Arabic Manuscripts in the OLRC, Birmingham
Orchard Learning Resource Centre, Birmingham
The Mingana Collection of Oriental Manuscripts, kept in the Orchard Learning Resource Centre, comprises some 2,700 items acquired and brought to Birmingham by Dr. Alphonse Mingana.
Alphonse Mingana was born near Mosul in 1881, the son of Chaldean Christians. After teaching in Mosul, he went to England, where he spent the rest of his life. For seventeen years he worked on the staff of the John Rylands Library in Manchester and became Keeper of its Oriental manuscripts. On a trip to Beirut, Aleppo, Mosul, and Sulaimaniya, he bought twenty-two Arabic and some Syriac manuscripts, mainly for the Rylands Library. In 1925 he travelled to Damascus, Baghdad, and Mosul and added extensively to the Syriac collection. Finally he visited the Sinai peninsula and Upper Egypt in 1929, buying mostly Islamic Arabic manuscripts which he was able to acquire because of his unique knowledge of the churches, monasteries, and private houses where they were located. In addition, friends in the East, notably the Syrian Patriarch, helped him in his searches. In 1932, Mingana moved to Birmingham where he began cataloguing his acquisitions. In this work he was generously supported by Edward Cadbury. By the time of his death he had published two volumes cataloguing the Syriac and Christian Arabic manuscripts and a third, covering additional manuscripts of the same origin, was in press. In the introduction to the second volume he stated his intention of producing catalogues of the Islamic Arabic manuscripts, the Arabic papyriand coins, and finally of the small number of miscellaneous manuscripts (Greek, Hebrew, Persian etc.). He died, however, with his work uncompleted.
The Collection
The manuscripts in the collection are divided in two main sections:
• the Christian section includes some 620 well-known widely read Syriac manuscripts ( one of the larger collections in the country) and about 270 Arabic;
• the Islamic section has just under 1,700 volumes containing some 2,000 works.
The cataloguing of these was completed in 1960 and the final fascicle was published in 1963. Mingana had scarcely started the task when he died, and in 1938 Dr. H.L. Gottschalk was appointed to complete the cataloguing. When he left in 1948 to take up the chair of Arabic in Vienna, he had prepared material for two fascicles. The work was completed by Prof. A.F.L. Beeston, Prof. J.S. Trimingham, and Dr. D. Hopwood.
(For reference, see: Pearson, J.P., Oriental Manuscripts in Europe and North America, Zug, 1971. IDC. Pages 92 and 317.)
The Syriac Manuscripts
According to Mingana, almost every branch of Syriac literature is represented in this collection, which he considered to equal the combined collections of the national libraries of Paris and Berlin and to be greater than those of Oxford and Cambridge.
The description of the manuscripts in this collection is given in the catalogue.
• Volume 1 contains Mss. 1-606,
• Volume 2 has Mss. 607-622, and
• Volume 3 has Mss. Mingana Syriac 623-662. Volume 3 also contains a biographical sketch of Mingana by D.S. Margoliouth and a bibliography of his writings.
The Arabic Manuscripts
The description of the Islamic Arabic manuscripts is given in Volume 4 of the catalogue. Most of the branches of Islamic learning are covered. The Christian Arabic manuscripts number 272 - more than those in the British Museum.
Orchard Learning Resource Centre, Birmingham
The Mingana Collection of Oriental Manuscripts, kept in the Orchard Learning Resource Centre, comprises some 2,700 items acquired and brought to Birmingham by Dr. Alphonse Mingana.
Alphonse Mingana was born near Mosul in 1881, the son of Chaldean Christians. After teaching in Mosul, he went to England, where he spent the rest of his life. For seventeen years he worked on the staff of the John Rylands Library in Manchester and became Keeper of its Oriental manuscripts. On a trip to Beirut, Aleppo, Mosul, and Sulaimaniya, he bought twenty-two Arabic and some Syriac manuscripts, mainly for the Rylands Library. In 1925 he travelled to Damascus, Baghdad, and Mosul and added extensively to the Syriac collection. Finally he visited the Sinai peninsula and Upper Egypt in 1929, buying mostly Islamic Arabic manuscripts which he was able to acquire because of his unique knowledge of the churches, monasteries, and private houses where they were located. In addition, friends in the East, notably the Syrian Patriarch, helped him in his searches. In 1932, Mingana moved to Birmingham where he began cataloguing his acquisitions. In this work he was generously supported by Edward Cadbury. By the time of his death he had published two volumes cataloguing the Syriac and Christian Arabic manuscripts and a third, covering additional manuscripts of the same origin, was in press. In the introduction to the second volume he stated his intention of producing catalogues of the Islamic Arabic manuscripts, the Arabic papyriand coins, and finally of the small number of miscellaneous manuscripts (Greek, Hebrew, Persian etc.). He died, however, with his work uncompleted.
The Collection
The manuscripts in the collection are divided in two main sections:
• the Christian section includes some 620 well-known widely read Syriac manuscripts ( one of the larger collections in the country) and about 270 Arabic;
• the Islamic section has just under 1,700 volumes containing some 2,000 works.
The cataloguing of these was completed in 1960 and the final fascicle was published in 1963. Mingana had scarcely started the task when he died, and in 1938 Dr. H.L. Gottschalk was appointed to complete the cataloguing. When he left in 1948 to take up the chair of Arabic in Vienna, he had prepared material for two fascicles. The work was completed by Prof. A.F.L. Beeston, Prof. J.S. Trimingham, and Dr. D. Hopwood.
(For reference, see: Pearson, J.P., Oriental Manuscripts in Europe and North America, Zug, 1971. IDC. Pages 92 and 317.)
The Syriac Manuscripts
According to Mingana, almost every branch of Syriac literature is represented in this collection, which he considered to equal the combined collections of the national libraries of Paris and Berlin and to be greater than those of Oxford and Cambridge.
The description of the manuscripts in this collection is given in the catalogue.
• Volume 1 contains Mss. 1-606,
• Volume 2 has Mss. 607-622, and
• Volume 3 has Mss. Mingana Syriac 623-662. Volume 3 also contains a biographical sketch of Mingana by D.S. Margoliouth and a bibliography of his writings.
The Arabic Manuscripts
The description of the Islamic Arabic manuscripts is given in Volume 4 of the catalogue. Most of the branches of Islamic learning are covered. The Christian Arabic manuscripts number 272 - more than those in the British Museum.