss (if any)
over 300 in the library of the newspaper Tercuman: a in each institution, as well as the presence of card
catalogue was prepared by Gunay Kut in 1982 and catalogues or other means of access to them. Unfortu-
awaits printing.36' Still unknown is the number of nately no figures are given to indicate how many of
Turkish items amongst the more than 1000 Islamic the MSS are in Turkish. Chapter 3 is devoted entirely
Mss assembled by the library of the Yapi ve Kredi to 14 "Museum and Manuscript libraries,"but Mss are
Bankasi in its Istanbul quarters at vemberlitaE in the noted for many other libraries in other parts of the
past few years. book. The figures for Mss do not always agree with
One of the first "modern"guides to Istanbul libraries those given by GOnay Kut, and by Bacqu&Grammont
was a tiny pamphlet compiled by (Mehmet) Muzaffer and Vatin.365
G6kman, Istanbul Kiituphaneleri Rehberi/ Guide to
Istanbul Libraries, published in Istanbul in 1941. In following, though amateurish, have some value: Fatih Med-
its 5th edition in 1965, it had expanded to 40 small reseleri (1943); Murat Molla. . . Kutuphanesi (1943, 1958);
pages, listing basic information on many of the city's Kutuphanelerimizden Notlar (1952); Istanbul Kutuphaneleri
libraries, including statistics of MSS and printed books ve Yazma Tip Kitaplari/Libraries of Istanbul and their
in each, as far as he was able to ascertain them. There Medical Manuscripts (1959); Evimizin Kutuphanesi (1966).
was, however, no breakdown of Mss statistics by His complete bibliography and occasional information on
language. Not the least helpful feature of this guide the contents of old Istanbul libraries will be found in his
was the indication of the current location of many of autobiography, Kitaplar Arasinda 44 v'l. Muzaffer Gokman'in
the older collections which had already been absorbed anilan gozlemleri ve ele~tirileri. Istanbul, 1977.
into larger libraries.362 363 J.-L. Bacqu6-Grammont and Nicolas Vatin, "Biblio-
theques d'Istanbul conservant des manuscrits. Notice pra-

tique." (Travaux et Recherches en Turquie, 1982. Publi6 ...
39 CTT 43, pp. 28-29. par l'Association pour le Developpement des Etudes Turques,
360No footnote.
Paris, Leuven, Peeters, 1983, pp. 99-109 [Collection Turcica,
361 Letter from G. Kut to the writer, March 7, 1983. The
II]).
number of Tereuman's Turkish MSS is given as 364 by 364 I have entered them in the last column of the table in
M. Alpay in Istanbul Kutuphaneleri, p. 67. note 365 below.

362
Gokman was for many years director of the Beyazit 365 I summarise below MS statistics given by Alpay and
Library. Some of his newspaper articles on old Istanbul Ozkan. Those in round numbers are usually estimates. In the
libraries were reprinted in the form of tiny booklets. The last column are shown variant figures or extra details of the
number of Turkish MSS in G. Kut, "MS libraires" (1980 and This useful book is notable for some very frank evaluations,
1982, indicated by "K"), and/or in J.-L. Bacqu6-Grammont e.g., no. 91: "Ihmal edilen, bakimsiz ve sahipsiz"; no. 271:
and N. Vatin, "Bibliotheques d'Istanbul conservant des manu- "KWtUphaneeilikbilgi eksikligi hemen farkedilivor. Perijan
scrits" (1983; indicated by "B"; see above note 363), and/or savilabilecek zavallhbir kittiphane."
M. Ulker, "La Bibliotheque de la Siileymaniye" (1983, indi-
cated by "U"; see below note 392).
TOTAL NUMBER OF ARABIC
ENTRY NUMBER LIBRARY NAME TURKISH AND PERSIAN MSS B, K, U
6 Ataturk (including Belediye) 3200 6520 (B); 6543 (K)

7 Atif Efendi 3227 3227, incl. 336 Turkish (B, K);
518 Turkish (U)
14 Beyazlt 11119 11250+, (K), including
1536 Turkish (B, K)
42 Millet 8000 (including 3000 Turkish) 6575, including2515 Turkish(B, K)
44 Murat Molla 1500 (including old printed books) 1831 (B, K)
89 Deniz Muzesi 131 122 Turkish (B. K)
90 Selim Aga 4172 (half are printed) 2952, including 595 Turkish
(B, K, U)
91 Hakki Tarik Us ? 70 (B)
92 [Istanbul] Arkeoloji Muzesi 1689
94 Kopriilu 2582 224 Turkish (B, K, U)
95 Nuruosmaniye 5052 919 Turkish (B. K, U)
Ragip Pasa 1274, incl. 68 Turkish (U)
96 Suleymaniye 64267 64717, including 11871 Turkish (U)
97 $isli Camii 3000 (including prints) 20 (B)
98 Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi 14696
99 Turk ve islam Eserleri 4149 2251, including 76 Turkish (B, K)
Muzesi
100 Vakiflar Basmudurlugii 500
[119 Kandilli Rasathanesi ?] 574 (B, K)
131 Tercuman 571 Including ca. 300 Turkish (B, K)
138 Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi 1000
Istanbul Universitesi
236 Cerrah Pasa Tip Fak. 500
Tip Tarihi Ktp.
255 Edebiyat Fak. Genel Ktp. 20
262 ' 1 Islam 143 (including prints) 37 Turkish (B, K)
Arastirmalari Enstitiisu
269 Edebiyat Fak. Tarih Semineri 1
270 t Turk Dil ve 90 (+ Caferoglu Mss?)
Edebiyat Kursusu
271 Edebiyat Fak. Turkiyat 28 376 (B)
Enstitusu
279 Istanbul Oniv. Hukuk 200 20 (B)
Fakultesi
321 Istanbul Oniv. Istanbul 50 504 (B), ca. 600 (K),
Tip Fak. Tip Tarihi ... Ktp. mostly Turkish
379 Halit Seyit Ef. Ihtisas Ktp. 194 194 (K), 50 (B)
(=Divan Edebiyati Muzesi)
A considerable amount of information on 24 li- space, which could have been better employed in
braries in Istanbul and 7 in Ankara is given in another pointing out the major differences between various
1957 book, Istanbul ve Ankara Kutaphaneleri, by copies of a single work.37' Welcome features are the
Neriman Malkoq Ozturkmen.3" It contains chattily incipits and explicits (first and last words) and at
written details about each library's history, the original times also the colophons. According to the introduc-
constituent collections in it, and sometimes also the tion (fasc. 1, p. iv), the entries are in principle arranged
number of MSS. Although very out of date (many of alphabetically by author's given name (asil ad), e.g.,
the collections have since been combined or moved Abdulaziz (for the historian Karaqelebizade)and Meh-
elsewhere), some of the information can be found med (for Ramazanzade), but this rule is often breached
nowhere else. in practice and other designations are sometimes used
In 1935 the Turkish Ministry of Education estab- to determine the alphabetical sequence, especially for
lished a Commission for the Classification of Libraries famous authors, e.g., All under A (rather than under
(Kutuphaneleri Tasnf Komisyonu) under the chair- Mustafa), Kdtib Celebi under K (rather than under
manship of Helmut Ritter.367It organized the catalogu- Mustafa). Fortunately the indexes at the end of each
ing of MSS in libraries under the ministry's jurisdiction. fascicle are generally good. Instead of cross references,
A series of union catalogues was initiated, embracing alternative forms of an author's names and of book
Istanbul libraries administered by the ministry, the titles are usually given, and most (if not all) of the
libraries of some city museums and Istanbul University page references repeated in each case. From the cata-
Library.368Three separate union catalogues of Turkish loguing plan set out in fascicle 1 (p. v-vi), it is clear
manuscripts were ultimately published between 1943 that several planned fascicles have never appeared,
and 1969, one for each of the following subject areas: and in view of the 20-year halt in publication and
(1) history and geography; (2) the divdns (collected inauguration of TOYATOK this catalogue will presum-
shorter poems) of individual Turkish poets; and (3) the ably never be completed. The fascicles published
fhamses (cycles of five long epic poems in mesnevT described 634 historical works in Turkish in several
[rhymed couplets]). thousand manuscript copies. It would be a useful
The first of these, Istanbul Kutupaneleri [sic] Tarih- service, however, if someone were to make unified
Cografya Yamalari Katalogu I: Turkfe Tarih Yaz- indexes at least of all persons (whether authors of
malarn[Catalogue of Turkish Historical MSS](1 1 fasci- main texts or not) and book titles which occur in
cles published, Istanbul, 1943- 1962),369though ama- these fascicles. Without this, a lot of valuable bio-
teurish, uncritical, often careless and inadequate in graphical and bibliographical information in different
many other ways, is nevertheless useful. The skill and entries remains hidden.
knowledge of the many different cataloguers working Istanbul Kutuphaneleri Turkfe Yazma Divanlar
on it was very uneven.370Repetitions occupy a lot of Katalogu372consists of 4 volumes, recording the col-
lected poems (dTvdns)of 479 individual Ottoman and
366 Ankara, 1957.
367 For a brief historical account, see Mujgdn Cunbur's containing events until 937/1530, but no indication is given
introduction to Turkive Yazmalari Toplu Katalogu 1, Istan- that this MS begins with events from only 881/ 1476-77;
bul, 1979, pp. XI-XII. copies 3 and 4 cover the years 699-1039/1299-1630 but the
368 I assume that a statement to this effect in the introduction catalogue does not give these essential facts.
to the Catalogue of Divans (noted below) applies to all three 371 E.g., when many MSS of a single work have identical
catalogues, since no explicit statement is made in the other incipits and explicits. These are reprinted in full in each
two catalogues. description. This has been done, for instance, with the incipits
369 [Cilt] I, Turkish historical Mss:Fasc. 1, General histories; of 26 of the 27 MSS of Kdtib Celebi's TakvTmW-tevdrTh.
2, Histories of the Turks; 3, Histories of the Arabs, Iran and 372 Istanbul, 1947-1969. The 4 volumes consist of cilt I; II;
others; 4, Histories of early prophets; 5, Biography of Muham- III fasikul l; III, cilt III indeksi; cilt IV [with the erroneous
med; 6, Biography of saints; 7, Biography of poets; 8, Other addition, fasikul III]. The four volumes are continously
biographies; 9, Travels; 10, Legal codes (kanunname); 11, paginated 1-1066, plus pp. I-XIV (errata and index to
Foundation documents (vakifname). The second word of the vol. I) between pp. 220 and 221. Vol IV remains without an
catalogue's title varies: fas. 4-9, Kitapliklari; 11, Kutup- index. The first volume uses the neologisms Kitaphklari in
haneleri. place of Kutuphaneleri. Vol. I covers poets who died in the
370 Basic information is
often omitted; e.g., in the entries 12th-16th centuries, and volumes 2, 3 and 4 cover the 17th,
for Hasan Beyzade's history (no. 44), copy I is described as 18th and 19th centuries respectively.
Central Asian poets in a total of several thousand the Suleymaniye library, was compiled in 1974 as a
copies. It is limited to MSS in libraries administered by dissertation project by Mustafa $. Ornek, an Istanbul
the Ministry of Education, the Istanbul museum University literature student. In addition to a basic
libraries and Istanbul University Library. The cata- physical description he provides contents, incipits and
logue is in the same general style as the Catalogue of explicits and index. A copy is available in the Suley-
Historical MSS, issued under the same auspices, but in maniye reading room.375A similar typescript checklist
detail seems better done, though again there is often recording the Turkish MSS of mesnevls in two still
an irritating mixture of repetition and sparseness of independent libraries in different parts of Istanbul,
comparison between MSS. The enumeration of MSS of Atif Efendi and Ragip Pasa (both now administered
each poet's work is preceded by a useful biographical by the Stileymaniye), was produced as a dissertation
introduction with bibliographical references; appar- by Ferhunde Yener;376another by Ekrem Bektas was
ently these essays were largely the work of Sabri limited to mesnev s in Atif Efendi,377 while Zehra
Kalkandelen and Tahir Olgun, whose efforts are com- Oztuirk's dissertation dealt only with Turkish mes-
mended in the introduction to volume 1. nevTsin the Selim Aga collection in Oskudar,378which
The entries are sensibly arranged mainly under the is administered by the Suleymaniye. Those in the
author's literary name (mahlas), and the good author Istanbul Municipal (Belediye, now Ataturk) Library
index to each volume provides full references from the were listed by Cemal Erdem, to form his dissertation,379
poet's given name and other designations. This cata- and the mesnevls in the Yildiz section of the University
logue suffers from the lack of any other indexes. For of Istanbul's Central Library, similarly, by Necla
example, in describing many MSS the compilers note Daga,380while Banu Gokqeeren recorded 17th to 19th
the presence of poems by different authors in the century poetical works in the same section of that
margins, or of complete works following the end of library.38' Some Turkish drvans and mesnev s com-
the divdn's main text. Yet no index records these posed between the 13th and 16th centuries and now in
numerous extra authors, titles, scribes, groups or geo- Istanbul libraries are briefly listed in an anonymous
graphical names. typescript in the Suleymaniye Reading Room.382
The Directorate of Libraries was also responsible
for the issue of Istanbul Kutuphaneleri Turkfe Ham- Mustafa 5ahidi Ornek, Suleymaniye Kutuphanesi Turkce
seler Katalogu,373 a single volume recording all the Mesnevi YazmalarKatalogu. Tez: Istanbul iniversitesi Edebi-
surviving poetic epics in Ottoman and Chaghatay yat Fakultesi. Turk Dili ve Edebiyati Bolumu Eski Turk
which are preserved in the same group of libraries, Edebiyati Kursusu. Ekim, 1974 (211 pages). Suleymaniye
apparently, as those in the Catalogue of Divan Manu- Reading Room call number: Yeni Eserler, no. 2406. Another
scripts noted in the previous paragraphs. Nail Tuman copy in Istanbul University's Turkiyat Enstitusu, no. T 1542.
introduces the volume with a survey of the hamse 376 Antf Efendi ve Ragip Pasa Kutuphanelerinde Turk e
(quintet) genre in Turkish literature and points out Yazma Mesneviler Katalogu. Tez ... 1976. (9+49 pp.) Copies
which of the poetic epics known from literature to in: Suleymaniye Reading Room, Yeni Eserler no. 2716; and
have been constituents of hamses seem no longer Turkiyat Enstitusu, no. T 1736.
extant. The catalogue is in fact limited to epics from 377 Af Efendi Kutuphanesindeki
Thrk(2eYazma Mesneviler.
the hamses of five poets who lived between the 15th 1970. (140 pp.) Copy in Turkiyat Enstitusu, no. T 1140.
and 17th centuries: Nava'i, HamdT,Yahyd Bey, 'AtU!, 378 Zehra Ozturk, Haci Selim Aga Kutuphanesi Turk e
and Nergisi. The single page purporting to be an Mesnevi Yazmalari Katalogu. Istanbul, 1982. (Unpublished
index tells nothing of all the references to many other thesis, cited by M. tlker, "La Bibliotheque de la Suley-
authors and titles which are mentioned in almost 200 maniye," p. 124; see note 392.)
pages of catalogue descriptions. 379 Istanbul Belediye Kutuphanesi Turkfe Mesnevi
Yaz-
The introduction to this Catalogue of Hamses men- malari Katalogu. 1976. (9+92 pp.) Copy in Turkiyat Ensti-
tioned a "forthcoming" catalogue of MSS of mesnevTs tusu, no. T 1734.
(individual epics in verse couplets),374 but even 20 380 Istanbul Universitesi Merkez Kitaphgi Yi/diz Bolumu
years later this has not yet appeared. Nevertheless a Mesneviler Katalogu. 1973 (5+71 pp.). Copy in Turkiyat
handlist of mesnevis, confined to those preserved in Enstitusu, no. 1771.
381 Istanbul Universitesi Kutuphanesi Yi/diz Yazmalari
arasindaki 17., 18., 19. Yazyil Manzum Eserlerin Katalogu.

I7 istanbul, 1961. 1972 (68 pp.). Copy in Turkiyat Enstitusu, no. T 1321.)
374 Introduction, p. 7: "Bundan sonra qikacak Mesneviler 382 13.-16.yy Turk Edebiyatina ait Yazma Divanlar, Edebi
Katalogu." Eserler ve Mesneviler. The 13-page list seems to have been

