VI

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

For more than five years P. Voorhoeve's 'Handlist of Arabic Manuscripts' has been out of print, but the demand has continued. This would be sufficient reason to publish a reprint but there is more to be said. As Voorhoeve remarked in his Introduction (p.IX-X), the Handlist was not intended as a replacement of the old catalogues of Arabic manuscripts, nor could it be so for a new catalogue, 'which still remains an unpaid debt of Leiden Univer sity to its tradition of orientalism.' This reprint of the Handlist of 1957 is intended as a first move towards a new catalogue of the Arabic manus cripts in the library of the University of Leiden and other collections in the Netherlands, rather than another postponement of such a catalogue. Voorhoeve also remarked in his Introduction (p.IX) that '... Holland in the last half century has not produced a single Arabist qualified and at the same time willing to complete De Goeje's catalogue...', and his observa tion has proved to be true for almost another quarter of a century. This is now going to be changed. It is intended that an extensive catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the Netherlands will be published. In the initial phase, at least, this catalogue will be compiled by Mr. J. J. Witkam, at present keeper of Oriental manuscripts in the library of the University of Leiden. The publication will be realized along the following lines. Since 1957, the year Voorhoeve's Handlist was published, about 1300 Arabic MS volumes have been added to the holdings of the library of the University of Leiden, which contained already approximately 3000 Arabic MS volumes. In the intended catalogue the descriptions of the MSS will be presented in numerical order of their class-marks. This has the advantage that whenever a certain amount of descriptions has been completed, these can be published as a separate catalogue volume. The new catalogue will contain extensive descriptions of all Arabic MSS, both those already de scribed in the old catalogues and occasional publications, and the new ac quisitions. Every description will consist of three basic elements. These are: 1. Title, author, Identification and bibliographical reference. 2. A physical description of the MS. This will at least contain: number of pages, number of lines per page, kind of pagination, composition of the