customised search in secondary entries

Manuscript notes

In the manuscript notes module, reader and owner entries, annotations concerning the manuscript’s transmission, prices or private notes are collected in full text. All records of persons or events are linked to the datasets of the manuscripts.

This module represents a unique research tool by facilitating a more detailed insight into the provenance and usage history of a manuscript. Although the notes are often short and seemingly inconspicuous, usually consisting only of names and devotional formulas, they can nevertheless answer an astonishing number of questions. Which social classes did have access to books? How valuable were the manuscripts? Which titles met with particular interest? In addition, the entries also provide information on the age and transmission of individual manuscripts or even the development of entire libraries.

The data available in Qalamos were collected by Boris Liebrenz. Future manuscript notes will primarily be recorded in the database of the Bibiliotheca Arabica project of Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig. Via an interface to Bibliotheca Arabica, notes concerning manuscripts recorded in Qalamos will be updated and completed.

The manuscript notes are divided into the following categories:

• owner entry
• endowment entry
• transmission entry
• collation entry
• reader entry
• seller entry
• note of birth
• note of death
• miscellaneous