The Manuscript Collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies of Sarajevo

Abstract

The Institute of Oriental Studies of Sarajevo, founded in 1950, assumed, among other tasks, the duty to collect, keep, study, and publish literary and historical materials in Oriental languages (Arabic, Persian and Turkish). On that occasion, the manuscript holdings of the Library of the Land Museum of Sarajevo were singled out and transferred to the Institute of Oriental Studies. In that way the newly-founded Institute obtained 3475 numbers of various manuscript works written in Oriental languages. The Institute of Oriental Studies later bought up another 1375 manuscripts, mostly from private persons from various parts of the country, so that today the manuscript holdings amount to 4850 numbers. For all of these manuscripts there have been established inventory books which include basic information on manuscript works (title of work, name of author, data of copies, etc.) and serve as an internal catalog and basis for further work on making catalogs based on modern scholarly principles and along the lines of the disciplines represented in the collection.

The authors of this article, Salih Trako and Lejla Gazić, have presented here a review of this manuscript collection, classifying the works in twenty main scholarly disciplines according to their contents. Reviewing the collection, the authors especially emphasized only those works which particularly stand out owing to some of their features. These are in the first place autographs, works which appeared seven, eight, or even nine centuries ego, as well as works which appeared on our soil.

The task of the authors in this article has been to acquaint the readers, especially those dealing with Oriental studies, with this rich treasury of our cultural heritage.