Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / J. Schmidt -- Introduction / J. Schmidt -- Part One. The Turkish Collection / J. Schmidt -- Part Two. Turkish Manuscripts In Other Collections (Arabic, Chetham, Gaster And Persian) / J. Schmidt -- Index / J. Schmidt.

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During the six hundred years of its existence, innumerable of manuscripts with, mostly, Turkish texts were produced in the Ottoman Empire. These are mainly preserved in libraries in the countries that once were part of that extended empire; a lesser number of such manuscripts had their origin in central Asia, Persia and India. From the sixteenth century in particular, interest for these handwritten books increased in Europe and found their way to the libraries of scholars, book collectors and universities. The John Rylands University Library is one such repository of Turkish manuscripts of both Ottoman and wider Asian provenance. Most of these manuscripts, among which a number of unique, rare and luxuriously produced items, were originally gathered by a rich mine owner, the 25th Earl of Crawford. In this book, the collection is for the first time described in a detailed and systematic way.