Alexandria Municipal Library’s collection occupies a central position for scholars and researchers in the fields of heritage. It comprises around 6 thousand manuscripts from different ages and on assorted sciences. Moreover, some volumes were transcribed almost a millennium ago such as Sahīh Muslim- ‘Sahīh (accurate corpus of Hadith) of Imam Muslim’ dated back to 386 H. In acknowledgement of the importance of Arab scientific heritage, this first volume of the Catalog of Alexandria Municipal Library covers the scientific manuscripts (on natural sciences, mathematics, astronomy and medicine) numbering 468. To name some of its rarities: a Turkish copy of al-Qānūn fī al-Tib- ‘Canon in Medicine’ by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna); al-Zīj al-Jāmi- ‘The Comprehensive Ephemeris’ by Kūšayyār al-Jīliy; an autograph of Sad al-Ādhān ‘ann Dhikr Šurb al-Dukhān –‘Blocking Ears from Speaking of Smoking’ written by Šihāb al-Dīn al-Nūbiy in 1037 H.; Hadyat al-Khalīl (Manzūma fī al-Hisāb)- ‘The Guide of the Friend’ (Treatise in verse on Arithmetic) written by al-Šibīniy in 1250 H.; Maqāla fī al-Naqras –– ‘Treatise on Gout’ by the eminent scholar al-Rāziy (Abū-Bakr Muhammad bin-Zakariyyā, d. 313 H.), transcribed in 595 H.; and others.

Number of pages: 408.

The General Organization of the Alexandria Library, 1996.