Bibliographies have been compiled of MSS of works Sefercioglu.390Needless to say a vast number of other
by leading Ottoman authors, and may be considered books and articles on individual Turkish works give
as useful contributions towards union catalogues of information on the known MSS of that work,391 but
MSS of their works. Most, though not all, the MSS cited they cannot be listed here.
are in Istanbul collections. In the late 1960s, the
Suleymaniye library issued a series of three MS bibli- 5. Istanbul. Sileymaniye Kiituphanesi (Suleymaniye
ographies: on Birgili Mehmed (d. 981/1573), EbU's- Library)
Su'ud (d. 982/ 1574), and Mustafa 'Ali (d. 1008/ 1599),
each compiled by Atsiz.383 He prepared a similar The Suleymaniye has probably the largest and most
bibliography of MSS of the works of Kemdlpasazdde comprehensive collection of Islamic manuscripts in
(d. 940/1534) in a scholarly journal.384 The most the world, but it has never been satisfactorilydescribed.
comprehensive listing of MSS of the works of Ldmi'! The most useful general account is a recent article
Celebi (d. 938/1532) was made by G~inay Kut,385who entitled "La Bibliotheque de la Siileymaniye," by its
also produced, in collaboration with her husband present director Muammer fUlker.392In 16 pages, six
A. Turgut Kut, a detailed account of the MSS of sections briefly describe its history, its 95 constituent
Ayvansardyl Hdfiz Huseyn.386The most complete bibli- collections (the majority of which contain MSS), the
ographical account of the numerous MS Gazavatndmes, library's goals, services and future plans, access to
each describing one or more conquests by Ottoman MSS, cataloguing and classification, microfilming, book
sultans or Turkish leaders, is to be found in a special conservation and classification, and TfJYATOK's
book on the subject by Agah Sirri Levend.387MSS of Istanbul bureau. Information is also given about five
Sefdretnames, in which Ottoman ambassadors or their other city libraries (Atif Efendi, Selim Aga, Koprulu
secretaries described their foreign adventures, are listed Nuruosmaniye, Ragip Papa) which are administered
briefly in a work by Faik Resid Unat.388As examples by the Sileymaniye. The days and hours of library
of other, more general bibliographies on individual services are noted, as are details of 8 booklets pub-
Turkish authors, which list MSS of their works, one lished by the library between 1957 and 1974.393In the
might mention those on Fuziil by Mujgan Cunbur,389 article's next section are listed the very unsatisfactory
and on YUnus Emre by ismet Binark and Nejat old published registers (defters) of MSS and printed
books for the collections which are now part of the
Suleymaniye or administered by it. Most of them
compiled in the late 1970s and bears the call number Yeni were printed or lithographed between 1300 and 1312/
Eserler 3084. 1885-1895. Olker mentions other "handwritten regis-
383 [Nihal] Atsiz, Istanbul Kutuphanelerine Gore Birgili ters" for "certain" collections (p. 123), without further
Mehmet Efendi... Bibliografyasi. Istanbul, Milli Egitim information. Next follow the titles of several modern
Basimevi [M.E.B.], 1966; Istanbul Kituphanelerine Gore Turkish catalogues which include descriptions of some
Ebussuud Efendi Bibliografyasi. Istanbul, M.E.B., 1967; A/i
Bibli vografyasi. Istanbul, M.E. B., 1968 ("SiuleymaniyeKutu-
phanesi Yayinlari, 1, 2, 3"). 39 ismet Binark, Nejat Sefercioglu, Yunus Emre Hakkinda
384 [N.] Atsiz, "Kemalpa~aoglu'nun eserleri." $arkiyat Mec- bir Bib1iVografta Denemesi.... Ankara, Milli Kutuphaneye
muasi. (Istanbul tniversitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi 5arkiyat Yardim Dernegi, 1970. The same authors produced a supple-
Enstitusu), VI (1966), pp. 71-112; VII (1972), pp. 83-135. ment in Turk Kulturu, 14/167 (1976), pp. 687-714.
Manuscripts of 209 separate works are recorded, of which '9' E.g., Mehmet ip~irli, "Mustafa Seldniki
and his history."
the 19 in Turkish are described in VI, pp. 75-82. Tarih Enstifusu Dergisi (Istanbul), vol. 9 (1978), pp. 417-472.
385 Gunay Kut, "UL~mi'T Chelebi and his works." Journal of Twenty-five MSS are listed, 19 in Istanbul libraries, one in
Near Eastern Studies (Chicago), vol. 36.2 (1976), pp. 73-93. Ankara and five outside Turkey.
386 Gunay
Kut, Turgut Kut, "Ayvansarayi Hafiz Huseyin b. 392 M. tlker, "La Bibliotheque de la Suleymaniye" [Traduit
Ismail ve eserleri." Tarih Dergisi, cilt 33 (1982), pp. 401-439. du turc par Nicolas Vatin]. (Travaux et Recherches en
MSS in Turkey and outside are listed. Turquie, 1982. Publi6 . . . par l'Association pour le Developpe-
387 Agah Sirri
Levend, Cazavdt-nameler.... Ankara, Turk ment des Etudes Turques, Paris, Leuven, Peeters, 1983,
Tarih Kurumu, 1956. pp. I I I -127 [Collection Turcica, II].)
388 Faik
Reqit Unat, Osmanlh Sefirleri ve Sefaretndmeleri. 393 Three are
guides to temporary exhibitions, three are
Ankara, Turk Tarih Kurumu, 1968. bibliographies listing MSS in Istanbul of the works of Birgili
389
Mujgan Cunbur, Fuzuli HakkLnda bir Bibliografya Mehmed, EbO's-Su'Od, and 'All (see note 383) and two are
Denemesi. Istanbul, Maarif Basimevi, 1956. general descriptions of the library (see note 3-99).
Suleymaniye MSS.394The penultimate page of the article on the cards are very often inaccurate, skimpy and
consists of a summary of the 1981 statistics of the MSS frequently misleading and very incomplete. The form
and printed books in the Stileymaniye itself: 11871 of entry chosen for authors' names is extremely incon-
Turkish MSS out of the total of 64717 MSS, i.e., over sistent, and cross references are pitifully inadequate.
18% of the Suleymaniye's MSS are in Turkish.395From The titles are usually taken from the form appearing
Gunay Kut's article, it would seem that these figures on a flyleaf of the book: when a single work is known
are not complete. She reported: "According to the by more than one title, this fact is not indicated, and
statistical data for 1979, the numbers of MSSis 64,266. so entries for separate copies may be dispersed in the
When we add the pamphlets (risale), the number catalogue. The presence of additional works in the
approaches 100,000.,,396 The other five "administered" margins of a MS, or after the main text, is often not
city libraries add a total of 2324 Turkish MSS.397 The mentioned on the cards.
final portion of (Ylker'sarticle lists 45 "new collections" The scholarly community, both Turkish and inter-
which are now being prepared for incorporation into national, has for decades been dismayed at the dif-
the Suleymaniye's "general catalogue." Some of these ficulty of finding with reasonable ease and speed what
are known to contain many MSS.398 We may safely precisely is preserved in the Suleymaniye. It might
assume that many further MSSwill come to the Suley- have been expected that some brief record of at least
maniye for years, whether by gift or purchase. its Turkish MSS would have been printed by now,
A worthy description of this remarkable library has while the necessarily slow process of producing full-
yet to be written. In the meantime, we must continue scale catalogues is under way. Some Suleymaniye MSS
to use the rather sketchy 80-page booklet by the were of course included in the Union Catalogues of
library's former director, Halit Dener.399It is mainly Istanbul Libraries(described above, pp. 475-77), which
devoted to its history and notes on its many constituent began publication in 1943, but at that rate of publica-
collections, most containing both printed books and tion a century could easily elapse before the Suley-
MSS.In the reign of Àbdulhamld II, when many of maniye's complete holdings appeared in some printed
these were independent libraries, rather unreliable catalogue. In response to this need, in fact, an "Index
defters (handlists) were printed for some of them.400 Catalogue" was undertaken in 1968, and according to
The most complete records of the library's holdings Gunay Kut, entries for all Turkish MSS with titles
are still the card catalogues in the Latin alphabet beginning with transcription letters A through R were
maintained in the colonnade of the "Second Medrese" prepared, and those from A to F were even sent to
portion of the Suleymaniye. These cards are filed in press40 in 1972 and, apparently, printed, but were
three sequences, by (1) authors, (2) titles and (3) never distributed or formally published.402There is
subjects, and contain also brief physical descriptions however in the Suleymaniye reading room a thin
of size, foliation and bindings. Regrettably the entries fascicle of 128 pages with a title-page bearing only the
words Suleymaniye Kutuphanesi Turkfe Yazmalar
394 Bibliographically not complete, e.g., "Istanbul Kutu-
Indeks Katalogu, without a publisher's statement. The
phaneleri, Tarih-Cograf a Fakiltesi Kataloglar... 1943." verso is limited to the printer's imprint "Y. B. Okulu
The 11th fascicle appeared in 1962. I discuss these catalogues Donersermayesi Basimevi, 1975. $ereflikoghisar, An-
in some detail above, section 4, pp. 475-77. kara." This is a title entry list of 833 separate works
395 The Arabic MSS totalled 49172, and the Persian ones
from Ab-i hayat to Divan[-i] Ramiz (many in numer-
3673. ous copies) found in the various Suleymaniye collec-
396 G. Kut, "MS libraries," CTT, 43, p. 11 = MESA Bulletin, tions, so that several thousand individual MSS are
XIV, no. 1, p. 30 = TD, 33, p. 355. represented. Each entry seems to contain as many of
397 These libraries contained further totals of 11971 Arabic the following elements as were on the MS or easily
and 792 Persian MSS.
398
Pp. 124, 126. 401 G. Kut, MS libraries," TD 33,
pp. 354-355=CTT, 43,
3 Halit Dener, SUlevmanii'e Umumi Kutuphanesi, Istanbul, p. 10=MESA Bulletin, XVI no. 1, p. 30. (The Persian MS
1957 (mentioning 79 collections); SyleyrmaniveKiitiiphanesi, titles are indexed up to H.)
Istanbul, 1974 (94 collections). 402 TOYATOK, 1, 1979 p. XII (Introduction by Mujgan
400 Listed by A. Turgut Kut,
"Turkqeyazma eserler katalog- Cunbur). She says that the "Index Catalogue" project began
larnrepertuvari,"Thrk Dili Araltirmalari Yillkig-Belleten,1972 about 1965 and indexed MS collections in "Istanbul libraries."
(Istanbul, 1973), pp. 222-227; and by M. Ulker, op. cit., Possibly collections outside the Suleymaniye were also origi-
pp. 120-123. nally included.
ascertainable by the cataloguer, and usually in this In his recent article Muammer tlker briefly describes
order: (1) title in Latin alphabet and in Arabic script; the current means of access to the Sfileymaniye's
(2) Hijrah date of composition; (3) author's names, manuscript treasures, by means of the card catalogues.
with Hijrah date of his death; (4) whether in verse; No hint is given of the striking inadequacies of all
(5) subject (in one or two words); (6) scribe's name; three of them. I find it impossible to share his opinion
(7) call number of each copy, in alphabetical order of that the subject catalogue, which is arranged by the
the names of the Sfileymaniye collections, indicating Dewey Decimal Classification system, ensures the
for each (8) the foliation and (9) number of lines per reader "easy"access to all the MSS.408 Dewey, conceived
page, (10) dimensions of page and (11) of written area for use in western public libraries, is totally unsuitable
(12) and date of copy; occasionally (13) very brief but for so highly specialized a collection, and idiosyncratic
useful explanatory notes are added in parentheses interpretation of the scheme by the cataloguers presents
after the title, and (14) some cross references to alterna- further and almost insuperable problems for use except
tive titles may be given,403and in some cases (15) notes as a last resort.
list printed editions (with place, publisher and date). In his 1978 article on "rare Turkish manuscripts in
When MSS give no evidence of original titles the Turkish libraries," Ramazan Seven included brief
compilers have supplied working titles (shown in notices of over 50 MSS in 25 of the Suleymaniye's
square brackets).404Despite various errors, especially collections.410
misprints and erratic use of circumflexes, the transcrip-
tion from Ottoman to Latin script is fairly consistent 6. Istanbul. Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi Kiitphanesi (Top-
and predictable. This Index Catalogue, though small, kapi Palace Museum Library)
is a very useful finding tool and its suspension for lack
of trained cataloguers405is a great pity. At the very Rich collections of luxury manuscripts of every
least the remaining portion already prepared for press kind in many languages were built up by the Ottoman
(remainder of letter D through the middle of letter R) sultans, particularly after the conquest of Constanti-
ought to be printed without further delay. Mujgan nople in 1453. Some were presented to the sultans as
Cunbur, Director of Turkey's National Library, wrote gifts for special occasions, such as accession to the
in 1979 of learning that the publication would be throne, royal weddings and circumcisions; some by
continued from 1979,406 but by the middle of 1983 other rulers as marks of honour, tribute or gratitude;
nothing further had appeared, to my knowledge. Its others as gifts by their authors or copyists (in the
completion and the ultimate publication of an author hope of receiving appointments to offices or financial
index to these titles would make more bearable the rewards), or by ministers and courtiers. Some MSS
long wait for a full catalogue, conforming to modern were objects of war booty, or confiscated from high
standards, that the scholarly community has a right to officials in disgrace, and yet others were purchased or
expect. Indeed it seems that even without the comple- bequeathed by their owners. Donors had many MSS
tion of the title index, an "author index" of the handsomely illuminated, illustrated or bound; some
Turkish MSS is in preparation, and some of it aready were, however, commissioned in the palace and created
awaits printing.407 in its ateliers. After the abolition of the Sultanate and
Caliphate, the Tokapi Palace (TKS), where most of
403
Sometimes essential ones are omitted, e.g., there is no these MSS were kept in several collections, became a
reference linking no. 869, Divan of Nevai, and no. 635, national museum. The majority of its MSS were in
Dibace-i Divain-i Nevdylf. Arabic,41' but the next largest number was in Turkish
404
E.g., [Akaid risdlesi], [Aynu'l-hayat tercumesi], [Dini
konular uzerinde derleme]. In such cases Arabic script is not Persian MSS (letters A-H)." This is welcome news. One hopes
shown. that the Latin alphabet sequence is intended; if elif to td of
405 G. Kut, "MS
libraries," TD, 33, p. 355 = CTT, p. 11 = the Arabic sequence were meant, our joy would be less
MESA Bulletin, p. 30. complete!
406 TOYATOKI, 1979p. XII. 408 Ibid.
407 409
In his 1982/83 article cited in note 392, the library's No footnote.
director writes (p. 116), "A start has recently been made with 410
See above, section 1, p. 467 and note 344.
the preparation of an index of the Suleymaniye's MSS. A first 411 Istanbul. Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi Kutuphanesi.
Arappa
portion of the author catalogue of Turkish manuscripts is Yazmalar Kataloku. Hazirlayan Fehmi Edhem Karatay. Cilt
ready for printing (letters A-T). The same holds for the 1-4. Istanbul, 1962-1969.
and a smaller number in Persian. The retired librarian works than the 3088 numbered catalogue entries indi-
of Istanbul University Library, Fehmi Karatay was cate. Nor are all Topkapi Turkish MSS entered in this
commissioned in the 1950s to prepare separate cata- Turkish catalogue. Bilingual MSS, such as Arabic-
logues of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian MSS. His Turkish and Persian-Turkish dictionaries are some-
printed Catalogue of Turkish MSS in the Topkapi times entered in the Topkapi Arabic or Persian printed
Palace Museum Library412describes "3088" MSS. All catalogues rather than in the Turkish one. Different
had been in various palace collections, except about copies of the same work seem to be cheerfully entered
265 which were acquired after 1925, when the palace in the one or the other, at the cataloguer's whim.417
had already become a museum.413 Since that time Each volume of the Topkapi Turkish catalogue is
several hundred further Islamic MSS have been acquired, preceded by a table of contents, in which the classifica-
but no catalogue of these has yet been published and tion is set forth. Vol. 1 covers works on religion,
it is not clear how many are in Turkish.414 history, and sciences, and vol. 2 philology, literature,
Karatay's catalogue has the virtues and the draw- collectaneous works and additions to all classes. At
backs of extreme brevity. His introduction justifies the end of volume 2 there are combined indexes for
the brevity by pointing to the fact that other copies of both volumes: a title index in Arabic script, and an
many of the MSS are described in the catalogues of the index of persons in the Latin alphabet, and finally a
great orientalist libraries of Europe, and indeed Kara- short list of MSS with illustrations and maps.
tay adds such references to many of his descriptions. In contrast to many recent cataloguers, the compiler,
But even in those cases, no comparisons are made, Fehmi Karatay really had an expert knowledge of
e.g., to indicate different recensions. Each entry con- Islamic and Ottoman literatures and MSS. Over-brief
sists of the MS'S call number in its original Palace though his descriptions are, his expertise is visible on
collection; a physical description; details of copyist every page. Unlike most cataloguers in Turkey, he
and date of copy; the title in Arabic script and a often dates undated copies quite closely-to within
romanized transcription; author statement, with the half a century or less-and estimates dates of composi-
briefest biography and a death date; indication of tion by judging the literary style.
subject; and occasional other details. The incipits The title index is quite good as long as the user
(first words) are briefly cited in Arabic script, but bears in mind the frequent omission (noted above) of
unfortunately not explicits. Sometimes short biblio- works other than the first or main one in a MS. He
graphical references complete the entry. One major must also realize that Karatay did not systematically
omission in the descriptions must be pointed out. deal with the problems associated with titles which
When a MS contains more than one work, the authors have unstable conventional elements at the beginning,
and short titles of the others are usually mentioned e.g., such words as kitab, risale, terceme, tefsrr, Berh,
very briefly, but always without incipits, and very hikdye, kissa, tdrn, tevdrTh,mubtasar. As copies of
often their authors and titles are not entered in the the same work may use or omit or interchange them,
indexes.415 This is particularly bad in the case of it would have been advantageous if Karatay had
mecmii'as. In fact, the catalogue contains vastly more included them only for cross-references. As it now
stands, the cross-referencing is quite erratic and
411
Istanbul. Topkapi Saravi MUzesi Kuiuphanesi. Turk(e incomplete. The "index of persons" comprises mainly
Yazmalar Kataloku. Hazirlayan Fehmi Edhem Karatay. 2 authors and translators, but copyists are also some-
cilt. Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi MUzesi, 1961. times included. Apart from preference for the tatallus
413 Details ibid., prefaces pp. Vill and X. (literary name of poets), there is great confusion in the
414
"1175 MSS have been bought for the library since 1925. choice of entry element in this index, and the cross
In the Isfendiyaroglu collection which was donated recently, references are entirely inadequate. The index pages of
there are 26 MSS...." G. Kut, "MS libraries," MESA Bulletin,
XVI, no. 1 (1982) p. 32 = CTT, 43 (1980) p. 18. 416 No footnote.
415 Of the hundreds of examples, I might mention Hilye-i 417 E.g., Lugat-i AhterT,in TKS Turkish Catalogue, vol. 2,
(7ehdr Ydr (no. 2365), and the Divdn and SikI-ndme of nos. 2015-2023; in TKS Arabic catalogue, vol. 4, no. 7626.
Riy5zH(no. 2670). A considerable number of Arabic and (This vol. 4, amazingly, has neither author nor title indexes!)
Persian works are included; and some are shown in the Es-Sihih el-'acemTye, in TKS Turkish catalogue, vol. 2, nos.
indexes. Since many of these are not entered in the printed 2045-2046; in TKS Persian catalogue, nos. 295-296. Although
catalogues of Arabic and Persian MSS at Topkapi Sarayi it is having the same incipit, different authors are attributed to it
important that this fact be widely known. in the Turkish and Persian catalogues!
Mehmeds, Ahmeds, and Mustafas are a trial for the The only real access to most of the University
user. However, the addition of death dates to many of Library's Mss remains the old card catalogues compiled
the names in the index is a useful feature. two generations ago entirely in the Arabic script and
7. Istanbul Iniversitesi Kuti2phanesi (Istanbul Uni- mostly unrevised. There are author/title and subject
versity Library) sequences. The subject categories are very broad (and
rather arbitrarily applied or interpreted) with classes
A new building for the University Library has been such as Manzilm edebTeserler; Mensfr edebTeserler;
planned for decades and been under construction for TarTh. Within each class the Mss are arranged in
years. By the time the present article is printed, it may (Arabic) alphabetical order of author.
already house the University's wonderful collection of The information on the cards is generally limited to
Mss. (I'll believe it when I see it!) For the past half the following: author, short title, foliation and dimen-
century or so visitors have been able to get an impressions. The date of copy is rarely shown, even if clearly
sion of its riches and quality, from the contents of the in the colophon of the MS. The details given on the
exhibition room on the second floor of the building cards often show ignorance or lack of care. The
which has served as the University Library for 60 author listings are particularly inconsistent and incom-
years. The room is, or was, full of old fashioned glass plete, having been made, it seems, without adequate
cases, stuffed to overflowing with exceptionally fine checking even of internal records. For instance, for
and valuableMss. the author Kdtib Celebi, the main entries are divided
Most manuscript collections in Turkey, and indeed between K and M (MustafA b. Abdullah), neither
throughout the former Ottoman provinces, have only linked by a reference to the other; likewise, entries for
a minority of Mss in the Turkish language, in per- different MSS of the TdrThof IbrdhTmPequy (PeqevT)
centages ranging from near zero to 20 percent, and are split up, some under the letter I, some under P.
rarely as high as 25%. At Istanbul University Library, Main entries for Ibn Haldiin are found under at least
however, it is 50%. The most recent figures show 9941 4 different entry words. Even more reprehensible are
bound volumes of Turkish Mss out of a total of 18661 the gross carelessness and ridiculous errors of reading
MSS.418 It is nothing short of shameful that in the which disfigure many cards. A sample is a manuscript
world's largest academic centre of Turkish studies (TY 3180) which clearly bears the title Munge'dt-i
there is still no comprehensive printed catalogue of its Ldmi'T: its entry in the "T.Y. Miuellifleri" (author)
contents. file is "Lutfi. Munce 'dt-i Lutfl"!
A comparatively small number of the Mss were A limited number of the University's Library's
included in the fascicles of the "Catalogue of Histori- Turkish Mss are recorded in a catalogue of Persian
cal and Geographical Mss in Istanbul's Libraries" poetical MSS, Istanbul Kutuphanelerinde Farsfa Man-
(IKTCHK) described earlier:419it has been totally zum Eserler, 1: Universite ve Nuruosmaniye Kutup-
dormant for more than 20 years (no new part has haneleri.422Outstanding both as a piece of scholarship
appeared since 1962). Two unpublished graduate dis- and as a contribution to Persian literary history, it
sertations in typescript, compiled by students in the was compiled by Ahmed Ate (d. 1966), whose work
early 1970s, list some of the University Library's could serve as a model for other cataloguers in Turkey
poetical MSS,420 and a few other dissertations from the and beyond. By far the largest number of Mss described
1930s and 1940s describe selected Mss from this library are in the University Library, but there are appreciable
and several others in the city.42' numbers from the Nuruosmaniye collection, and from
the Ayasofya Mss now in the Sifleymaniye, as well as a
418 Bacqu6-Grammont, op. cit., p. 105. Arabic MSS few from other libraries. The Turkish Mss are scattered
totalled
6963 and Persian 1615. Kut reported identical figures for throughout the volume. They are mainly translations
1978, except for the grand total, which she gave as 18600. of or commentaries on works in Persian. The title
'"MS libraries," CTT, p. 21 = MESA Bulletin, p. 34= TD, index is useful for finding Turkish Mss, especially the
p. 366. sections beginning Tarjamah-i or Sharh-i. In the same
419 See above, p. 475 and note 369.
index, some of the Turkish works are marked "(T)".
420 See above, p. 476
and notes 380 and 381. Ate's catalogue also describes many works in Persian
42!
Kdzim Yeti>, "Turkiyat Enstitusu Kfituphanesindeki tez- by well-known Turkish authors (Ottoman, Azeri and
leri bibliyografyasi, I" in Istanbul Universitesi Edebii't Fakiil-
tesi, Tiirk Diil we Edebivrati Dergisi, 1977-79 (TDED), 1981,
pp. 322-323. 42 Istanbul, Milli Egitim Basimevi, 1968.
Chaghatay), such as Nefci, $dhidl, NesTmT,Fuzill and Up-to-date detailed information on the library's hold-
Navd'T (FHnT). ings is expected in an article by the library's present
Brief notices of some 22 Turkish MSSin the Univer- director, Hasan Duman, slated for publication in
sity Library are given by Ramazan $e~en in his 1978 1984.43?Occasionally MSS in its possession are men-
article on rare Turkish MSS.423 tioned in scholarly articles.43'
The first two installments of a catalogue of the
library's Arabic MSSwere printed over 30 years ago. 9. Istanbul. AtatUrk Ktuiphanesi (Atattirk Library)
In them, the University Librarian, Fehmi E. Karatay, (incorporating Belediye Kithiphanesi)
described 696 MSS(about 10%of the Arabic collection),
limited to the Koran, its sciences and commentaries.424 This new (1980) library at Taksim Square has since
No more parts have been published. They are men- 1981 incorporated the many rich collections of the
tioned here only because they include many works Belediye Library which was formerly housed in a
composed or transcribed by Ottoman or other Turkish medrese at Beyazit, opposite the Beyazit Library and
scholars and copyists. near Istanbul University. The combined collections
have been estimated recently to include about 6520 or
8. Istanbul. Beyazit [or Bayezid] Devlet Kituphanesi. 6543 MSS in all languages,432of which an unstated but
(Beyazit State Library) large number are in Turkish. Gunay Kut has reported
the existence of the beginnings of a catalogue of the
This library, one of the most important in Turkey, MSS in the Osman Ergin collection. It takes the form
includes books and MSSfrom over 40 originally inde- of a printed but unpublished listing by Orhan Durusoy
pendent collections.425 Out of a total of more than (d. 1980) of 496 Arabic, Persian, and Turkish MSS
11250 MSS,426 1536 are in Turkish.427 The largest "beginning with the letters elif and be,"433presumably
number of Mss-6787 in Arabic, Persian and Turkish- arranged by work title. This fragment obviously needs
are in the "Muhtelif" group, which came from 8 or 9 completion and publication as soon as possible. The
previously independent collections. Another collection, Muallim Cevdet collection is particularly noteworthy
that of Veliyuddin, contains a further 3231 MSS.Those for its size, range and interest, and deserves priority in
who cannot consult the very imperfect card catalogues cataloguing. Until printed catalogues of all the collec-
kept in the library, must be content with the inadequate tions now in the AtatUrk Library become available,
and error-filled registers (defters) printed a century the only access remains through the incomplete old
ago.428 A catalogue of the 483 Islamic MSSin the card catalogues.
[Merzifonlu] Kara Mustafa Papa collection has recently
been prepared by Gunay Kut,429to commemorate the 430 J.-L. Bacqu6-Grammont and N. Vatin, "Bibliotheques
300th anniversary of the second siege of Vienna (1683) d'Istanbul," p. 102.
by the Ottoman army under the Pasha's command. 431 Three MSS were briefly described by Ramazan $e~en in
his article, cited above, note 344.

