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with Malay or Arabic originals than the poetic versions. As a rule, all Javanese his torical and belletristic text written in the Pasisir period, and after, are in macapat verse. Prose texts are an exception (see 00040). Unless the prose form of a text is stated, all books which are registered in the following paragraphs must be assumed to contain texts in verse. In religious communities Javanese Anbiya texts were read as edifying literature. As a rule Arabic script was used, and as a con sequence the Javanese texts have not been handed down faultlessly. So it is impossible to ascertain when and where the first Java nese Anbiya texts were written. On account of the well-known historical fact of the origin of Islamic Javanese literature in the Pasisir districts, it seems safe to assume that the oldest Anbiya texts were written in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries in religious communities in North Coast towns, Surabaya, Grësik, Tuban, Dëmak, also Cërbon and Bantën. In the nineteenth century Anbiya texts in verse were published in Javanese script by local printers in Java (Tapël Adam, edited by Kramadiwirya, Batavia, 1859, and Sura karta, 1905). In the twentieth century a similar text written in Arabic script was printed by means of the lithographic pro cess in Bombay. Poerbatjaraka’sbook “Indo- ‘nesische Handschriften” (1950) contains descriptions and epitomes of Anbya texts in the KBG collection, Djakarta. In Poerba- tjaraka’s opinion (“Kapustakan Djawi”, 1952, p. 49) the well-known Surakarta Court poet Yasadipura also edited an Anbiya text. References to manuscripts containing An

biya or related texts are to be found in the General Index under the catchwords Anbiya, Tapël Adam and Carita Satus. The Carita Satus, a collection of one hundred edifying tales about the Prophets, has been registered in Part One, Religion (16.420), because the religious element is paramount in the book. 21.710 Sërat Anbiya, in prose: cod. NBS 41 (= 4046 = NBS 378), 6521. 21.700 Sërat Anbiya, in verse, West Java nese origin: cod. 6503, 7372, 7373, 7374, 7516, NBS 265. 21.730 Sërat Anbiya, in verse, Central Ja vanese or East Javanese origin: cod. 2002, 2118, 2161, 4043, 4044, 4045, 10.536 (= prtf 35, Tapël Adam), NBS 39, NBS 43/44, NBS 103, Utr. RUB Ind.St. Hs.l.D.12 (Creation). 21.740 Sërat Anbiya, in verse, East Java nese and Balinese origin: cod. 4041, 4042, 4915, 8497, 8964, 9042, Nst 17. 21.900 History of Moses in Egypt. Some tales from the Book of the Prophets have always arrested the attention of the pious: the history of Moses in Egypt, the life of Joseph and, of course, the life of Muhammad and all tales pertaining to him. In religious circles Javanese texts on these subjects were edifying reading-matter. For that reason the books could have been listed in Part One, Religion. On account of their close connection with the major Anbiya texts which have been discussed in 21.700, the lives of Moses and Muhammad are registered under the present and the next head of the present Part 1 wo,