Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

This digital collection comprises c.150 Arabic manuscripts produced in Yemen and belonging to the Zaydi tradition, a branch of Shi’ism. Most manuscripts date from the 17th to the mid-20th century. The manuscripts were acquired by Dutch consuls in the 1930s and afterwards through the antiquarian booktrade. The manuscripts were digitised in 2019 in partnership with The Zaydi Manuscript Tradition, a project coordinated by Professor Sabine Schmidtke (IAS, Princeton) and with the financial support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and other donors.