423 See above, note 344. 432 The first figure is given
by Bacqu6-Grammont and
424 Istanbul Universitesi Kiitiiphanesi Arap a Yazmalar Vatin, op. cit., p. 101, where the statistics of MSS in the major
Katalogu. Hazirlayan Fehmi Edhem Karatay. Cilt 1, fasikul collections are given: "Belediye, over 500; Muallim Cevdet
1-2. Istanbul COniversitesi,1951-53. 970; Osman Ergin 4968"; G. Kut reported 6543, of which 356
425
J.-L. Bacque-Grammont and N. Vatin, "Bibliotheques were in the Belediye and 745 were in Muallim Cevdet ("Ms
d'Istanbul...." (1982), p. 102; see also Cevdet TUrkay, libraries," MESA Bulletin, p. 36 and pp. 42-43, note 63. The
"Bayezid Umumi Kutuphanesi," in Belgelerle Turk Tarihi information is less complete in TD 33). C. Turkay mentioned
Dergisi. Cilt 14, sayi 79-80-81 (1974), p. 72. "over 6500" in his article "Belediye Kutuphanesi"in Belgelerle
426
J.-L. Bacque-Grammont, loc. cit.; Meral Alpay, Istanbul Tiurk Tarihi Dergisi, cilt 14, sayi 82-83-84 (1974), p. 70.
Kutuphaneleri (p. 7) gives 11119. Meral Alpay reported only 3200 MSS (Istanbul Kutuphaneleri
427
The same figure is given by Bacque-Grammont (p. 102), [1982], p. 3).
and by G. Kut, "MS libraries," TD, p. 346 = MESA Bulletin, 433 Cited by G. Kut, "Ms libraries," CTT 43, (1980), p. 35,
p. 26. n. 63 and MESA Bulletin, pp. 42-43, note 63, (not in TD),
428
Defter-i Kutubhdne-i 'Umi~mT; Defter-i Kutubhdne-i as "Orhan Durusoy, Osman Ergin'in Arapfa, Farsha Turkfe
VeILv]eddTn.Istanbul [1304/ 1886?]. Yazmalari (Istanbul, no date), 160 pages. The book has no
429
To be published by Kultur ve Turizm Bakanligi. (Letter date, no printer's name, not even a front cover. This book ...
from G. Kut, March 7, 1983). is not for sale."
10. Istanbul, Millet Kituphanesi. (Millet Library) geographical works in Istanbul libraries (1958)436This
lists many MSS, library by library, giving call number,
The library in its present form is very largely the book title, language, script, "author or translator"
legacy of the famous bibliophile and scholar 'AlT (usually without distinguishing the one from the
EmlrT(1851-1924), who collected and donated some other!), and "date" (without distinction of date of
two-thirds of its 6576 MSS, of which 2512 are in composition from date of copy, but usually the latter
Turkish. A large number of poetical Divdns and seems intended). Many of the MSS are not strictly
many other MSS of exceptional interest distinguish the geographical. The chaotic mixture of romanization
Millet collection. A certain proportion of them has systems and inconsistencies in forms of author's names,
been entered in the three "Union Catalogues of Istan- and the total absence of title and author/translator
bul Libraries" compiled between the 1940s and 1960s, indexes, are especially regrettable in a publication of
mentioned above (pp. 473-76), describing (a) historical the Ministry of Education. The same author wrote a
and geographical, (b) divan, and (c) hamse MSS. For series of five articles in the quality popular historical
most of the Millet MSS, however, access to the MSS is journal Belgelerle TUrk Tarihi Dergisi,437outlining the
available only though three card catalogues in the contents and histories of some 14 old Istanbul libraries
library itself: (i) for the Feyzulldh MSS (which ante- possessing manuscripts. Some of this information is
date 'All Emiri's gifts), an author/title card file; (ii) not available in print anywhere else.
for the 'All EmirTcollection, both an author/title file
and a subject catalogue. 12. Vakf Libraries in Istanbul
Millet KOittiphanesi served for almost 20 years
(1962-1981) as the central library (il halk kUtuphanesi) Most of the libraries set up by notables of the
of Istanbul province, but has recently become a purely Ottoman Empire as charitable foundations (vakf/
manuscript library.434 vakif) have been absorbed into other large libraries,
especially since the founding of the Turkish republic.
11. Istanbul Exhibitions, etc. MSS and printed books from some have found their
way into the hands of booksellers and been dispersed.
Until more catalogues of Turkish MSS in Istanbul Many of the collections now in the Suleymaniye
collections are published we will have to continue to library were originally independent vakfs. In 1979
use various totally inadequate substitutes such as an that library put on an exhibition of vakf seals on MSS,
unindexed listing of an eclectic exhibition mounted by for which an illustrated pamphlet was issued.438Its
the Turkish Ministry of Education in honour of the compilers, Gunay Kut and Nimet Bayraktar, have
22nd International Congress of Orientalists, held in since then prepared an illustrated album of 155 vakf
Istanbul in 1951.43 It is a 38-page list of MSS selected seals, and provide in it details of the number of MSS in
from 12 Istanbul libraries, each separately arranged in each vakf library.439
the catalogue in Arabic alphabetical order of title
(though printed in Latin characters!), and notes in 13. Dissertations on Istanbul MSS
each case the date of copy, author's name and death
date, subject, and language. Each library group has Over 2000 dissertations (tez), both undergraduate
cross references from authors to titles. The Turkish and doctoral, by students in the Faculty of Letters at
MSS number just over 100, scattered in a sea of Arabic
ones and a sprinkling of Persian MSS. It is deplorable, 436 Istanbul
Kuitbhanelerinde Osmanlilar devrine aid
too, that for lack of alternatives, one is still obliged to Turk e-Arab a-Fars a Yazma ve Basma Cografya Eserleri
use also Cevdet Turkey's inadequate bibliography of Bibliyografyasi. Istanbul, M. E. B., 1958.
437 Under the general title "Istanbul Kutuphaneleri." They
434 G. Kut, "MS libraries," TD, pp. 347-348 = CTT, pp. 5- are in sayl 69 (1973), pp. 30-35; 74/76 (1973), pp. 69-74;
6 = MESA Bulletin, pp. 26-27; M. Alpay, Istanbul Katup- 77/78 (1974), pp. 77-80; 79/81 (1974), pp. 71-74; 82/84
haneleri, p. 21; Cevdet Turkay, "Istanbul Kilttibhaneleri" in (1974), pp. 68-70.
Belgelerle Turk Tarihi Dergisi, cilt 13, sayl 77-78 (1974), 438 II. Millet/er arasi Tarkoloji Kongresi. Yazma eserlerde
pp. 79-80. The latter is out of date and has some factual vakif muhurleri sergisi, 24 Eylui-5 Ekim 1979. Sideymaniye
errors. Kutuphanesi. Hazirlayanlar Giinay Kut, Nimet Bayraktar.
435 Istanbul Umumi Kutuphaneleri Yazmalar Sergisi. 15.- 439 Awaiting publication (letter from G. Kut, March 7,
22. IX. 1951. istanbul, M. E. B., 1951. 1983.)
Istanbul University have been accepted by the Univer- of 205 Islamic miniatures in 1976, and the catalogue
sity. Quite a number of them consist of or include lists by Filiz Cagman and Zeren Tanindi briefly describes
of MSS in Istanbul libraries. A classified bibliography each and is illustrated by 69 colour reproductions,
of all the dissertations has been compiled by Kazim many from Turkish MSS.442 The bibliographies of both
Yeti~ in his "Tdrkiyat Enstitusu Kutuphanesindeki books are very convenient guides to other publications.
Tezlerin Bibliyografyasi,",440 and is a valuable tool, Another useful survey, but in pocket book format, is
especially in the absence of comprehensive catalogues Metin And's Turkish Miniature Painting (2nd revised
of MSS. A special sub-section (B IV) is devoted to ed., 1978).443Most of its illustrations are from Topkapi
catalogues of MSS, but information on the works of manuscripts but a minority are from other collections,
individual authors or single works is included in disser- including Istanbul University Library and the Museum
tations in many other sections, especially in sections of Turkish and Islamic Art (Turk ve Islam Eserleri
A, B and C. In addition to dissertations mentioned in Muzesi). According to Gunay Kut,4" 76 of the latter
section 4 of the present article (and notes 374-382) for Museum's treasures are MSS in Turkish; in addition
various groups of MSS in the Atif, Ragip, Istanbul there are a considerable number in Arabic which have
University, and Belediye (now Ataturk) libraries, Yetis interlinear Turkish translation or commentary. A cata-
mentions others describing dictionaries (by Melahat), logue of all MSS in this Museum which contain mini-
travels (sefdretndmeler, by C. Erencan); ornate prose atures took the form of an article by Kemal _ig445
collections (miin~e'dt, by Z. 6. Defne), tales (hikdye, and includes descriptions of 12 Turkish MSS. A general
by R. Bilke), and collected biographies of poets (4ucard description of the Museum and some of its contents
tezkireleri, by S. Ozturk), all in "Istanbul libraries" will be found in an illustrated book for laymen,
(i.e., from MSS in more than one library). sponsored by a bank: Turk ve Islam Eserleri Mazesi
by Can Kerametli and Zahir GUvemli.446 Administra-
14. Turkish Art MSS in Istanbul Collections tively attached to that Museum is another in Galata,
near the northern end of the Tunel in the former
Studies which examine MSS primarilyfor their artistic Mevlevi dervish lodge. Since 1975 it has been called
interest are increasing in number, and sometimes details the Museum of Classical Turkish Literature (Divan
may be given which are available nowhere else. We Edibiyati Muzesi). It houses a collection of books
will draw attention here to a few recent representative called Halit Seyit Efendi Ihtisas Kitiphanesi, which
works. In Turkish Miniature Painting (1974), Nurhan includes MSS, whose number is given variously as 194
Atasoy and Filiz Cagman provide not only a survey and 50.447 Among the limited number in display cases
of the subject and lists of major illustrated Turkish there, are 16th century copies of the DTvlns of Navd7T,
MSS in collections throughout the world, but 50 fine
colour plates from MSS in Topkapi Saray Museum.441
The same museum mounted a permanent exhibition
442
Istanbul. Topkapi Saravi Muzesi islim Min'aturleri.
[Hazirlayanlar] Filiz Cagman, Zeren Tanindi. Istanbul, Guzel
440 Part I in Istanbul Universitesi Edebivat Fakiltesi. Turk Sanatlar Matbaasi, 1979. (= Tercuman Sanat ve Kultur
Dili ve Edebivati Dergisi (TDED). Cilt XXIII, 1977-79 Yayinlari, 1). [Page 4: "Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi islam minya-
(Istanbul 1981); the remainder will appear as part 11 in the turleri (sergisi) katalogu."]
next volume of this periodical, whose publication has been 443 Cover title and half title: Turkish miniature painting:
long delayed. With the publication of the indexes by Kdzim the Ottoman period. Revised ed., Ankara, Dost, 1978.
Yetid at the end of part one of the article, the list of 642 444 G. Kut, "MS libraries," TD, 33 (1980/8 1), p. 364 = CTT,
dissertations accepted by the fall of 1961, which Muharrem 43 (1980), p. 19 = MESA Bulletin, XVI, no. 1 (1982), p. 33.
Ergin compiled, "Turkoloji Bolumu Cali~malari, 11. Tez 445 Kemal C-i. "Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi'ndeki minya-
Calilmalari" (TDED cilt X, 1960, pp. 133-160; cilt XI, 1961 turlii kitaplarin katalogu" in 5arkijat Meemuasi (Istanbul
pp. 109-128), becomes obsolete. That list is alphabetically fCniversitesi),III (1959), pp. 5 1-90. Turkish MSS described on
arranged by student's name, but a second alphabetical pp. 51-62; illustrations, X, XX-XXVI.
sequence (mostly 1960 and 1961 dissertations) begins in cilt 446 [Istanbul] 1974, (= Ak Yayinlari Sanat Kitaplari, 3).
XI, p. 126. 447 194 according to G. Kut, "Ms libraries," MESA Bulletin,
441 Turkish Miniature Painting [By] Nurhan Atasoy [and] p. 32, and M. Alpay, Istanbul Kutiuphaneleri, p. 200; only
Filiz Cagman. (Translated by Esin Atil. Photos by H. Dogan- 50, according to Bacque-Grammont and Vatin, "Biblio-
bey). Istanbul, R. C. D. Cultural Institute, 1974. theques ...," p. 103.
Fuzill and BdkT.448A few MSS are mentioned in the which were included in TtJYATOK 1 (1979) [discussed
museum guide by Can Kerametli.449 above, section 3].
Non-academic but good quality periodicals fre-
quently describe manuscripts. Beautifully illustrated 16. Ankara Universitesi Dil ve Tarih-Cografya Fakal-
articles on them appear quite often in cultural and art tesi Kutuphanesi (Ankara University Faculty of
journals, notably Kultur ve Sanat, and its successor Arts Library)45'
Sanat, published rather irregularly by the Ministry of
Culture in Ankara; and in Sanat Dunyamiz, published This is the biggest library of the University and
since 1974 by the Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi (Istanbul), contains by far its richest collection of MSS. According
and its rival Thrkiyemiz produced by Akbank (Istan- to the curator-librarian of MSS, Ali Riza Karahan
bul) since 1970. (orally), there are approximately 15,000 Arabic, Turk-
ish and Persian items in 6 sub-collections. Since about
15. Ankara: Introduction 1967 he has been making typed catalogue cards for
the MSS, and is now preparing a printed catalogue.
The national capital of Turkey, Ankara, is second The publication of the first part, containing MSS num-
only to Istanbul in the number of MSS in its collections, bers 1-1000 of the Ismail Saib sub-collection, was
but its MSS are far less well known. All but one of its reported in 1983.452
major collections are without any printed catalogues. The main sub-collections are designated Ismail Saib
Several institutions maintain card catalogues of their I and II; Muzaffer Ozak I and II; and M. Con. A
mss; in general they have been found inaccurate and sizeable group of the last mentioned was previously in
totally insufficient for scholarly purposes. the hands of the noted Istanbul bookseller and biblio-
The main collections are in the library of the Faculty phile, Raif Yelkenci. The first two collections noted
of Language, History and Geography at Ankara Uni- above belonged to another great bibliophile, Ismail
versity (Ankara tniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Cografya Saib Sencer (1875-1940), for many years director of
Fakiiltesi), the National Library (Milli Kiitiiphane), the Beyazit (Bayezid) Public Library in Istanbul and
the Ankara Provincial Library(Ankara Il Halk Kutup- Professor of Arabic Literatureat Istanbul University.453
hanesi), the Turkish Historical Society (Turk Tarih Access to the manuscripts is gained at present only
Kurumu), and the Turkish Language Society (Turk from the typed card catalogue, which consists of two
Dil Kurumu). There are smaller collections at the sequences: (1) titles and (2) authors. Each card records
Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet isleri Baskan- (in principle, if not always in practice) the title, author,
ligi), and Ankara University's Faculty of Theology language of work, and date (if any); but normally no
(Ilahiyat Fakultesi). Not only are there no printed indication of subject is given except insofar as it is
catalogues of any of these collections, but even statistics part of the title. It would be nice but untrue to say the
of how many of the MSS are in Turkish remain unpub- cataloguing is well done. For instance, if an erratic
lished. We may hope that some day the statistics form of a work's title appears on the flyleaf of a MS,
collected in 1978 for the TOYATOK project studies450 that form is usually the only one entered on the card,
will become generally accessible. For the time being,
the only Turkish MSS in Ankara libraries that have "' For granting me
access to the MSS in July 1981, I should
appeared in printed catalogues are the few in the like to express my gratitude to Benal Acar, director of the
Ataturk Memorial (Anitkabir), the Turkish Presidential Faculty library; and to Ali Riza Karahan, curator of the MSS,
Library (Cumhurbaskanligi), and the Turkish Parlia- who is himself a graduate of Ankara University in Arabic
ment (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) library, all of studies.
452 In Akhbdr al- Turdthal-'ArabT,published by Ma'had al-
448 All MSS bear the stamp "Evkaf-i islimiye Miizesi," the Makhtuitat al-'Arabiyah in Safat, Kuwayt, no. 5 (January-
predecessor of the Turk ve islam Eserleri Miizesi. Navd'!, February 1983/1403), p. 8. It was also stated there that a
