The UCLA Library is fortunate to steward a remarkably significant collection of Islamic manuscripts.
Consisting chiefly of codices carrying texts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish, covering particularly the fields of medicine, literature, philology, lexicography, theology, jurisprudence, history, philosophy, logic, mysticism and astrology and dating, UCLA's Islamic manuscript collection ranks among the most important such collections in North America. At approximately 8,000 volumes, the collection is the second largest in North America.
The bulk of the collection was acquired in the 1960s in distinct groups obtained via Istanbul, Aleppo, Kerman, Isfahan, and London. Significant acquisitions include Arabic and Turkish manuscripts gathered by the Aintabi bookselling agency of Aleppo, Arabic and Persian manuscripts from Kerman, and Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts collected by the Armenian physician Dr. Caro Owen Minasian (1897-1973).
Currently preserved under the auspices of Library Special Collections (Charles E. Young Research Library and Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library), the substantial collection is currently arranged in 20 different archival subcollections.
"Near East Collection." UCLA Librarian 7, no. 14 (April 1954): 79.
Ackerman, Page. "Retirement of Jeane Moore and Miriam Lichtheim." UCLA Librarian 27, no. 7-8 (July-August 1974): 40-41.
Donahue, Katherine D.S. and Dunning Wilson. "Near Eastern Medical Manuscripts." UCLA Librarian 44, no. 1 (1991): 26-29.
Ibish, Yusuf. “United States of America (1989).” In Geoffrey Roper, Ed. World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts (London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994): 542-543.
Martin, Thomas J. North American Collections of Islamic Manuscripts (Boston, MA: Hall, 1977), p.4.
Roman, Stephan. “The United States and Canada.” In The Development of Islamic Library Collections in Western Europe and North America (London: Mansell, 1990): 237-239.
Tietze, Andreas. "Turkish Icunabula and Other Early Works." UCLA Librarian 20, no. 4-5 (1967): 17-18.
The largest catalog was composed in Persian by Dr. Muhammad Taqi Danishpazhuh in two volumes. Others are listed below.
Important: When browsing Danishpazhuh, note the letter and number (e.g. M234) for each manuscript. The letter (M) denotes the collection, and the number (234) denotes the manuscript number. These are necessary to request the manuscript from the correct collection.
Two-volume catalog of UCLA collections produced by Danishpazhuh in Persian.
Volume 11 (download PDF here) covers Persian and Arabic manuscripts (including medical manuscripts).
Volume 12 (download PDF here) covers Turkish and Urdu manuscripts, as well as collective volumes (majmu'at) in Arabic, Persian, and other languages.
Arabic handlist of the Sami Assaad 'Aintabi Collection (Collection 833). This link requires UCLA VPN access.
Persian medical manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles: a descriptive catalogue / Lutz Richter-Bernburg (1978)
Most of the Arabic and Persian medical and scientific manuscripts from the previous two collections have been microfilmed. These have been digitized and are available here.