The SLUB Dresden’s manuscript collection contains over 448 Islamic manuscripts (196 Ottoman, 184 Arabic, 68 Persian). Following clashes with the Ottomans in the Balkan region, these manuscripts arrived in Europe and were acquired in the 18th and 19th centuries from collections of nobility and scholarly estates. In the 19th century, a large number of Tibetan (438) and Mongolian (58) manuscripts were purchased. Other Oriental manuscripts, i.e. Chinese (18), Japanese (3), Indonesian (9), Sanskrit (1), Hebraic (10) and Ethiopian (4), were bestowed upon the library by private persons.

Oriental manuscripts in the Digital Collections of the SLUB

Extraordinary Volumes

• Kitab-i Dede Korkut (Mscr.Dresd.Ea.86): The only fully preserved manuscript narrating national epic of the Oguzes, a nomadic Turkish tribe. Further information
• Mulana Fuzûli, Benk u Bâde (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.362): An Ottoman poem, written on rose paper, narrating a dispute about rank between wine and hash (cannabis).
• Kemāl Paša-Zāde: Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.391): The story of the Ottomans in a two-volume manuscript with 25 depictions of cities, fortifications and harbor facilities.
• Seyyid Loqmān, Qiyā-fet al-insānīyeh fī shemā’il othmanīyeh (Mscr.Dresd.Eb.373): Book of the Ottoman Characteristics, containing 12 portraits of Turkish sultans.
• Machsor mecholl haschana (Mscr.Dresd.A.46.a): Jewish prayer book for the High Holidays, in Southern German handwriting from the end of the 13th century. Further information

The Ottoman, Arabic and Persian manuscripts are listed in the "Qalamos" portal.
The Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, Hebraic, and Ethiopian manuscripts as well as a part of the Indonesian manuscripts are catalogued in the "Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland" (Index of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany, VOHD; Wiesbaden / Stuttgart 1961ff.).