DTvan (Envanter nos. 395 and 262, both copies beginning second part was ready for printing at Ankara University
Alrakat... .); FuzfllT, DTvdn(Env. no. not indicated); BNkW, Press.
DTvan(Env. no. 173 and 156, the latter labeled 1605 Milddi). 453 For some biographical impressions of him by M. 5ere-
449 Can Kerametli, Galata
Mevlevihanesi, Divan Edebjyati fettin Yaltkaya, see the introduction to Kdtib Celebi's Kesf-
MUzesi. [Istanbul], Turkiye Turing ve Otomobil Kurumu, el-Zunun (Kashf al-Zunuin), I. Istanbul, 1941, pp. 12-15, and
1977. Specific information on pp. 31, 71-72. the memoirs of Mahir Iz, Yillarinizi, Istanbul, 1975, pp. 261,
450
G. Kut, loc. cit. in note 444 above. 267-269.
even though the real title may appear on one of the also mentioned in text (S I 2902);458invention of a
first few leaves of the text of the MS or in its colophon. generic title in idiosyncratic romanization (S II 922);459
In long titles, the second element which usually states 17 titles beginning with Hikaye(t) without references
the subject is often omitted on the cards. Alternative from the following element, e.g., Kirk Vezir (S I 4230,
titles of the same book are not linked by catalogue S I 614), Nasreddin Efendi (S I 4838).
references, even when a comparison of the MSS shows The Ankara D. ve T.-C. Collection of MSS is very
them to be the same text. Romanization of authors rich and varied, with many interesting Turkish MSS,
and titles mainly follows "Turkish pronunciation,"
even for works in Arabic and Persian, and is done of this Turkish MS is Ydkuitdt al-mahazin fi cevahir il-
rather unsystematically. Further, alphabetization of ma'ddin by Yahyd b. Mehmed GaffAri (fol. 2a), who dedi-
the cards is not rarely faulty, so that many cards are cated it (fol. 2b) to the artistic and intellectual son of Sultan
filed in the wrong order. Major problems in the Bayezid II, Prince Korkud (killed by Selim II in 1513; see
author card file are also due to inconsistency in the E. Birnbaum, "The Ottomans and Chagatay literature" in
use of different entry elements: some MSS of a single Central Asiatic Journal (CAJ), 20 (1976), pp. 157-190, espe-
author may be entered alphabetically under his per- cially pp. 181-188, and CAJ, 21 (1977), plates l-III). The
sonal name and patronymic (e.g., Ahmed b. Mustafa), work is about precious stones, and the Ankara MS (which, to
and others of his MSS alphabetically under different judge from the watermarks, was copied in the 18th century)
parts of his names, e.g., ending in . .. zade, or under is incomplete at the end. There is another uncatalogued MS
his literary name (taiallus), or the name of the place of it in the Suleymaniye, Yeni bagis no. 1389.
where he lived plus the Arabic relative suffix For its 458 Cover title is Cevahirndme, but real title (fol. 6a) is
Turkish equivalent 1i (e.g., Sivasi or Sivash), or an Tuhfe-i MurddT by Mehmed b. Mahmrid b. [sic] 5irvani
honorific title. There are very few author cross- (fol. 5a); composed (in Turkish) in Bursa ("Burise') in 5a'ban
references to help resolve these dilemmas. In the title 833/ 1430 (fol. 129b-130a), and dedicated to Sultan Murad
card file many of the author's names are not indicated II (fol. 3b). The copy is undated but the script is characteristic
at all, even though, with a little effort, they could have of the 15th century. This work at rut precious stones includes
been found in the MSS' introduction or colophons, an introduction in fulsome praise on the Ottoman dynasty
and/or by checking some of the reference books and (fol. 2-3) and consists of 32 chapters. (There is a 19th
catalogues in the library's possession. A few specific century copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris [Supp.
examples from the title catalogue alone will illustrate 1302].) Bursali Mehmed Thhir mentions that a copy of this
the problems faced by those who have to rely on these work by "MahmUd b. Mehmed Dilsad [misprinted: Ril~dd]
cards: the MS is not a Persian work, as stated on the 5irvdnT"had been recently presented to the Muze-i Humayu-n
card, but is in Turkish (Ozak I 419); date cited is that ('Osmdnhi MAtuellifleri,[OM], II, 235). Tahir had cited the
of composition, not of copy (Ozak I 953, I 365); first author's name previously in OM, III, 139 as "Mehmud b.
half of title is omitted and therefore wrongly filed, Mehmed b. Dilgad 5irvanl. Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta
and middle of author's name omitted (Saib I 1885);454 (II, p. 64) cites the Azeri poet "Bedri 5irvani, d. 1450-51."
errors in vocalization of title, and in author's name, A. S. Levend (Turk Edebiyati Tarihi, I, p. 166) notes that
omission of language (Saib I 4914);45"error in transcrip- there is a MS, in the Fahri Bilge collection, of Murddndme, "a
tion of consonant (t> d) due to ignorant hyper- poem of encyclopedic content written 831/ 1427 for Sultan
correction (Saib I 5459, Saib II 922); omission of Murad II." He gives the author's name as Bedr-i Dilsad b.
recorded author's name (Saib II 1746);456failure to Mehmed b. Oruqgazi b. 5a'ban. Mujgan Cunbur has men-
list correct and alternative titles (Saib I 990);457 use of tioned an uncatalogued MS in the Turkish National Library
generic cover title instead of the real title which is in Ankara as the only extant copy of the Murddndme, a
mentioned in text, and omission of author's name, "mesnevi [of] encyclopedic content by Bedri Dil~ad ...
written 28 years before the conquest of Istanbul." (NewSpot:
454 kijjm al-sikat bi-asley il-kahve ve 'l-kat (card begins Turkish Digest [weekly newspaper], Ankara, 12 February
only at asley, filed under letter A). Author is Mehmed b. 1982, p. 6, col. 1.) The relationship between these works,
Mehmed Cemal el-MercanT.(Cemal was omitted.) manuscripts and authors needs further investigation.
411 heyel (for hiyel), 'All (for 'Ald'eddin). In Persian (though 459 "Eski munsad [sic!; i.e.,
munle'dt]. Sadi." The MS
title is in Arabic). consists of the texts of documents under the MS heading:
456 Fuzfll's Beng u fide. injd-C 'abd Wl-fakfrSa'dr. Copy ca. 17th century. This MS
457 Cevdhir Wl-cevdhir.Titles at beginning of this MS are deserves careful study. It may contain compositions of the
Cevher-i cevdhir, and Cevahir-i zevdhir, but the correct title famous MunIr of Taclzade Sa'd! CelebT(d. 922/1516).
some apparently unique, and others of early date, Persian and Turkish mesnevrs from the Ozak collec-
copied in or near their authors' lifetimes.460The very tion;464there is also a catalogue of selected Persian
large number of Arabic MSS in the collection also poetical MSS in the ismail Saib and Raif Yelkenci
deserves thorough study-many being important for books.465 The typescripts are available in the manu-
Turkish and Islamic history and the Islamic sciences script room of the faculty library.
in general. Some of the Arabic MSS were written
centuries before the rise of the Ottomans.46' The 17. Ankara, Milli Kutuphane (Turkish National Li-
collection should receive a high priority as a national brary)
cataloguing goal, but the work must be closely super-
vised to ensure quality standards far superior to those The Turkish National Library was not established
of the cards. until 1948, and it is mainly concerned with printed
One might expect that some of the many graduation materials. Statistics given in one of its 1957 publica-
dissertations at various levels produced by students of tions show that it already possessed 929 Arabic, Turk-
the Turkish Language and Literature section of the ish, and Persian manuscripts.466Early in 1982, the
Faculty of Language, History and Geography at Director-General of the Library, Mujgan Cunbur
Ankara University would have made ample use of the reported that it then possessed 6310 manuscript
MSS in this Library and others in Ankara. The titles of volumes, all uncatalogued; how many of these are in
dissertations produced in this section of the faculty Turkish was not stated.467In May 1983, she gave the
are listed by Olcay Onertoy and ismail Unver462but current figure as 6382 MSS, and stated that more were
give no indication of any cataloguing activity. Such in Turkish than in Arabic or Persian, and added that
activities seem to be concentrated in a few fairly low- a catalogue was in preparation, and it was hoped to
level dissertations at the faculty's Department of publish it in one or two years.468By August 1983, the
Librarianship. Typewritten copies of three such items total number of manuscripts had risen to 6822.469The
are: a catalogue of MSS of Turkish dTvans from the National Library also possesses a large number of
Raif Yelkenci books,463 and a catalogue of selected microfilms of Turkish and other Islamic MSS, mainly
from collections in Turkey, especially from Istanbul
460 Three early copies of FuzllT (d. 970/ 1562-63), HadTkat libraries, but no catalogue has been printed.
us-su'add, dated 974, 980, 985 (Ozak I 1233a, Saib II 4062,
Saib 11 1766).
46E .g., Jamic Mucammar b. Rashid, riwayat AbTMuham-
mad cAbd al-Rahman b. Asad al-FarisT,copied in Toledo in
364/974-75 (Saib 1 2164); al-Tdih wa nihayat al-ifsdh JT
sharh madhdhib al-qird'ah al-sab cah by Abui 'AlT al-Hasan Bitirme tezi. Ankara Oniv. DTC Fakultesi Kutuphanecilik
b. cAll b. Ibrahim b. Yazdad al-AhwdzT al-MaqqarT (d. Bolumu, 1965).
446/1055, see Brockelmann, GAL, 1, 407), copied at the 464 Dil ve Tarih-Cografya Fakiltesi Umumi Kutuphanesin-
Madrasat Dimashq in Baghdad in 438/1046-47 (Saib I deki yazma kitaplar arasindan sefilen bir kisim mesnevilere
1964); .Hilyatal-fuqahd' by AbFual-Hasan Ahmad b. Faris ait bir katalok denemesi. [Hazirlayan] Yilmaz D6nmez. Lisans
copied in 589/1193 (Saib 1 1713); al-Fara'id by Abu Sacd ,ali~masi, AODTC Fak. Kutuphanecilik Kursusu, mayis 1965.
al-Mutahhar b. al-Husayn b. Sacd b. cAll b. Bundar al- The information given is very sparse.
YazdT,[d. 591/ 1195] copied ca. 8th/ 14th century from a MS 465 ismail Saib Sencer ve Raif Yelkenci kitaplari Farspa
dated 661/1263 (Saib 1 5424); a book on horses, copied ca. manzum yazmalar katalogu. [Hazirlayan] Filiz imecik. Lisans
6-7th/ 12-13th century (Saib 11352); Fadl al-khayl, by Sharaf ,alilmasi. Ankara, 1966 (Secilmi>).
al-Din AbFuMuhammad b. cAbd al-Mu'min b. Wafl al-Din 466 Turkiye Kutuphaneleri Rehberi,
Ankara, 1957, p. 9.
Abi al-Qasim Khalaf al-DimyapT,dated apparently 705/ 1305- 467 Interview with
Mujgan Cunbur in NewSpot: Turkish
06 (Saib 1 3132). Digest, an English weekly newspaper in Ankara, 12 February
462 0. Onertoy, "D. T. C. F. Turk Dili ve Edebiyati Bolumu 1982, p. 8, col. 4. Gunay Kut cited the figure 2200 ("Ms
qalilmalari"covering 1941-1964, in Thrkoloji Dergisi (Ankara libraries." TD 33 (1980/8 1), p. 345 = CTT 43 (1980), p. 3 =
Univ. DTCF), I (1964), pp. 149-164; and ismail Oinver, MESA Bulletin XVI, 1 (1982), p. 25) from M. Cunbur,
[same title] (covering 1964-197 1), idem, IV, I (1972), pp. 147- "Yazma kutuphanelerimiz" in Turkiye Kutuphaneciler Der-
164. negi Bulteni, XIX, 1 (1970).
463 DT-CF Kutuphanesi
Raif Yelkenci Kitaplari Turk(e 468 Letter from M. Cunbur to E. Birnbaum, May 31, 1983.
Yazma Divanlar Katalogu. [Hazirlayan] Altinay Bakag. 469 NewSpot, Ankara, 12 August 1983, pp. 1, 8.
18. Ankara 1i Halk Kutuphanesi (Ankara Province (d. early 15th century);475'A{ik Papa (d. 733/ 1333);476
Library) BalT ZihnT's Gencdne-isac'ddet;47' Ldmi'c I elebi
(d. 938/1532);478 Manydsoglu;479$emsT (d. early 16th
Also known as Cebeci Halk Kutuphanesi (from the century;4'0 Tdclzdde Ca'fer Celebi (d. 921/1515),481
district where it is situated) and previously called the dTvansof various Ottoman poets, including several
Genel Kdtuphane and still earlier Umumi Kutdphane, copies of those of FuzRlT (d. 963/1556) and BdkT
this library possesses 2662 MSS470 of which about one- (d. 1008/1600), and two of Nef'c (d. 1044/1635), and
third are in Turkish. one of Neslml (d. early 15th century). I noted three
Since there is no printed catalogue, those who wish Chaghatay MSS: two Dlvins of Navd'!482(d. 906/1501)
to have an idea of its contents must consult the as well as his biographical work on literary men,
library's typed catalogues of (1) titles,47 (2) authors, Macdlis al-naf Dis.483 The Ankara Il Halk Kutuphanesi
and (3) subjects. They were evidently prepared from also possesses a considerable number of works in
the fuller typed slips, many dated 1947 and 1948, Persian, which have a particular interest for Turcolo-
which are still left inside many of the actual MSS. The gists, such as the Havasnamah of Kutbeddin iznlkT
contents of each title card includes (if known to the "Kutbi"(Qutb al-Din IznVqI,d. 821/ 1418);484the Falak-
cataloguer): title, author, script, date of copy (some- namah, a sufistic mesnevi, completed in 701/1301-02
times confused with date of composition), script style, by Gul~ehrT(Gulshahri),485and an extremely early MS
number of leaves, and of lines per page, dimensions, of a work of Sultan Veled (d. 712/1312).486 His father
and sometimes but not always the language of the Celdleddin (Jaldl al-D-n) RUmT'sMasnavN-ima'navT
text. The same faults which abound in the records of is represented by a MS dated 716/ 1316-17.487 From a
many other Turkish libraries are common here too. considerable number of Arabic MSS earlier than the
These include romanization according to different 15th century, I draw attention to three works by AbU
systems (e.g., Anvar and Envar, Fara'id and Feraiz);
inconsistencies in choice of entry word (Kazi Beyzavi
under K, Beyzavi under B; Siyuti, Suyuti; Balhi
Muhammed b. Husayn for [Mevlana] Celaleddin 4' 3 copies of his iskendername (Mss 309, 2050, 1761).
Rumi!). There are many title entries under Kitab al-or 476 Five copies of his GarTbndme:(a) MS 320, a luxury MS
Kitab-z, instead of under the following title element. copied in Bursa in 830/1427 by Mi'min b. Ibrdhim, followed
The collection includes many valuable, remarkable by a risdle on hilkat by the scribe, and a final note written in
and interesting MSS. During a short visit in July 1981, the present century by Veled Velebi about the book and its
I noticed Turkish MSS by Mustafl Àll (d. 1008/1599) style; (b) MS 321, dated 902/1496-97; (c) MS 332, dated
including one which may be unique;472the Tezkire-i 961/1554; (d) and (e) MSS 331 and 1732, both undated.
4ucard (biographies of poets) of ÀhdT(d. 1002/1594), 477 MS 2536, ca. 17th
century; it is a translation of the
copied in his lifetime;473and of his contemporary Persian text ZakhTratal-muhik by Sayyid 'All al-Hamadn-i
Kinalizade Hasan velebi (d. 1012/1604);474AhmedT (f. 2a), who died in 786/1384.
478 Latd'if (Ms 140); Lugat-i LAmi'T (7elebi, a short vocabu-
470 F. Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabisehen
Schrifttums, VI lary in verse (MS K 2567).
(1978), p. 430, gives the total as 2662 MSS,a figure obtained 479 Terceme-i Gulistdn, copy of
1198/ 1783 (MS 610).
from the director of the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul. In 480 Dih miirg, a mesnevi
composed 909/1503-04. MS 433 11,
1970 M. Cunbur (loc. cit. in note 467) had reported only copied ca. 17th century, vocalized.
2198. The total cited in 1957 was 1721, of which 672 were in 48 Hevesndme (colophon Mahabbetndme), composed 899/
Turkish (Tiirkipe Kutuphaneleri Rehberi, p. 112). 1494 (MS 914).
471 The title catalogue is followed by a supplementarydrawer 482 (a) MS 0. 1078, a luxury MS in
beautiful ta'llk, copied in
of extra titles, A-Z. 929/1523 by Muhammad Kdtib "dar Astan-i hazrat-i mah-
472 (a) Mihr u Vefd, one of his earliest works, composed in duflmMavlana HusdmaddTnIbrahim 'alayhi'rrahma." Begins:
970/ 1562-63, in a copy dated 990/1582 (Ms no. K 2360). No A~rakat... ; (b) MS 59, ca. 17th century, except for the later
extant copy was known to Atsiz, compiler of Ali Bibli- supply of fols. 1-5. Begins Fasdhat....
uografyasz(Istanbul, 1968, p. 33); (b) Sadef-i sad-guher, copy 483MS 634, copied ca. 16th century.
of 1217/ 1802-03, (Ms 433 1); (c) Kavdcid uI-meealis, ca. 18th 484 MS 439, ca. 15th century.
century (Ms 50 V); (d) part of Kunh ul-ahbar (Ms 280). 485 MS 817 copied 843/ 1439.
473 Rebic 1 989/ 1581 (Ms 47). 486 MS 285.

