A descriptive catalogue of the historical manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian languages, preserved in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland / by William H. Morley.

  • Morley, William H. (William Hook), 1815-1860.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A descriptive catalogue of the historical manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian languages, preserved in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland / by William H. Morley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    to form a tolerable estimate as to the extent of a work. I have also departed from the practice too often observed in catalogues in describing the external appearance and the exaration of MSS. The main points to he remarked are, the species and degree of legibility of the handwriting, the state of a MS. when damaged, the existence of lacuna?, and the misplacing of leaves by the binder. The elaborate notices of the illuminations, the gold and red and blue lines, the silk paper, &c., &c., with which works of the present nature are generally overloaded, seem to me to be so much space wasted, and should, I think, be abandoned to the tradesman who seeks to give a false value to his goods by bombastic description. If, therefore, I have at any time adverted to a volume as “ beautifully written,” or “ finely illuminated,” it must be understood as denoting that such volume presents a peculiarly good specimen of caligraphy or ornament. The names of the donors are added at the end of the description of each MS. Notwithstanding every care, I fear that several errors of the press have escaped my observation.1 The multitude of proper names and dates2 occurring in the text render it very diffi- cult, if not impracticable, to avoid oversights; and, had it not been for the kind revision of the last proofs, by my friend Mr. Charles Rieu, of the British Museum, and for which I tender him my best thanks, the typographical faults would have been still more numerous than at present. January, 1854. W. H. M. 1 I trust that few will be found to be of importance. I have added a table of errata to call the reader’s attention to the graver faults, but I have not thought it necessary to notice the occasional omission of accents and such like inadvert- encies. Even these, however, I believe, are not of frequent occurrence. 2 I may here mention that in converting the years of the Hijrali into those of our own tera, Prinsep’s tables have been followed; the year of our Lord given being that in which the Hijrah year commenced.