Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Austrian National Library and in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna

The Austrian National Library owns 170 valuable Persian manuscripts that it acquired between 1868 and 1994. They are texts concerning science, technology, religion, theology, literature, history, geography, miniatures and calligraphies. The collection of Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts acquired by the Court Library since the 16th and 17th century already contained around 2,050 oriental manuscripts by the middle of the 19th century, which were published in the complete catalogue by Gustav Flügel in 1865 and 1879. For the further 1,100 oriental manuscripts acquired subsequently, it was decided to catalogue them separately according to language. 1970 saw the publication of a catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts, while a catalogue of the Turkish manuscripts is currently in production in Ankara. The catalogue of Persian manuscripts has now been completed. With the exception of the 249 Arabic manuscripts from South Yemen in the Eduard Glaser collection, which are currently being restored, this means that the catalogue of oriental manuscripts in the Austrian National Library has been completed in 2004. A second part of the catalogue just published contains a description of 21 Persian manuscripts from the Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv that have been acquired since publication of Albrecht Krafft’s catalogue in 1843.