474MS 97. MS 2948.
Ishdq Ibrahim b. 'All al-Shlrazl (d. 470 or 476/1077- are undated, but would seem to have been written in
78 or 1083-84) in a MS copied in 473/1080-81.488 the course of the 1960s; certainly they were on the
Siileymaniye's shelves by the early 1970s.
19. Ankara. Turk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language The fiches take the form of mimeographed or printed
Society) sheets with form-headings for the library's name, MS
call number, work title, author's name, language of
Under the energetic leadership of the society's MS, date of copy, script style, size of page, number of
secretary-generalAgdh Sirri Levend (d. 1978), research leaves, notes or bibliographical references, and subject.
in linguistic, literary and language reform topics was The information is mostly entered in the appropriate
prosecuted with vigour. The number of Turkish, spaces in pencil.
Arabic, and Persian MSS had risen from the 498 The fiches are usually arranged, without regard for
reported in the survey published in 1957,489 but the the language of the MS, in rough subject groups; they
present figures do not seem to have been published, are sometimes also in vaguely alphabetical title order.
nor is there a printed catalogue. The romanization of author and title is incredibly
confused and inconsistent; authors' names are fre-
20. Ankara. Turk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical quently misinterpreted (e.g., "Zam Ha~ri"for Zamah-
Society) FerT),and copy dates are rarely included, and if they
are, cannot be trusted: the date of composition is
The total number of Arabic, Turkish and Persian sometimes misread as the copy date.
manuscripts in 1980 was 901.490 There is no printed Some of the fiche writers were clearly knowledgeable
catalogue. (e.g., those from Bursa and Konya) but the vast
majority of them were not, and their work is full of
2 1. "Fiche Catalogues "of Anatolian collections amazing errors.
As these volumes are not indexed, there is no way
In the reading room (Okuma salonu) of the Silley- to find a specific author or work without going through
maniye library in Istanbul are several shelves of bound the whole catalogue. Until proper modern catalogues
volumes made up of handwritten fiches (fiY), each are prepared however, they must remain, for all their
volume devoted to the MSS in a different library in shortcomings, a major means of access to the manu-
Anatolia. There are separate volumes for libraries in scripts of Anatolia.
at least the following places: Adana, Afyon, Ak~ehir, Some of the collections described in the fiche cata-
Amasya, Antalya, Balikesir, Bursa, Burdur, Corum, logues have since been moved to other libraries. It
Darende (Malatya province), Elazig, Eski~ehir, Isparta, would be helpful to researchers if the Stleymaniye
Iskilip (f7orum province), Karaman (Konya province), library staff were to add a note to this effect on the
Kayseri, Konya,49' Kdtahya, Manisa, Nigde, Samsun, relevant volumes of fiches. For example, the Antalya
Tavpanli (Kitahya province), Vezirkbprti. These fiches MSS have been at the Stleymaniye for years. As noted
above in section 3, pp. 471-72, two of the projected
five fascicles describing the Antalya MSS have already
488 MS 751 I, al-Mulakhkhas fTial-jadal (cf. Kdtib Celebi, been published in TtOYATOK.
Kashf [Istanbul, 1941-43], col. 1818; MS 751 II, al-Ma'Finah
fT al-jadal; MS 751 111,al-Lam'c f usal al-fiqh). The copyist 22. Konya. Mevlina Miizesi (or Konya Miizesi) Kutup-
was Sa'Td b. ' Ubayd Allah al-QumanT(an interesting nisbah). hanesi (Mevlana Museum)
489 Turkive Kutiphaneleri Rehberi, p. 92.
490
Istanbul Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and The ancient city of Konya is the home of three
Culture. A Guidebook of Islamic Cultural Institutions [1981], separate but outstanding collections of MSS. The only
p. 261. There is no indication of how many are in Turkish. one which has a printed catalogue is that of Mevlana
In 1957 the number of Islamic MSS was given as 300 (Turkive Muzesi (also called Konya Mtizesi), which is the
KutUphaneleri Rehberi, p. 93). shrine (dergaih) of Mevland CeldleddTnRumT,(Maw-
49 The Konya volume (i.e., Yusuf Aga collection) is not lana Jaldl al-DTn RUmT,1207-1273), the great mystic
made up of handwritten fiches, but is a typed register, who founded the MevlevT (MaulawT) dervish order.
arranged in Dewey Decimal Classification subject order, and When the dervish orders were suppressed by Atattirk,
includes not only MSS but also printed books. The MSS are this dergah became a secular museum, but any visitor
marked by the letter "Y." can see that, to this day, it remains a popular place of
pilgrimage for traditionally-minded Muslims from all Many will also heartily agree with his implied criticism
over Turkey and abroad. of the efforts of many of his contemporaries: "To note
In 1957 the collection apparently possessed 3933 down the name of a book's author and title, the kind
Islamic MSS, of which 246 were in Turkish.492The of binding, script style, and dimensions, does not
numbers have greatly increased since then, although constitute cataloguing; it can be (called) nothing more
precise figures have not been published. AbdUlbaki than preparing an inventory/checklist."496Gdlpinarli's
Golpinarli has compiled a three-volume catalogue catalogue is a curious combination of traditional
(1967-72), describing the contents of 1081 volumes,493 Islamic learning, often encyclopedic in nature, with
Arabic, Turkish and Persian, many of which contain some of the elements of modern orientalist scholarship.
several works. A considerable number of MSS still It is a pity that he was nQttechnically more methodi-
awaits cataloguing in future volumes. A few years ago cal. Nowhere does he explain his numbering system.
Golpinarli presented his own valuable collection of His romanization is inconsistent, even for consonants
books and MSS to Mevlana Muzesi. (The door of the at times.497 Vowels are indicated mostly by a, i, u,
dervish cell where they are now kept bears a plaque without allowance for e, i, b, o, U, but sometimes
with his name). inexplicably e, b, o are indeed used, so that in one and
In addition to the museum's MSS described by the same volume and index we find AmTrT and Emr-i,
G6lpinarli, there are yet other MSS. In July 1981 I 'Otman and 'Utman. The choice of entry names for
examined two typed lists in the Museum's reading authors is full of surprises. The main entry for any
room, one containing basic information on about 220 individual author may differ from volume to volume
MSS,494the other briefly citing 225 MSS on exhibition.495 of the catalogue: two typical cases in point are Kemal-
Gdlpinarli's catalogue is remarkable in many ways pa~azade, which is entered in the index under $
and perhaps more scholarly, detailed and informative (vol. I), K (vol. II) and I (vol. III);498and the poet
than almost any so far printed in modern Turkey, Bdki, under B in vol. II, but A (for 'Abd al BakT)in
with the exception of Ahmet Ate~'s catalogue of vol. I. European names are similarly mistreated: Franz
Persian poetical MSS in Istanbul libraries (see section Babinger and Annemarie Schimmel are under F and
7, above). It is the product of an author who is well- A respectively,but Hellmut Ritter, and J. W. Redhouse
known for important studies on mysticism and clas- under R. Modern Turkish scholars are usually alphabe-
sical Turkish literature, a man eager to share his tized according to their first names and their soyadi is
knowledge. In his introduction of the catalogue he ignored, e.g., 'Abd al BWkT Golpinarli and Enver Ziya
says that he has often felt obliged to give so much Karal are under A and E respectively.
information that some entries might seem like learned The most unfortunate omission in each of the three
articles. The users of this catalogue will be grateful. volumes is an alphabetical title index. The only access
to the names of the books is the long list of titles
492 Also 3611 in Arabic and 76 in
Persian. See Thrkiye headed ikindekiler at the beginning of each volume.
Kutuphaneleri Rehberi, p. 164. The order is neither alphabetical by author or title,
49 For each bound MS there is a consecutive running nor logical by subject. The titles are listed in the same
number printed at the left side of the page (1 to 1081), and arbitrary order as they occur in the body of the
quite a different number printed in the middle of the page catalogue. It is very frustratingto have to read through
before the beginning of the entry. MS "Cilt I" is thus num- a thousand jumbled titles every time one wishes to
bered "63." "Cilt 1045 is no. "6400." There is no explanation. locate any MS by title, and it is all to easy to overlook
494 Compiled by
Erdogan Erol, associate director of the the work being sought.
Museum. It is a title listing of MSS, headed "Konya Muze Although these faults detract considerably from the
Mudfirlugune bagh ihtisas kutiiphanesindeki 6400 no.dan catalogue, it possesses many positive features too.
sonraki yazma kitaplarinin listesidir." Golpinarli frequently cites the call numbers of similar
49'
Headed "Konya Muze Mudurligi, Muzelik eserler MSS in other libraries (often MS copies not recorded in
arasinda bulunan yazma kitaplarinin listesidir" and signed
by the same Erdogan Erol. According to a library assistant 496 Vol. I, p. [xiii].
in the museum, the MSS recorded in this eight-page list do not 497 Consonantal wdw/ vdv is usually representedby w, some-
appear in any of the other catalogues or lists, printed or times by v; Nawad' (v. I, index), NawayT (v. II, index);
typewritten, but I did not have the time to check this Navad' (v. Ill index); Mawlana but Mavdiid (v. III).
personally. It includes items by famous authors and cal- 498
5ams'addTn, with no references from other forms (v. 1);
ligraphers, including, e.g., Ydqut al-Musta'simT. Kamdl Pdsa-zdda (v. II); ibn Karndl(v. III).
print elsewhere), and he quotes some particularly Turkish.506 The information given is inadequately
interesting passages verbatim from the MSS he is short. For instance, there is no indication in it that the
describing.499 The bibliographies at the end of each 14th century Turkish MS (p. 15, no. 44) described as a
volume are also valuable, mentioning not only printed "fiqh translation" by ibn al-Sdin is written in the
books but also MSS, some of them from uncatalogued Mamluk-Kipcak dialect,507 rather than in Ottoman
collections elsewhere.500If only a thoroughly trained Turkish as one might suppose. A collection of hand-
Islamics bibliographer would produce full, consistent written fiches, between covers marked "Yusuf Aga
and totally new indexes of all persons, work titles, Kutuphanesi. TUrkceYazmalar Indeks Katalogu," may
subjects and references to MSS cited by the learned be consulted by visitors to the library. In fact it
cataloguer from other collections, the treasures partly constitutes neither an index nor a catalogue of the
hidden in these catalogues would be better revealed to Turkish MSS. The fiches are simply arranged in the
the initiates in these fascinating fields. sequence of their MS call numbers, without any index
by title or author! The fiches contains information
23. Konpa. II Halk KUtUphanesi.50'Yusuf Aga KUtip- (where identified) on author, title, foliation, and some-
hanesi (Province Library. Yusuf Aga Library) times subject and incipit.
While "religious" works are very numerous in this
The Yusuf Aga library was established in 1795 and library, it contains a comparatively large amount of
was maintained from its foundation until the early material beyond the somewhat restricted range of
1980s in a charming little building, specially erected works studied as text books in most medreses. There
for the purpose, adjoining the Selimiye mosque. By are, for instance, several poetic divdns, including those
the time the present lines are printed the MSS will of Bak1508and Nef'T;509and the four-part one of
probably be housed in a specially designed new Navd'T in Chaghatay in a fine (probably 16th century)
building which will have three functions: to provide Central Asian hand, on quires of different colours,
optimum conditions for maintaining the present hold- elegantly bound,5'0 and a Central Asian MS of his
ings of the Yusuf Aga library, to establish a conserva- Hamsa dated 1266/1850.5" Another Chaghatay work
tion unit for the repair of old books, and to house is a long anonymous commentary on the Qur'an.5'2
other MSS to be assembled from small libraries in
central and eastern Anatolia.i02In 1957 Yusuf Aga con-
tained 3933 MSS, of which 246 were in Turkish;503but 506 Une liste des manuscrits choisis parmi les bibliotheques
a later list gives the total number of Mss as 5079, with- de Konya. Publiee a 1'occasion du XXII. Congres Inter-
out statistics by language.504Some of the library's MSS national des Orientalistes. Istanbul, Milli Ekitim Basimevi,
are (temporarily?) in the Mevldna Muzesi nearby.505 1951 (Turkish MSS,p. 15, no. 44; p. 19, no. 89; p. 27, no. 175;
No catalogue has been published, but a list of p. 31, no. 222).
507 MS
selected MSS from Konya libraries printed by the no. 5409.
Turkish Ministry of Education in 1951 gives brief 508 Nos. 13, 28 (undated).
509
details of 253 MSS in Yusuf Aga, of which only 4 are No. 579 (undated but ca. late 17th or early 18th century).
510 No. 6623. Begins "Aorakat . .
499 E.g., from Em-rT'sKitdb-i $eyi Vaefd(vol. III, pp. 462- 511 No. 6627. This is one of the few Turkish MSS recorded in
464). the 1951 Liste, which gives its copy date as "10th century"!
'oo The entry form often conflicts with that adopted in the An examination of the MS revealed its calligraphy as typical
catalogue indexes and includes such oddities as a British of 19th century MSS from the Bukhara region of Central
Museum Arabic catalogue under the letter A: "Alexandre s. Asia. This MS is one of those fairly recently renumbered at
Fulton, M. A. A. G. Ellis. M.A... Yusuf Aga: when it appeared as item 89 in the 1951 Liste
5o0 Formerly Umumi Kutuphane. (p. 19), it was Ms"1215 e.y./967."
502
Interview with the director of Konya il Halk Kutuphanesi 512 No. 6624, containing 653 folios. A note inserted in the
(to which the Yusuf Aga library is attached), 16 July 1981. MS by Hamza Ziulfikarand dated 4 August 1970 states that
503
Thrkiye Kuiuphaneleri Rehberi, p. 164. this MS was probably copied from the Topkapi MS which he
504
Undated list with the director of the Sfileymaniye used for his doctoral thesis ((7agatayca Kuran tefsiri: dilbigisi
Library, (perhaps from the 1967 census of MSS in Turkey), incelemesi, metin, dizin. Ankara fniversitesi, Dil ve Tarih
cited by F. Sezgin in GAS, VI, p. 450. Cografya Fakultesi, 1970, based on the MS described in
505
According to Mustafa Cengiz, the official in charge of Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi KUtuphanesi TUrkceYazmalar Kata-
Yusuf Aga, orally 16 July 1981. logu, cilt I, nos. 18-19.)
Ottoman intellectuals represented by MSS in the collec- 24. Konya. Koyunoglu MUzesi (Koyunoglu Museum)
tion include Ldmi'TCelebi (d. 938/1532),5'3 Kinalizdde
'Alaeddin 'All Celebi (d. 979/1572),5'4 and Kemal- Ahmet Rasih Izzet Koyunoglu (d. 1975) was a
papazade (d. 940/1533).5'5 A noteworthy regional Konya merchant and amateur of Islamic culture and
chronicle is the comparatively rare history of the scholarship who, over an entire lifetime, assembled a
Karamanids by Ahmed $ikarT (d. 992/1584), copied vast private collection of manuscripts and objects
within a generation of the author's lifetime.5'6 illustrative of Turkish culture in the widest sense. He
The moral and political advice profferred to Sultan admitted the general public to his home to view his
Mehmed IV by Sari 'Abdulldh (also known as 'Abdi, treasures and generously allowed scholars to study
d. 1071/1661) in NasThatal-miilak is found in a copy and even publish some of his MSS. In 1971 he signed
made from the autograph in 1064/1654.517 There is an agreement to give the whole collection to Konya,
also a good copy of Kdsim b. Mahmud KarahisdrT's on condition that the city would build and maintain a
1r~dd ul-murTd 'aldl-murdd (a Turkish version of special museum to house it. Two years later he trans-
Najm al-Din RazT Ddyah's well-known 13th century mitted to the city a typed listing of his gift, consisting
Persian Sufi manual Mirsdd alb'ibdd), fully vocalized of no less than 553 pages.520During my visit to Konya
in an old-fashioned orthography corresponding more in July 1981 it was impossible to examine the collec-
to the conventions of the period of its translation in tion, because it was stored in boxes at the Konya
the second quarter of the 15th century, than to those Archeological Museum, until construction of the new
of its copy date, 959/1552.518 Another notable Ottoman Koyunoglu Museum building was completed. Fortu-
translation from Persian is one of the Tezkiret il- nately at the Mevldna Museum I was able to study a
evliyd (biographies of Muslim saints) in a copy of 328-page contents list of the Koyunoglu collection,
863/ 1459.5' which stated that it contained "11348 archeological
There are many other MSS worthy of mention. and ethnographic objects and 14747 MSS and printed
books." Printed books far outnumber manuscripts
513 No. 139/ 7, Bahrul-evziin. but the latter include not only many important works
514 No. 405, Ahldk-i 'Ald'J. on a large variety of subjects, but also a quantity of
5 No. 436, Daka'ik il-haki'ik. murakka's and levhas, some by famous calligraphers.
516 No. 562 (formerly no. 4543), with a note of ownership In the list, the MSS, (usually indicated by the words el
on the flyleaf dated 1023/1614. This copy was annotated by yazisi) are interspersed among printed books, but
the famous scholar and bibliophile 'AlT EmTrl(1857-1924); there are heavy concentrations of MSS between pages
see his signed note, fol. 168a). Two uncatalogued and there- 289 and 322 (items 12973 to 14546). The list is some-
fore unknown copies, (one 20th century, and another prob- what primitive but gives the following information,
ably copied "from a 17th century MS in Istanbul") are kept in when it was easily ascertained from the Ms: work title
the Oriental Department of the Cyril and Methodius National and author's name (both in Latin characters only),
Library in Sofia, Bulgaria. Yet another uncatalogued one is foliation, and usually the language. Dates of copy or
in the Koyunoglu Museum in Konya (no. 13377). Rudi P. composition are not given. The transcription into the
Lindner has summarized the present state of scholarship on Latin alphabet is erratically carried out.
$ikari's work, and listed all MSS known to himself (they did Ramazan Seven briefly described 26 MSS from the
not include the Sofia MSS), inj his Nomads and Ottomans in Koyunoglu collection52' in 1978; and many other indi-
Medieval Anatolia (Bloomington, 1983), pp. 145-150. The vidual MSS in the collection have been cited in scholarly
Sofia MSS are being studied by Katerina Venedikova of the literature for years. Seven Turkish MSS were included
Historical Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in (but without their MS call numbers!) in the booklet of
Sofia, and Rudi Lindner of the Dept. of History at the selected MSS from Konya libraries published in 1951,
University of Michigan (U.S.A.).
117 No. 7457. Karahisari. The colophon gives the copyist's name as 'All b.
518 No. 7594. The scribe is "Mehmed
b. Satilmis FakTh b. Muzaffer b. Mehmed el-PervanT el-AmidT KarahisarT.It is
$eyb Huseyn Dede b. Satilmis Baba b. Mehmed Halifet es- quite different from the versions recorded in the Topkapi
Sultan el-Hac Bektas el-HorasanTfi zaviyet Cevher Sultan." Turkish Catalogue, nos. 1136-1139.
A less noteworthy MS of this work is no. 9960, copied 520 Information from a copy of his letter to the provincial
1010/ 1601-02. For a listing of MSS elsewhere, see next section authority (ii makami), dated Konya 9.X. 1973 and bound
and note 541. with the list; according to that letter his typed list was
59 No. 5014. The translator's name is not readily apparent received 27.VII.1973.
from the MS, but the fiche claims that he was 'AlT Riza 521 See above p. 467 and note 344.
in honour of the 22nd International Congress of il-'drigfn (13536) a translation by "Mustafa" of $ukrul-
Orientalists, by the Turkish Ministry of Education.522 lah's Persian history of the Ottomans, Bahjat al-
Three more Turkish Mss were described in detail in a tavdrlkh.525A MS recorded in the typescript as "Tarih-i
1971 article by M. C. $ehabeddin Tekindag.523 Beh-et al-Kulub" (13408) may perhaps be another
Pending the publication of a real catalogue, or even copy of the same work. General histories include Kej
an indexed finding-list, I have noted in the following iil-gumem fT tdrnihil-iimem by LeysTCelebi (13379)526
paragraphs some of the Turkish MSS of interest that I and Tarih-i enbiyd -i 'izdm ve pddiadhdn -i 'climakdm
found in the typed list, tacitly regularizingthe transcrip- by Mehmed b. Mustafa $eyh Lutfullah (13421). There
tion and form of author's name and work title, and is also a copy of $ikari's rather rare history of the
occasionally adding my own comments. Quotation Karamanid dynasty, Tdrih-i Al-i Kardmdn (13377).527
marks indicate names or titles in the forms they have Katib Celebi is noted as the author of two Mss: the
in the list, when those forms seem doubtful in some well-known Mlzdn id-hakk (14030) and the much
way. I have also included a few Arabic and Persian rarer iredd u/-ha vdra [ild tdrih il- Yindn ve'r-Ruim ve
MSS which are the work of primarily Turkish authors. 'n-Nasdra] (1403 1).528 He is in fact also the author of
It is regrettable that the typed list did not include two further MSS in the collection, both apparently
copy date or century, since some of the MSS are of unique. One is "Cuvanes Karivanes tarihi" (14031),
considerable age. The numbers in parentheses after described by Katib (elebi in MFzibn as Firengi tarTlh;529
each title below are their call numbers in the Koyun- the other is "Tarih-i Kostantini rve ve gyasira" (sic!=
oglu library as indicated on the list. Kaydsira)(14032) which is otherwise known as Ravnak
One caveat should be made. It is quite possible that iis-saltana.530 (In the typed list it is attributed to "lIhlas
some of the author attributions and forms of titles $eyh Muhammet.")
given in the Koyunoglu typed checklist and cited in The borderline between "literature" and Sufism is
the following pages may be erroneous, but I was difficult to define. One of the best represented authors
unable to check them against the actual MSS, because is Lami'c Celebi of Bursa (d. 938/1532). There are 9
they were inaccessible at the time of my visit. MSS of his work in the Koyunoglu library: Husn U Dil
- There are many historical works. In addition to (13526), Tuhfe-i linli'c (13253), Ferhdd u $jr-n (13247,
'A~ikpafazade's TevdrTh-i'Al-i ' Osmdn (13764), there and 13177, the latter recorded simply as Ferhadndme),
are other works of the same title but unstated author-
ship (13419, 13481), one to the reign of Selim 1 ...
Probably Mustafa b. Ahmed 'AlT FarisT,given as transla-
(13446). A number of MSS are described simply as tor in Topkapi Turkish catalogue, no. 541, and in Sulev-
"anonymous histories": (nos. 13384, 13590), one of manive Kiutphanesi Thrk e YazmalarIndeks Katalogu (1975)
events up to the reign of Mehmed 11 (13821), another p. 47, no. 338; cf. GOW, pp. 20-21.
to the reign of Murad 11 (13824); and a third (13823) 126 Presumably the same as a
history of unknown authorship
covering the years 647-971/1250-1563. "Bakayl" is from the Creation to the beginning of the BurjTMamlFak
the author of a " TdrTh-i Sultdn Fatih Mehrned" Sultans of Egypt, recorded by Babinger, GOW, p. 59, no. 1.
(13365). Two works by BesTrCelebi, TevdrTh-i'Al-i Tekindag (loc. cit. in note 523) states that Ley5TCelebi
'Osmdan(13477, a "Persian-Turkish"MS) and "Hik-adet-i translated from the Arabic original composed by Muhammad
Be~Tr(elebi" (13478), and el-Bustan 4f ha'-C.i ahbdr-i b. Ibrdhim b. Zdhir al-Hanafi.
A- ' Osnidn by 'Omer e>-$afi' (13409) deserve men- 527 For other MSS see note 516 above. This Koyunoglu MS
tion, as do Zuhlet iin-nasd'h ve Cunidet iut-tevrTh was apparently copied from Konya II Halk (Yusuf Aga)
(13422) by Cacfer 'Iyani ('Ayanli), a 16th century MS 562 (formerly 4543); cf. Lindner, Nomads ... (cited note
Turk from Pecs in Hungary,524and Mahhuh ku/iT 516), note 10a.
528 See the descriptions by V. L. Menage, "Three Ottoman
treatises on Europe," in Iran and Islam ... In memory of

