The Islamic Arabic Manuscripts of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo

Abstract This article presents a collection of some twenty-five Arabic manuscripts that were once acquired by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. Successive directors of the Institute may have aspired to build a large collection of such materials but this ambition was never realized. In 2011, it was decided that the manuscripts would be better housed in the National Library of Egypt, Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya, and a transfer was organized. The manuscripts cover a range of subjects, as the Institute did not maintain a clearly defined collection profile. There are a few religious texts, including one Qurʾān notable for its remarkable codicology, a number of texts on zoology, several major works on Arabic rhetorics, etc. The descriptions of these are published here for the first time. One portfolio containing archival materials was initially received by the National Library, subsequently transferred to the National Archives, and has since disappeared from view. Two manuscripts that were not transferred to the National Library and remain at the Institute are described in an appendix at the end of this article. The study concludes with indexes of titles, personal names, and “particular features”, mostly of a codicological nature. Most of the manuscripts described here have been made available online, with links provided at the end of each description.