A Preliminary Handlist of Manuscripts from the Library of al-Ashraf Qāytbāy

This article provides a preliminary handlist of manuscripts that were once owned by the late-Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qāytbāy (r. 1468–1496). For well over a hundred items currently scattered across the globe, it details the location, author, title, copyist and page length, as well as the link to Qāytbāy. Introducing the list are some precursory observations regarding the languages represented therein, the identity of the copyists involved, the potential role of waqf in the manuscripts’ post-1517 trajectory, and some later forgeries. In the absence of a contemporaneous catalogue, it will allow scholars to form a more balanced picture of Qāytbāy and of late-Mamluk book and cultural history in general, and will help them overcome some detrimental institutionalized divisions.