522
Une liste (see above, note 506), pp. 36-37. Vladimir Minorski', ed. C. E. Bosworth, Edinburgh, 1971,
523
"izzet Koyunoklu Kutuphanesinde bulunan Turkqe yaz- pp. 421-423; and Orhan 5aik Gdkyay, Kdtip (7elebi, halvan
malar uzerinde qalismalar, I" in Tiirki ait Meemuasi, 16 ve eserleri hakkmndaincelemeler, Ankara, 1957, pp. 54-56.
(1971), pp. 133-162. One of the MSS is a medical book (no. 129
MTzin, Istanbul, 1306/1888-89, p. 143. It was based on
2004) written in Turkish in Amasya early in the 13th century. Johann Carion's Chronicle (Paris edition, 1548) which Katib
The others are described below. Celebi and his amanuensis (the French-born convert $eyh
524 There is another MS of this work in Manisa. Cf. F. Mehmed ihladsl)translated from Latin (Menage, ibid., p. 423).
Babinger, Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen and ihre Werke 530 For a description of the MS, see 0.
5. Gokyay, Kdtip
(GOW), 1927, p. 123. (7elehi (1957), p. 56, based on notes of Mesut Koman.
'ibretniimd (13802), Leti'if (13539, 13540), a MS of li-ehl is-suluk (1 1847),535and two linguistic works,
his Mektabat (13248) described as an autograph, and Ruimnizul-luka (13893, consisting of 200 pages) and
his expanded Turkish version of JamT's biographical Sihdh Wi-'acemTve 'ala iisliib is- Sihdh (13892, 128
work, Nefahdt Wl-ins (13272). pages). Several of his works in Arabic are also
The genre of collected biographies of poets is repre- recorded: Usil al-qird'a (Usil iil-kird'et, 13911, 18
sented by several Tezkire-i ,u'ard works: Me~iahTr-i pages), Usil qird'at [al-]Qur'in (Usil kira'et [ii-]
,u'ard composed by 'A~ik Celebi (d. 979/1572, no. Kur'in, 13912, 90 pages), and Mifta-hUl-edeb (13443,
13813); three copies of the one by Kinalizdde Hasan 30 pages, not to be confused with his well-known
Celebi (d. 1604, nos. 13568, 13638; and another MS, Miftih ul-cennet). With the exception of the (engndme
the latter titled "Esma iil-mesair el-enam"); and the none of the Turkish and Arabic works by Ahmed-i
tezkire of 'Ahdi (d. 1593), bearing the title Gildsen-i DaC' noted here as being in the Koyunoglu collection
,u'ard, (13309). There is also a copy of 'A~1kC-elebi's seem to be recorded in copies elsewhere. It is possible
Dhayl al-Shaqd'iq (Zeyl iiu-$aka'ik, 13203), and one however that some of these books are alternative titles
given the same title (13203) by Qasim Ibn Qutlibugha of known works by this important author or are
(Kasim ibn-i Kutliibuka),532both supposedly Arabic wrongly attributed to him.
language continuations of Ahmed Ta~kdpruzade's The typed Koyunoglu checklist contains many anony-
(d. 1560) Shaqd'iq al-nu'ma-n-a, a famous biographi- mous titles: one of these, described as " Tereime-i
cal dictionary of Ottoman 'ulemd. ehadis-i nebeviie. Turki kadim. 146 sayfa. Turkqe"
There are fewer dTvdnsof Turkish poets than might (13973) brings to mind the fact that Ahmed-i Dd'T
be expected in a MS collection of this size; among compiled and translated into Turkish at least two
them are the D-vdns of Nef'T (d. 1044/1634, no. collections of hadTth: Tereeme-i Tibb-i nebevT, and
13801), RiydzT (d. 1054/1644, no. 14486), as well as "one hundred Meccan hadiths and one hundred
the latter's SdkTndme(14487), and a MS recorded as stories."536 The relationship of a 16 page fragment
D-vdn-i Ragib ma' Fitnat (d. 1176/1763 and 1194/1780 recorded as Saltukndme (14305) with the very large
respectively, no. 13138) and an "autograph in Persian" compilation of this name made by Ebu'l-Hayr RiumT
of the DTvdnof Nedim (14692, but there is no indica- towards the end of the 15th century537needs investiga-
tion which NedTm). tion. Another rare work is the Hevesndme (13955)
Literary and religious texts by Turkish authors of composed in 899/1493 by Tacizade Ca'fer Cielebi
the 14th to 16th centuries include two MSS of the (d. 921/ 1515), and so is the Su'dl-i Yiusufve eevdb-i
rather rare Ferahndme (13282, 13290) by Haftboklu Zidlejy (13491) by MedhT.There is also a Kdbiusndme
(its composition was completed in 829/1426); a totally (13544) of unstated authorship.538Further good advice
different rare Ferahname (14671) by Kemaloglu is dispensed in Sidik iil-eevdhir, Pendndme (13537)
Isma'TI, who in 789/1387 turned an Arabic prose text by Guvahi (d. 925/1519), and yet more in the Pend-
into Turkish mesnevT verse.533 There are MSS of at ndme of Diyarbekirli Ahmedi (13662). A copy of a
least four Turkish works by Ahmed-i Da'T, who was very rare late 15th century style manual for official
active at the Germiyan and Ottoman courts in the
latter part of the 14th and the early 15th centuries; the versity Printing Office, 1973 (= Sources of Oriental Lan-
mesnevTpoem (engndme (I 4546),534 VesTletul-muluk guages and Literatures, 3). It is more complete than the
facsimile of the Burdur MS published by i. H. Ertaylan in
531 The number must be between 13699 and 13740; unfortu-
Ahmed-i Dd'i: hayati ve eserleri, Istanbul, 1952.
nately I failed to note the precise number when in Konya. 535 Noted briefly by Gonul Alpay, op. cit., p. 17, no. 8.
532 If this author is the famous Hanafi scholar al-Qasim 536 Idem, p. 17 nos. 7 and 9.
b. 'Abd Alldh Ibn Qutlibughd (802-879/1399-1474), this 537 Topkapi MS edited in facsimile by Fahir iz, Saltuk-
work could not possibly be a Dhayl (Zeyl) to the Shaqd'iq, ndme, Pt. 1- [in progress], Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Uni-
whose author was only born in 901/1495, i.e., a generation versity Printing Office, 1974- (= Sources of Oriental Lan-
after Ibn Qutlibughd's death. guages and Literatures, 4).
533 The Hatiboglu and
Kemdloklu Ferahnimes were de- 538 At least six different Turkish versions are known; see
scribed by Tekindag (see note 523), as was Hat-boglu's Bahr The Book of Advice by King Kay-Kd'us ibn Iskandar. The
iW-hakd'ik, a Turkish verse rendering of the Arabic prose earliest Old Ottoman Turkish version of his Kdbfesndme.
text Maqdldt .HIj-iBaktdsh WalT. Text ... with a study ... by E. Birnbaum. [Cambridge,
534 Published in facsimile, by Gonul Alpay [Tekin], Ahmed-i
Mass.], Harvard University Printing Office, 1981 (= Sources
Dd'T and his (7engndme. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Uni- of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 6), pp. 4-7.
and private letters is the Mendhic id-in~i (13998) contains "Iskendername, Kissa-i Gu46h, Kurt Hamza"
composed, according to the typed list, by Mehmed b. (13800, of 572 pages), without mention of authorship.
el-Katib: presumably this is the same work as a Paris There seem to be only a few MSS of Chaghatay
MS of this same name by Yahya b. Mehmed el-Katib interest: the Turkish Dlvan (13954) of 'AlT$TrNava'!,
published in facsimile by $inasi Tekin.539On callig- and apparently two copies of his Persian DTvdn, one
raphy and calligraphers there is a 268 page MS of long (14518, of 376 pages), the other very short (13741,
Tuhfet td-kittab (13185) by "Abdullah Efendi Mehmed only 40 pages), and the anonymous Chaghatay-
Emin."540The contents of "Hdverndme-i Astarhan '" Ottoman dictionary Abulka (13442).
of Seyyid 'Osman (13381, 13382) are unknown to me.
Other early works of interest range from mysticism 25. Bursa. II Halk Kutuphanesi (Bursa Province
to pornography to astrology. K.asim b. Mahmiid Library)
KarahisdrT'sMirsdd Ui4'ibdd [tercemesi] (13698, i.e.,
Irlad ul-murTdild 'l-murdd), a Turkish version com- Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire,
pleted in 825/1422 (from Najm al-Din Rdzi Dayah's and even after it yielded its political pre-eminence to
popular text book of Sufism, Mirsad al-cibad written Edirne and Istanbul it remained second only to Istan-
in Persian in Sivas in 1223) exists in many copies bul as a centre of traditional Islamic scholarship and
elsewhere.54' The same cannot be said of the rather culture. The vast majority of Islamic MSS in the city
rare collection of humorous, largely pornographic are now gathered in the Il Halk Kiltuphanesi where
anecdotes, DafiC ul-gumam (13995, composed before they are grouped under the names of the institutions
918/ 1512) which earned banishment from Prince in which they were previously kept. The proportion of
Korkud's court for its author, the eccentric medrese important MSS is remarkably high. The count of MSS
professor GazdlT, usually called Deli Birdder, "The about 1970 apparently showed 7366 Islamic ones,544
Mad Brother."542The Terceme-iMelhamendme (13890) of which something over 1000 are Turkish.545A printed
of Yazici[oglu] $aldheddin (15th century) deals with inventory of some of the MSS in the city's libraries
astrological predictions.543A travelogue described as appeared as part of the official year book of the prov-
Seferndme-i 'AlT Kdtib, by "Katib Yemini" (13373) ince of Bursa nearly a century ago.546By the mid 1970s
brings to mind the Mir'at ul-memdlik by STdT[SeyyidT] many MSS in the Il Halk Kiittiphanesi had been briefly
'Ali Re'Ts (d. 970/1562-63) who used the literary catalogued on fiches by one old man, Mehmet Oz.
name KUtibli.The Koyunoglu collection includes quite From the early 1950s a handwritten defter (register)
a number of widely popular tales. A single long MS was in the course of compilation: the contents were
broadly classified by subject. At the time of my last
539 Cambridge, Mass., Orient Press, 1971 (= Sources of visit in 1974, the defter contained 187 leaves. These
Oriental Languages and Literature, 2). details are given because even now, in 1983, there is
540 It seems very unlikely that this is the same as a work of still no printed catalogue. Potential users who are not
this name by KddTzddeAhmed b. HaI11b. Mustafa written in in or near Bursa must make do with the notes below,
1181/1767. The latter is far shorter; a Suleyemaniye MS of it inadequate a substitute though they may be.
consists of only 12 leaves (Suleymaniye, A~ir Ef. 520/18, The most comprehensive modern printed list is a
ff. 274-285. See A. S. Levend Turk Edebiyati Tarihi, I, brochure issued by the Turkish Ministry of Education
p. 398-399).
14 For references see the new Berlin catalogue Turkische 544 The undated "new list" shown by the director of the
Handschriften, 5 (Sohrweide = VOHD XIII, 5), p. 51. For Suleymaniye library Muammer tOlkerto Fuat Sezgin; quoted
two other copies in Yusuf Aga Library in Konya see the in his Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, VI (1978),
preceding section and note 518. There is a fully vocalized MS, p. 431. The total 7351 was given by Mujgan Cunbur, "Yazma
probably from the 15th century, in Skopje (Yugoslavia), and kutiiphanelerimiz, bugunku durumlari ve meseleleri," in Thrk
several other copies in the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo. See Kutuphaneciler Dernegi Bulteni, XIX, no. 1 (1970) pp. 3-17,
E. Birnbaum, "Turkish MSS... Part 2," in JAOS, 103.3 cited by Gunay Kut in "MS libraries."
(1983), p. 256. 545 In 1957 the Turkiye Kutuphaneleri Rehberi (p. 123)
542 See E. Birnbaum, "The Ottomans and Chagatay Litera- recorded the MSS as 1015 Turkish, 5723 Arabic and 349
ture," in Central Asiatic Journal, pp. 185-186. Persian, for a grand total of 7087.
543 There is another MS in the Nuruosmaniye collection in 546 "Bursa'dabulunan kutuphanelerdemevciid kutubun mik-
Istanbul. (See Bursali Thhir, 'Osmanll Muellifleri, 3, pp. dar ve nevi'leriyle esamisi miibeyyin cedveldir" in Vildyet-i
307-308.) fudd vendgdr Sdlndmesi, sene 1303, pp. 312-404.
to mark the twenty-second International Congress of In 1971 a student presented a typed listing of the
Orientalists which met in Istanbul in 1951. Each of Turkish mesnevT MSS in the II Halk library as his
the participants received a copy of an 80-page booklet graduation thesis at Istanbul University's Edebiyat
listing 816 MSS selected from eight Bursa collections,547 Fakultesi. It remains unpublished.553There is also a
most of them now part of the il Halk library. Of these 1934 thesis listing Turkish historical MSS.554
MSS some 202 are in Turkish. The actual number of
works in Turkish listed is rather higher since some of 26. Bursa. Tark-Islhm Eserleri Muzesi (Museum of
the single physical volumes contain several works. Turkish and Islamic Arts)
The booklet mentions for each work, as applicable,
the call number, book title, author, date of composi- Now housed in the Yeqil Medrese building, these
tion, date of copy, foliation and size. In the case of MSSwere until 1974 in the library of Bursa Arkeoloji
undated MSS, estimates are given. There is no index, Mizesi. In 1971 that library possessed 208 MSS.55520
but within each of the eight collections included in the of these only were listed but not further described in 2
brochure the titles are arranged in Latin alphabet short articles by Gulensoy.556 Some of the Mss had
order. been previously recorded in the 1951 Liste,557which is
Descriptions of some Bursa MSS are given in a few better done. Gulensoy's article is mentioned here only
articles in periodicals. In 1971 Tuncer Gulensoy548 because he includes several MSSnot in the Liste.
briefly described 47 of the approximately 52 Turkish
MSS in the Haraqioglu collection of the il Halk 27. Manisa j/ Halk Kattphanesi (Manisa Province
Kutuphanesi. Almost all had been recorded in the Library)
1951 Liste, and as in that booklet, the MSS were
grouped alphabetically by title. Gulensoy improved Manisa was long an important Islamic city of cul-
on it by giving an index to the 47 MSS, but it is not ture, capital of an Ottoman province, and often the
quite complete.549 Excellent descriptions of 10 MSS governing seat of Ottoman royal princes. Ruling from
were provided in a 1977 article by Gunay Kut.550Less a mini-court, they would there gain experience in
satisfactory were descriptions of some 28 MSS in this government, training for a possible future role as
library and 12 from the Bursa Museum in a 1950 sultan. This they might attain if character, force,
article.55' Zeki Velidi Togan's scrappy notes on a few diplomacy and luck combined favourably. Their pres-
Bursa Turkish MSS, published in the same year are ence in Manisa naturally attracted some of the finest
extremely inadequate.552 minds in the Empire as teachers, advisers and adminis-
trators, and with these, inevitably, came manuscripts.
547 Une liste des manuserits ehoisis parmi les bibliotheques The present II Halk Kutuphanesi, formerly Umumi
de Bursa, 1951. Kutuphane, is housed in the "Kitapsaray," and com-
548 "Bursa Harayioglu Kitapliginda bulunan Turkqe yaz- bines the collections of several previously independent
malar uzerine notlar," in Turk Dili Arastirmalari Yillhgi- libraries: Muradiye and Cenigir of Manisa, and those
Belleten, 1971, Ankara, 1971, pp. 231-246. of Soma and Kirkagaq. According to Sezgin, 671 of
549 E.g., the index fails to mention under LatTiffa portion of the MSS are in Turkish.558The first fascicle of a printed
his Tezkire which is included in Gulensoy's description of a
MS of 5eref ul-insdn of [ami'T (no. 941); the Tezkire is not
mentioned under T in the title portion. S53 Nejat Yeter, Bursa Il-Halk Kutuphanesi (Eski Eserler
550 Gunay Kut Alpay, "Bursa ve Manisa il-Halk Kutup- Kisminda) Turk'e Yazma Mesneviler (copy available at
hanelerindeki bazi Turkqe yazmalar uzerine," in Journal of Turkiyat Enstitusu, tez. no. T. 1206).
TurkishStudies! Turkluk Bilgisi Arastirmalari, I, pp. 121-13 1. 554 Fakihe, Bursa Kutuphanelerindeki Turk e Yazma Tarih-
551 M. Ergin, "Bursa kitaphklarindaki Turkqe yazmalar ler, 1933-34 (in Turkiyat Enstitusu, tez no. T. 58, consisting
arasinda"in Istanbul Universitesinde Edebiyat Fakultesi Turk of 133 pages).
Dili ve Edebivatu Dergisi, IV (1950), pp. 107-132. Some 28 555 Fuat Sezgin estimated 400 MSS (GAS, VI (1978), p. 461).
MSS in the present il Halk Kutuphanesi are described on pp. 556 T. Gulensoy, "Bursa kutuphanelerinde bulunan
Turkqe
114-132; and 12 MSS from what is now Tuirk-islam Eserler el yazma kitaplar uzerine notlar, I, II," in Turk Kildtriu,
Muzesi on pp. 107-114. no. 102 (1971), pp. 561-564; no. 127 (1973), pp. 585-588.
552 Z. V. Togan, "Kayseri ve Bursa'daki bazi yazmalar 557 See note 547.
hakkinda," in Istanbul Universitesi EdebiyvatFakultesi Tarih 558 Out of a total of 5082 MSS (F. Sezgin, GAS VI (1978),
Dergisi, 1 (1950), pp. 67-76. p. 451). On the basis of a 1967 count, M. Cunbur noted a
catalogue was prepared by Ismet Parmaksizoglu and also records a number of Persian works by Turkish
published in 1952.559 It described 64 works in a total authors, such as Fuzil and Kemdlpa~azdde.56'
of 80 copies. Thirty years have passed since then and Gunay Kut gave details of 16 Manisa MSS (of which
no further parts have appeared. Parmaksizoglu's work only two were mentioned in the Liste) in a valuable
is expressly (p. iii) modelled on Istanbul Kutuphaneleri descriptive article published in 1977.562
Tarih-Cografya Yazmalari Kataloglari, the partial Some interesting and important Turkish MSS do not
union catalogue of Istanbul libraries (described above, appear in the compilations noted in the preceding
section 4, p. 475) and shares its virtues and faults. In paragraphs. On a visit to Manisa in June 1974, I
fact, when the Manisa collection includes a work, of noted, amongst others, the following, which are men-
which a MS has been described in the Istanbul cata- tioned neither by Parmaksizoglu, nor the Liste nor
logue, the compiler merely refers the reader to it for Kut: a very rare early 14th century mystical treatise in
information on the author and the book. His own mesnevTverse entitled Muhabbet- / Mahabbetname by
descriptions are generally confined to works not men- Yuisuf HakikT,the son of the Sufi shaikh Hamideddin
tioned in the Istanbul catalogue, and they tend to be Akserayi;563and an interesting polemical work, Ke~f
unduly short. But it is the publisher, not the compiler al-esrdr fT ilzam il- YehMdby Yusuf b. 'Abdullah ed-
564
who must be blamed for the fact that the title index is Deyyan (Dayyan). The author, who had abandoned
less than half complete. Only 30 book titles (from A Judaism for Islam,565declares that the purpose of the
to Ma) are listed; perhaps the remainderof the alphabet work is to provide the culemd with information on
was suppressed because no more than 48 pages had Judaism, since he has personal knowledge of the
been alotted to the fascicle. The remaining fascicles, Talmud and Jewish writings. The work, which contains
covering some 600 Turkish MSS (not to mention over many "proof texts" from misinterpreted Jewish works,
4000 Arabic and 270 Persian), are long overdue. seeks to show Judaism's inferiority to Islam. The text
Some access to these uncatalogued treasures of the is undated but probably 16th or 17th century.566
library is provided by the brief selection made in the I found no Chaghatay texts in Manisa; the only one
Liste presented to the participants at the International which was described as such in the internal fiche
Congress of Orientalists, held in Istanbul in 1951.560 catalogue, turned out to be in quite another language,
The works chosen-Turkish, Arabic and Persian-are apparently Malay.567
transcribed into Latin characters and arranged in a An unpublished catalogue of Manisa's Turkish
single alphabetical sequence. About 74 Turkish MSS mesnevls (epic poems) constituted the Istanbul Uni-
are included, and only a few of them appear also in versity graduation dissertation (tez) of Ozden Mentes
Parmaksizoglu's catalogue. Even when the same MS is in 1972. Copies are available in Istanbul University
recorded in both, the Liste's entry is not superseded, Library and the Turkiyat Enstitusu.568
since it sometimes includes useful details not mentioned
by Parmaksizoglu-particularly, an estimate of the 561 No. 36, FuzUlT's Persian Dlvdn; no.
177, Kemdlpa~a-
century of copying is noted for undated MSS. The Liste zade's Nigdristdn.
562 See note 550.
563 MS 1296. 174 folios. Vocalized. Title on ff. 5a, line 5,

