1 XXViii INTRODUCTION. 



The notes are on unique, rare, and valuable MSS., on old 

 MSS. written in or before the 9th century a.h., on autographs, 

 copies of autographs, and such copies as bear sufficient testi- 

 mony to their correctness, on MSS. written by eminent scholars 

 or calligraphers , or bearing notes of Emperors, Kings or dis- 

 tinguished personages, on highly illuminated MSS., and works 

 not noticed by Brocklemann in his Geschichte der Arabischen Lit- 

 teratur. Each notice contains the title of the work , name of the 

 author, date of his death, date of composition of the work, 

 subject-matter, the beginning and state of preservation of the 



MS., nature of hand- writing, date of transcription and the name 

 of the scribe. 



The contents of the libraries visited by the Mawlavl have 

 not been fully examined. Much remains to be done. Besides 

 the principal libraries, only a few of which the Mawlavl has 

 visited, there are many small libraries, where valuable MSS. are 

 stored away, which require to be inspected. 



Remarks or criticisms on the notices themselves or of their 

 arrangement are invited, and will be thankfully acknowledged, 

 and suggestions for the improvement of the arrangement and 

 classification will receive due attention. 



The system of transliteration adopted in the following 

 pages is that recommended by the Royal Asiatic Society with 

 the slight variations indicated below :— - 



A = t 



S = d 



•^ mm 



u° = s 

 o* = d 



i = i 



is = ay 



•ft 



j = aw 



List of Abbreviations. 



A. S. B. = Asiatic Society of Bengal. 

 Ah. ~ Ahmad. 



A. = <Abd al- 

 Ar. a Arabic 



Br. Mus. Suppi. ^ British Museum Supplement. 

 Brock = Brocklemann's Geschichte der Ar. Litt. 

 Bodl. Lib. Cat. = Bodleian Library Catalogue. 



B. = Bin, Ibn (son of). 



Berl. m Berlin Arabischen Handschriften, Ahiwardt 

 b. = Born. 



