are 208 pages which contain a conspectus of class-marks of the manus cripts mentioned in the Handlist, and a paleographical index. The conspec tus facilitates the finding of a manuscript if one has only the MS number or the serial number of one of the old catalogues at hand. E.g. C. Broc- kelmann in his 'Geschichte der arabischen Literatur' uses the serial num bers of CCO, and of CCA instead, if a description of the MS is contained therein. F. Sezgin, on the other hand, refers in his 'Geschichte des ara bischen Schrifttums' to the MS number, but has to refer at the same time to the relevant page in Voorhoeve's Handlist due to the lack of a number concordance. Others have used the various numbers which have become attached to the MSS in the course of time. Some order, we trust, will be created in this confusing situation by the publication of this conspectus. Another addition to the first edition of the Handlist is the paleographical index. Here all dated manuscripts are mentioned, and also part of the undated manuscripts with estimates by the century. Conspectus and paleo graphical index were compiled by Mrs. E.M. L. Andriessen-Lück in 1958- 1959. It was unavoidable that in huge work as Voorhoeve’s Handlist printing errors should creep in. The most significant of these are corrected in this second edition.

Leiden, 29 February 1980

J.R. de Groot Librarian

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