total of 5065 MSS, with no details of the size of the Turkish and 173b, line 2. TahrTh-i kitdb fol. 173b. Copyist and colo-
component; see her "Yazma kutUphanelerimiz, bugunku phon date of copy, Ahmed b. Mehmed, 894/1489 (f. 174b).
durumlari," in Tiirkiye Kutuphaneciler Dernegi Bulteni This Manisa MS was previously mentioned in 'Osmdnlt
(TKDB) XIX, no. 1 (1970), p. 9; Tirkiye Kutuphaneleri Mii'ellifleri, 1, 196. It is to be distinguished from another
Rehberi (1957) records 673 Turkish out of a total of 5090 Turkish work of the same title in this library, MS no. 6270 by
MSS (p. 169). Seyyid MuradT,composed in 946/1539-40, which is recorded
"9 [Manisa il Halk Kutuphanesi]. Manisa Genel Kutup- inthe Liste,p. I1,asno. 121.
hanesi Tarih-Cografya Yazmalari Katalogu, 1. Turkfe Yazma 564 MS 2986/8, ff. 198-297. Author and title near the end,
Tarihler. Hazirlayan ismet Parmaksizoglu. Istanbul, Milli f. 226b (elsewhere Yisuf b. EbT'Ubeyd).
565 Fol. 199a.
Egitim Basimevi, 1952 (= Milli Egitim Bakanligi. Kutup-
haneler KataloglarnYay., seri 3, no. 1). 566 It is bound together with other MSS dated 1023, 953 and
560 Une lisle des manuscrits choisis parmi les bibliotheques 952/ 1615, 1546 and 1545.
567 MS
de Manisa, Akhisar. Publiee a l'occasion du XXII. Congres 8382. 68 folios.
International des Orientalistes. Istanbul, Milli Egitim Basi- 568 Ozden
Menteq, Manisa KuiWphanesindekiThrk(e Mes-
mevi, 1951. neviler Katalogu, 1972. (Turkiyat Enstitusu, tez no. T. 1173).
The Manisa library also contains a remarkable Affairs. He is the same Rd~id Pasa who was instru-
number of old dated MSS in Arabic, including several mental in reviving in 1783 the long-dormant first
from the 6th/ 12th century and many from the 8th and Muslim printing press, which had been operated by
9th/ 13th and 14th. IbrdhTm Muteferrika in Istanbul between 1727 and
Among the bound volumes of handwritten fiches 1745. Rd~id Efendi provided his new library with
from Anatolian libraries which are kept on the ref- copies of all 18 Muteferrika prints, in addition to 925
erence shelves of the reading room of the Suleymaniye MSS. (Since that time many more MSS have been
library in Istanbul is a series of no less than 20 acquired directly and by the transfer of MSS from
volumes of fiches from Manisa (1-17 from the Il Halk other local collections.) The library's foundation deed
Kutuphanesi, and 3 more marked as being from the (vakf-ye) provided also for three scholarly librarians,
Umumi collection). The slips are arranged in MS num- and laid down rules for the library's maintenance and
ber sequence, and there are no indexes; the information operation. The text of this and other documents is
given about each MS consists of title, author, language, reproduced (in Latin characters) in the printed "Cata-
foliation, number of lines to a page, script and date of logue of Turkish Persian and Arabic Manuscripts,"
copy (and sometimes date, location and copyist, if recently compiled by the current librarian, Ali Riza
clearly written on the MS). The Manisa fiche catalogue Karabulut.57'
was obviously compiled by more knowledgeable people The catalogue is divided by language of the manu-
than most of the volumes of fiches from other regional scripts. The statistics are:
libraries which are on the Suleymaniye reading room
shelves. Source of infor-
Number of Number of mation (column
28. Akhisar. Zeynelzade Kutuphanesi (Zeynelzade Language Titles (approx.) MSS(approx.) in catalogue)
Library) Turkish 341 393 136
Persian 166 185 197
This library in the province of Manisa includes 137 Arabic 1748 2257 714
Turkish MSS,569 of which six are briefly described at
2255 2442
the end of the Liste for Manisa.570The oldest of these
is the veterinary manual, Baytarndme, in the 14th
These figures do not quite accurately represent either
century autograph translation by Mahmad b. Mehmed
the number of individual works nor the number of
b. Hasan el-EzherT.
physical volumes of MSS. Sometimes the same MS is
cited twice, with separate title numbers, e.g., once as a
29. Kayseri. Rasid Efendi Kutuphanesi (Rapid Efendi
Turkish MS and again as a Persian MS.572 Some of the
Library)
"item numbers" are in fact not titles but title cross-
references. Numerous titles in this group are written
An important city in Central Anatolia since early
in one language about another, such as dictionaries,
historic times, Kayseri (previously Caesarea) became a
commentaries or translations. Occasionally a forgotten
Muslim cultural centre after its capture by the Seljuk
Turks in the I Ith century.
571
Collections of MSS were kept in local mosques and Kayseri Rdlid Kutuphanesindeki -trkfe, Fars(-a,Arabfa,
their medreses for many centuries, but Rasid Efendi Yazmalar Katalogu. Hazirlayan Ali Riza Karabulut. Kayseri,
KUtuphanesi is remarkable for being housed in the 1982. [Back cover title in English:] A Catalogou [sic] Thrkish,
first specially designed library building in Kayseri. It Persian, Arabic Manuscripts in Kayseri Rdlid Efendi Library,
was built and funded as a charitable public institution Turkey. The publisher is unstated but is presumably the
(vakf) in 1211/ 1796 by Mehmed Rapid (1 167-1212/ library itself.
1753-1798), a local man who had risen to the rank of 572 At a quick reading I noticed the following (numbers are
re3Ts d-kiittdb, the Ottoman Minister of Foreign catalogue item numbers; T, P. A = Turkish, Persian and
Arabic sections respectively): T 38 = P 475; T 49 = P 359;
T 87 = P 377; T 250 = P 438; T 286 = P 473; T 324= P 502;
569 Out of a total of 1508 MSS, according to Thrkiye Katup- P 386 = A 1911. Most likely also T 104 = A 735 (Kirdneb~i=
haneleri Rehberi (1957), p. 170. The same figure was given Gerebeni~i.Topkapi Sarayi Turkish catalogue is also confused
in 1970 by Mujgdn Cunbur (TKDB, XIX, p. 9). as to its transcription: text Gerebeni~i (no. 291), index the
570 Pp. 29-31 of the Liste of Manisa (see note 560, above). same, and also Kerbeneqiand Kerbeni~i).
item is inserted under a number followed by b. (e.g., these very same MSS are noted.578 Since the vast
258/b). Many item numbers include several copies of majority of Turkish entries are not duplicated in this
a single work573and quite a number of single physical way elsewhere, we are deprived of information which
volumes contain more than one work.574 should and could have been given. In the Turkish
In his introduction, the compiler explains that his section the age of undated MSS is rarely estimated, but
work is modelled on the "Index Catalogue of Turkish it is sometimes done in the Persian.
MSS in the Suleymaniye Library"in Istanbul (described Users of this catalogue should realize that the Arabic
above, section 5, p. 477). In fact his work is a little section of the work also contains items which could
more detailed and informative than the Stleymaniye's, equally have been placed in the Turkish section but
though it too remains, in principle, an index rather were not. They include MSS with interlinear trans-
than a catalogue in the full sense. lations in Turkish.579
The MSS are described in three consecutive sections. Although a little Arabic printing type was used (for
The Turkish one, which was prepared first575is some- titles only) in the Suleymaniye's printed Index Cata-
what less informative than the Persian and Arabic logue, such a luxury is obviously not available in
ones that follow.576Some of the basic elements which Kayseri where this book was printed, and the compilers
the author expressly lists in the introduction as his used only transcription into Latin characters. In spite
cataloguing "method" are often absent from the of some inconsistency it is quite well done. One
Turkish section while they are included in the other Anatolian dialect feature, however, constantly appears.
sections. Karabulut lists 15 items of information that The letter qdf is more often than not transcribed g
he wished to include in each entry:577(1) title; (2) date intervocalically, when in Arabic loan words: Hadigat
of composition or translation; (3) author's names, (128, 129), Hagdytk (but also Hakaytk, both 126),
birth and death dates; (4) subject; (5) library call Vdgia-Ndme (326). 0 is often used for initial as well
number; (6) number of folios; (7) lines per page; as medial gayn (e.g., Carlb-Name, 116, yet Gubdri,
(8) columns per page (if poetry); (9) dimensions of 168), as well as for 'ayn preceded by i (e.g. igrab col.
page; (10) dimensions of written area; (11) style of 8; but also icrdb 771).
script; (12) copyist; (13) HijrTdate and place of copy- Karabulut's choice of entry element for author's
ing; (14) short note about the book; (15) bibliogra- name is generally predictable and good: the tajallus is
phical reference to the work. Even when information chosen when available.
is easily available from the MS or a reference book, the The most glaring defect in the catalogue is the
Turkish section often fails to give details on some or absence of any author index. It is difficult now to
all of items 2, 10, 11, 12 and 13. As an instance one determine, without one, which of an author's works
might consider MSS Rasid Ef. Eki 892/1 and Rasid Ef. are present in Rd~id Papa Kutuphanesi. Even if one
1029. When cited in the Turkish section (item 4a) no knows all the works of an individual author, idio-
dates of the two copies, nor of script style, are given; syncracies in the form of the book title entered by
yet in the Persian section (item 359) precise copy dates Karabulut may conceal a work. (Some are entered
(972, and 20 RebTcI 978), and script style (taclik) of under Kitab ... !)
The only index in this book is one of subject, but
573 E.g., 93, 105, 108, 114, 119, 124, 125, 128 and many the classification is so broad and vague as to be of
more. very limited practical use. It contains a restricted
574 The number of physical volumes of Mss in 1957 totalled number of general headings such as "literature,""juris-
1383: Turkish 322. Arabic 907, Persian 154 (Thrkive Kutiup- prudence," etc., followed by a list of item numbers,
haneleri Rehberi, p. 162). Fuat Sezgin noted a total of 1598 not book titles. The "literature"heading alone consists
(GAS VI, p. 451). Several donations of MSS to the library are of a list of 299 numbers, not subdivided in any way.
recorded in Karabulut's introduction, cols. 25-26. The brief notes following the description of many
57 Onsoz. of the MSS are remarkably useful, considering the
576 The compiler's transcription of titles and authors of MSS paucity of reference books available to the compiler
in Persian and Arabic is based on Turkish pronunciation,
not on the "scientific system" commonly used in Turkish 578 Other examples: Turkish item 286 = Persian 473. The
scholarly literature, such as isdim Ansiklopedisi or the description in the Persian section adds date of composition,
Topkapi Palace Library's catalogues of Persian and Arabic subject, script style, name of copyist, date of copy-all
manuscripts. details which are omitted from the Turkish section.
577 Col. 44. 579 E.g., items 781, 1189, 2209.
(listed in column 43). Katib Celebi's Kashf al-Zunun MSS in Kayseri. It will be a happy day when we can
(Keof) and its continuation (;eyl) by ismd'5I Papa say the same about many more of the numerous
BagdadT,and then BursalhThhir's 'Osmdnll Muiellfiferi uncatalogued collections in Turkey.
are cited most often; much less common are references
to the catalogues of MSS in Topkapi Saray, Istanbul 30. Edirne. Selimiye Ii Halk Kutuphanesi (Selimiye
University Library and Mevlana Muzesi in Konya. Library)
Users of Karabulut's catalogue should also be aware
of occasionally serious errors in alphabetization. Some- There were apparently 174 Turkish MSS in the Seli-
times this is clearly due to the influence of a file in the miye in 1957.586 There is no printed catalogue, but in
Arabic script.580 1979 Gunay Kut described 61 Turkish Mss: 25 of them
Before Karabulut, 64 MSS from the Radid Efendi excellently and in some detail, and a further 36 more
Library had appeared in one of the Listes issued in summarily from the fiches kept in the library.587
honour of the International Congress of Orientalists
in 1951581 Of these, 10 MSS are marked as in Turkish.582 31. Adnana. Ramazanoglu Kutuphanesi (Ramazan-
The entries are in alphabetical order of titles (using a oglu Library)
"scholarly transcription"), in which the title entry
element may be different than that chosen by Karabu- There is no printed catalogue yet, but an internal
lut, or the description contains details omitted by him, defter (register) in call-number order lists all the MSS,
such as script and style name of copyist;583and estimate though in no logical sequence. The vast majority of
of copy date.584 Six Turkish MSS from the Rapid the 1162 MSS588 are in Arabic, some of them of con-
library are briefly described in an article by Ramazan siderable age. The few in Persian are mostly standard
$e~en,585 supplying a few details which are not in Ottoman text books, such as commentaries on Sa'dT's
Karabulut: three of the six have differences in title, Gulistdn, or on the Divdn of Hafiz. About 10% to
none of which are looked after by cross-references in 15% seem to be in Turkish. In the defter, the column
either $eqen or Karabulut. headings are: (a) call number, (b) title, (c) author or
In spite of the various shortcomings in Karabulut's translator, (d) copyist, (e) language of the work,
catalogue, it is still a work for which one must be very (f) date, and (g) foliation. Items (c) and (d) are con-
grateful. For the first time we have at our disposal a fusingly and inconsistently interpreted, so that the
fairly complete index to the important collection of copyist's name is sometimes entered as the author or
translator, and authors' names and book titles are
580 The poetic DTvdns include Sabit's (no. 54) between frequently misread589 or not recognized even when
those of Behi~ti [or Bihi~tf?] and Cazim; and we find clearly written in the book.590 We may perhaps expect
sequences of Sabri, Aziz, Fasih Dede, Fuzfili, Fehim, (64- a printed catalogue in a few years. At the time of my
68); Yahya and Hudayi (74-76); Tarih-i Kamanive, Tarigat visit in July 1981 1 was told that all MSS from number
[sic] -i Muhammediyye, Tarih-i Muhtasar, Ta'rif (291-295).
U'lne liste des manuscrits choisis parmi les bibliotheques
de Ka'seri, Ak~ehir, Bor, Gildehri, Nev~ehir, Nigde, Orgiup. 586 Tiirki'e KWiiphaneleri Rehberi (1957), p. 132.
Istanbul, Milli Egitim Basimevi, 1951. 587 G. Kut, "Edirne-Selimiye Kutuphanesinde Turkce yaz-
582Items 1, 4, 10, 12, 17, 18, 22, 23, 35, 62. malar uzerine," Journal of Turkish Studies/TtJBA, 3 (1979),
583E.g., MS 1322. Karabulut: Kitabu'l-Ezkdr(no. 186); Liste: pp. 259-272.
588
al-Adhkar (no. 1). The Liste supplies the additional informa- The 1967 statistics cited by M. Cunbur, "Yazma kutu-
tion that it was copied by "Mustafa b. Farhad" in "nesh" phanelerimiz" (TKDB XIX, no. 1, 1970, p. 8) mentioned
script style. 1171, but my examination of the Ramazanoglu Library's
584 E.g., MS 1262. Karabulut (no. 56), no date; Liste (no. handwritten "Yazma Kitaplar Defteri" showed that nos.
