172 



LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR CARLYLE 



from this, have each of them six windows, three above and as many 

 below. So small an apartment cannot but be rendered extremely 

 light by this great number of windows, and perhaps this effect is not 

 a little increased by the gloom of the mosque, and the darkness of 

 the anti-room which leads to it. The book cases, four of which 

 stand in each of the three recesses are plain but neat. They are 

 furnished with folding wire-work doors, secured with a padlock and 

 the seal of the librarian. The books are laid upon their sides one 

 above another, with their ends outwards, and having their letters 

 written upon the edges of the leaves. Your Lordship may imagine 

 I lost no time in examining the treasures inclosed in this celebrated 

 repository, and the disposition of the books greatly facilitated my 

 inquiries. I am very certain that there was not one volume which I 

 did not separately examine ; but I was prevented by the jealousy of 

 the Moulahs who accompanied me from making out a detailed 

 catalogue of the whole. I continued however to take an account of 

 all the writers on history and general literature, and I hope by means 

 of a present to procure an accurate list of the remainder. The 

 whole number of MSS. in the library amounts to 1294, much the 

 greatest part of which are Arabic, these are however most of the 

 best Persian and Turkish writers, but alas, not one volume in Greek, 

 Hebrew, or Latin ! The following is a short summary of my inves- 

 tigation, and contains a general statement of the number of books 

 in the library, classed according to their different subjects, viz. 



Copies of the Koran - • - 17 



Commentaries on ditto - - - 143 



Collections of Tradition relative to Mahomet - 182 



Treatises on Mahomedan Jurisprudence - 324 



On Logic - - - - 95 



On Mystical Subjects - - - 47 



On Philosophy - - - 86 



On Physic - - - - 31 



On Grammar - - - - 192 