18), 10th century. 1163-1171 were not MSS but lithograph editions. The defter's
585 Ramazan 5e~en, "Turkiye kutuphanelerinde bulunan nos. 1172-1234 are also lithographs. The final number
bazi nadir Turkve yazmalar,"in Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat explains the figure of 1234 MSS claimed in Tirkilve Kuitp-
Fakultesi Tarih Enstitiisu Dergisi, sayi 9 (1978), pp. 373-404. haneleri Rehberi in 1957 (p. 105).
The following items are Radid Mss: 16 (2 works, the first 589 E.g., MSS 385 evliya instead of dla;399,
Edebiv'at for
under Risale-i kavanin, as compared with Karabulut's ebl'Jt; 434, "Israilsoti"for IsraTlISivasT.
Kavanin); 34 (under title Terceme-i 'avarif =Karabulut's 590
E.g., MS 445, Edeb hedivesine teekkiir instead of In~d-i
Avariff... tercurnesi);74; 77; 95 (Dustiur-i Ripizi). mergkib-icedTd.
700 and beyond had been sent to Ankara for cata- showed 2215 Islamic MSS in the city's library, without
loguing. a breakdown by language; in 1957, as many as 3001
There are considerable numbers of interesting MSS. were claimed, of which 1321 were in Turkish.594In a
The famous biographical work on NaqshbandTshaikhs, 1979 article Onder GoVgiindescribed 50 of the Turkish
Rashahdt 'aCvn al-hayat, composed in Persian by $SfT MSS in a very amateurish fashion, with short citations
(d. 939/ 1532-33), was translated into Turkish in (mostly of well-known verses) rendered into the Latin
993/1585 by Mehmed Ma'riif 'Ariff, and the large alphabet.595The entries are arranged alphabetically by
number of MSS in many libraries, and several printed title, with entry words not always well chosen, e.g.,
and lithographed editions, testify to the popularity of under the letter K for "Kitab-i 4erh-i Cezeri." Brief
'Ariff's work. Adana MS 434 (entered in the defter as accounts of a few Turkish MSS were included in
Menakib-i ulema by "Israilsoti") is in fact, quite a Ramazan $eqen's 1966 article on some Diyarbakir
different Turkish translation of SafT'swork. I did not MSS.596
notice the translator's name, but the colophon (fol.
220) states that this translation was completed in 33. Other Anatolian Collections
$evval 1011/1603, and that this copy by the preacher
(iatfb) Isrd'll us-Slvasi, was finished in 1029/1620. In the foregoing pages, only some the the manuscript
The MS has lost its first portion and starts at ra&ha15. collections in Turkey are surveyed. The concentration
Arabic-Turkish dictionaries include MS 202, drafted has been on those that I have visited at some time in
(?, tesvTd)by isma'll b. Kara (or Kar?) in 985/ 1577;59' the past 20 years. These include most of the big ones,
and an anonymous one (MS 290), copied by Vell b. and quite a number of the smaller ones. Nevertheless,
Mehmed; and an early copy of the anonymous Mirkat many other small libraries in Turkey which possess
ul-lugdt (MS 206) copied by 'Abdiilkadir b. Ibrahim MSS have not been described in this article, although a
in 946/ 1539 40.592 There is also an 18th century MS little information on some has been published here
(no. 387) of the rather rare Hi/yet il-envdr, odes to and there. Almost none have printed catalogues and
the Prophet, by Stileyman Nahlff (d. 1151/ 1738). even basic statistics of their MSS are generally not
The Ramazanoglu Library was moved in the 1970s available. The reader is again referred to the limited
from the previous early 20th century municipal building and often outdated and erroneous data in the general
to splendid new specially-built quarters in the modern works cited in the first sections of this article, and in
"Cultural Center" (Kultur Sitesi). This has been a particular to the Tirkiye Kutuphaneleri Rehberi
disaster for the MSS, for they are now kept in a dark (1957);597 and to Mujgan Cunbur's article "Yazma
and totally airless upper room where the dank humidity kiituphanelerimiz" (1970)598 which mentions gross
typical of Adana is visibly ruining them. It is painful manuscript statistics (some from 1967, some from
to see so many good MSS, many of them hundreds of 1957) for many small libraries all over Turkey without
years old, now smelling of rot, with their pages stuck indicating how many of the MSS are Turkish. Many of
together because of the awful physical conditions. If these collections have since been sent to Ankara or
urgent measures are not taken soon, in a very few
years the MSS will be beyond saving. 594 Tirkiye Kiutphaneleri Rehberi, p. 131.
595 0. Gb~gUn, "Diyarbakir KiutuphanesPindekiTurkce
32. Diyarbakir. Ii Halk Kutuphanesi (Diyarbakir
yazma eserler uizerinde ara~tirmalar"in [Erzurum] Ataturk
Province Library)
Universitesi Ishimi 11imlerFakultesi Dergisi, 3. sayl, fasikul
This ancient city, also known as Amid, was the 1-2. Ankara (1979), pp. 191-238. Of these 50 descriptions,
home town of many people who were influential in 26 are repeated almost verbatim in the same author's article
Islamic and Turkish culture. The 1967 statistics593 "Diyarbakir Kutuphanesi'ndeki bazi Turkce el-yazmasi edebi
eserler" in Birinci Milli Thrkoloji Kongresi (Istanbul, 6-9
'9' In the list it is mistitled Lugat-i
laff, because of the $ubat 1978): Tebligler [organized by Istanbul tUniversitesi
phrase Ismd'aT b. Kar(a?) al-muhtdc ila rahmet Rabbih Edebiyat Fakultesi Turkiyat Enstitusu]. Istanbul, Kervan
il-lailff Yayinlari, 1980, pp. 127-152. The only additional MS is
592 Cf. the Berlin catalogue Turkische Handschriften, Ti. 5 described on pp. 142-143.
(Sohrweide), no. 194. 596 R. $e~en, "Diyarbakir Kutuphanesinde bulunan bazi
593 Noted as such by M. Cunbur, "Yazma kdtuphaneleri- yazmalar," in Aragtirma (Ankara) no. 4 (1966), pp. 193-227.
miz. .. ." TKDB, XIX, no. 1 (1970), pp. 8-9, and repeated 597 See above, p. 466.
as "neue Liste" by Sezgin, GAS VI (1978), p. 432. 598 Idem and note 337.
Istanbul to be preserved in larger collections. Caution repository of such MSS.599 It was formed by the amalga-
should be exercised in interpreting these statistics. mation of seven small libraries in 1829 and contains
Collections in small towns in Anatolia which were about 1600 MS volumes in Arabic, Turkish and Persian.
cultural centres a few centuries ago may contain (Statistics by language are not provided.) 99 of those
extremely rare and important MSS,which some passing considered to be of particular interest are described by
scholars may notice and perhaps even record in learned Parmaksizoglu in a single sequence, arranged alpha-
journals. Such discoveries are being made all the time. betically by book title. About 47 of them are in
While Turkish MSSfrom the 7th/ 13th and 8th/ 14th Turkish, 37 in Arabic and 15 in Persian. (The author
centuries are found in limited quantities, Arabic MSS, often failed to note the language explicitly.) It is
many copied in the 6th/ 12th, 5th/i1th centuries and probable that a very high proportion of the collection's
even earlier lie, in large numbers, in libraries great Turkish MSS was selected for description there.
and small all over Turkey. In addition, private collec- The Turkish MSS cited cover a far wider range of
tions of old families are likely to contain many as yet subjects than the usual medrese texts. The largest
"unknown" MSS.A steady trickle of these finds its way groups are poetry (about 16, of which 7 are poetic
into Turkish public collections by direct gift or pur- dTvdns) and biography (the latter some 10 works,
chase. Other manuscripts are acquired by booksellers, including 3 of the Prophet). The descriptions of the
who sometimes go on buying trips into Anatolia. MSS (pp. 15-42) are essentially narrative in form, and
They are also lively watchers of the obituary notices information on the contents is uneven but mostly
in newspapers, and there is keen competition amongst minimal: title, author's name and dates (if known),
dealers to acquire the books and MSSassembled by sometimes incipit or explicit (and date of copy, copyist,
recently deceased scholars and the heads of aristocratic and previous ownership if actually on the Ms). The
old Turkish families. subject, number of folios and size of pages are not
shown, yet care is taken to describe purely physical
34. Conclusion: Turkey details, such as the material of the binding and the
color of the ink.
As unrecorded MSSall over Turkey are catalogued As far as can be judged, the Turkish MSS are of
in the coming decades, we may look forward to major limited importance, with only a few exceptions. Three
discoveries which could lead to dramatic advances in may be cited: the DTvdn of Sari Kemal (=Kemal-i
many areas of Turkish and Islamic studies. The rapid fmmT) copied in 858/ 1454, during his lifetime; a rare
achievement of such objectives depends in large DTvdnof Hakani, in a copy dated 976/ 1568;600and a
measure on good scholarly cataloguing of the MSS.As fairly old MS (from 909/ 1503) of the Husrev u 5TrTnby
this survey will have shown, with only a few notable 5eyb! (d. ca. 834/ 1430). The 99 Cyprus MSS described
exceptions Turkish manuscript cataloguers have not by Parmaksizoglu included dated MSS as follows: 1
yet risen to the challenge. It is our fervent hope that from the 15th century, 6 each from the 16th and 17th
their future success will match the great importance centuries, and a majority from the 18th. By contrast,
and opportunities of the task. there are many old Arabic mss; the oldest dated one
was copied in 595/ 1199, almost 4 centuries before the
CYPRUS
Turkish conquest.60'
35. Kibris Sultan II. Mahmud Kutuphanesi (Sultan 599 Ismail Parmaksizoglu, Kibris Sultan Ikinci Mahmud
Mahmud II Library) Kutuphanesi. Ankara, 1964. (Turk Kutuphaneciler Dernegi
yay.)
The Ottomans ruled Cyprus for more than 300 600 Mehmed H1akan (d. 1015/1606), the author of the
years (1571-1878). Since then the Turkish minority famous Hilye, also wrote a Divan, of which only a few
on the island has continued to maintain close links copies are extant; see Istanbul Kitaplhklari Thrkfe Yazma
with the Turks in the Turkish Republic. The only Divanlar Kataloku, cilt 2 (1959), pp. 230-231. The beginnings
important description of Islamic MSSin Cyprus takes of these MSS are different from that of the Cyprus Ms;
the form of a 1964 booklet by the mainland bibliog- whether the author of the latter is the same person must
rapher Ismail Parmaksizoglu, outlining the history await further study.
and contents of the collection in the Sultan Mahmud 601 Mu mal al-lughah by Ahmad b. Faris b. Zakariya al-
II library in Lefko~e/Nicosia, now the island's sole QazwTnT(d. 395/1004), in a copy dated 595/1199 (p. 33).
36. Conclusion to parts 1-5 of this series 4) a lot of money must be assigned to printing and
publishing, in the full realization that scholarly produc-
This survey has shown that between 1960 and 1983, tions of this kind cannot be self-supporting, still less
many previously unknown or unlisted Turkish MSS "commercially viable," and that the purpose of the
have been recorded in some fashion, varying from full catalogue will be defeated unless the subsidy is big
cataloguing in the great tradition established in the enough to allow sale at a price within the financial
19th century by the likes of Rieu and Ahlwardt at one reach of today's impecunious scholars and poverty-
end of the spectrum, to miserable scraps of information stricken libraries.
sometimes so vague or erroneous as to be only slightly Since every one of these items is in short supply,
better than nothing, at the other. compromises seem inevitable. Without the first item
The fact that productions like the fine new Berlin on the list, however, nothing worthwhile can be
catalogues of Flemming, Gotz and Sohrweide have achieved
appeared in our day show that excellence is not an Nowadays, no new Columbus is needed to re-
unattainable ideal. However four conditions must be discover America. The route to successful Turkish
met: cataloguing is known and tried, if only people would
1) well-trained, meticulous and self-disciplined schol- follow it. From now on, anyone cataloguing Turkish
ars are essential; MSS anywhere, should have access to the Berlin cata-
2) they must have access to ample reference books; logue. It is to be hoped that its forthcoming volumes
3) they must be allowed the time to work carefully will incorporate some of the suggestions for improve-
without the pressure to catalogue in quantity; and ment indicated in Part I of this article (JAOS 103.2,
finally 1983, pp. 413-420). If cataloguers could be persuaded
to try to imitate its virtues, catalogue standards would
improve immeasurably. Unfortunately the price per
volume is so high that those who need it most are
least likely to have access to it. If a patron of learning
Other old dated MSS are: Muhtasar al-S1rah by 'Alad' al-Din could be found (whether a private individual, a govern-
AbH 'Abdallah Mughaltdy (Mogoltdy), copied in 616/1219, ment or a charitable foundation) to bear the cost of
and checked against the autograph (p. 33); Sharh Mukhtasar distributing gratis the Turkish, Arabic and Persian
al-Qudiir7 of Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Baghdadd (d. 474/ volumes of the VOHD catalogues (Verzeichnis der
1081), in a copy of 632/1234 (p. 37); the famous dictionary Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland) to all
al-Sihdh of al-JawharT(d. 393/1002), copied in 633/1235-36 libraries with Islamic MSS above all to those with
(p. 35); and Miftdh al-culum by SakkakT(d. 623/1229) in a uncatalogued material a dramatic change for the
copy made in "Qdshghdr"(sic) in 662/ 1264 from the original better might begin. Within a generation Turcologists
autograph (p. 32). might realistically contemplate the possibility of an
Parmaksizoglu devotes a comparatively long description International Union Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts,
to an old MS in "Arabic naskh," labelled Tarjamat kitib al- which would become a basic research tool for those
Tawrah, an Arabic translation of the first six books of the working in many fields of Turkish and Islamic studies.
Bible (Pentateuch and Joshua, p. 40). An early marginal Even then progress would probably be slow: fa-sabrun
note records its sale near Cordova (Qurtubah), Spain. jamTlun(Surah 12:18). Patience is still essential.

Birnbaum, Eleazar - Turkish Manuscripts 5 - Turkey & Cyprus

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Turkish Manuscripts: Cataloguing since 1960 and Manuscripts Still Uncatalogued, Part 5:

Turkey and Cyprus

1. Introduction ................................................ 466

* Earlier articles in this series have

TURKEY"' Bibliotheques de Turquie.336It is based on a question-

is delayed much longer. 357 See idem.

theques d'Istanbul conservant des manuscrits. Notice pra-

M. Alpay in Istanbul Kutuphaneleri, p. 67. note 365 below.

6 Ataturk (including Belediye) 3200 6520 (B); 6543 (K)

arasindaki 17., 18., 19. Yazyil Manzum Eserlerin Katalogu.

Katalogu." Eserler ve Mesneviler. The 13-page list seems to have been

his article, cited above, note 344.

473 Rebic 1 989/ 1581 (Ms 47). 486 MS 285.

treatises on Europe," in Iran and Islam ... In memory of

563 MS 1296. 174 folios. Vocalized. Title on ff. 5a, line 5,

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