The Library of Congress is home to a substantial number of rare items in the Arabic language, the vast majority of which are housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division, that forms this collection of Rare Arabic Language Materials.  These works, in their various formats, cover a very wide range of topics which include religious works from different religions and religious sects, as well as works of history, grammar, literature, the sciences, among many others. Overall, this collection can be divided into three main formats: manuscripts, lithographs, and early imprints.  The items in this collection were acquired in several different ways, some through major purchases, others through private donations, and many as select individual purchases.  The effort to continue to acquire such rare and important works is ongoing. 

Manuscripts

For centuries, the written word was the main, if not only, means for the transmission of knowledge.  In the Middle East in particular, the absence of an official printing press until the 19th century meant that any works of scholarship and the belle lettres could only be obtained and accessed through the medium of manuscripts.

The Library of Congress possesses numerous Arabic manuscripts in its collections, with dates ranging roughly from the 12th to the early 20th centuries, acquired and purchased over the years from a variety of sources.  The largest collection, by far, is the Mansuri Collection, which constitutes the personal library of the Azhari scholar, al-Imam Muhammad al-Mansuri and comprises of some 1500-2000 manuscripts.  This collection was acquired by the library in the mid-1940s following the Second World War.  Other collections include the many items purchased in the 1920s from the well-known manuscript dealer Kirkor Minassian of New York and Paris, as well as the Baker Collection which was donated to the Library of Congress in the late 1970s.  Moreover, more items were carefully selected and purchased individually from a variety of manuscript dealers worldwide; a process which continues until present.

Lithographs

From the Greek “lithos” (stone) and “grapho” (to write), lithography was invented by Johann Alois Senefelder in Bavaria, 1796.   Lithography is a process of planographic printing, whereby text or images were drawn, then etched, on the smooth surface of a stone (or metal) plate which, after various treatments, would be affixed to a sheet of paper.  Lithography, moreover, was the most common form of printing used in the Middle East until the early 20th century.  The Arabic collection of lithographs at the Library of Congress comprises of approximately 4-5000 volumes, with most purchased as a part of the aforementioned Mansuri collection.  While a few of the remaining items in the lithograph collection were given to the library as donations, the majority were acquired over the years through individual purchases from various dealers. 

Early Imprints

In addition to the manuscript and lithograph collections, the Library of Congress has large collection of early imprints in Arabic. Initially, the first press in the Arab world was brought to Egypt by the French, during the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798-1801, which produced a very small number of works.  The first official printing press to be established in the Arab World, however, was the Bulaq Press, also known al-Matba’ah al-Amiriyah.  In his efforts to modernize Egypt, Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha sent a mission to Milan in 1815 to study the craft of printing and purchase some printing presses.  The Bulaq Press officially opened in Bulaq, Cairo in 1821, thus transforming intellectual life in the entire region.  The first book to be printed by the Bulaq Press was an Italian-Arabic dictionary prepared by Syrian priest Anton Zakhur Rafail.  Rafail would go on to produce translations of various works from western languages into Arabic, some of which are also available in the Library of Congress collections.  Initially, the main focus of the Bulaq Press was publishing materials for the military, which included instructional manuals, books, and other similar materials.  Soon the press would turn to publishing the National Gazette as well as journals of statistics among other related works for government employees.  Another point of interest was the translation of scientific works from European languages to Arabic, as part of Muhammad Ali’s effort to transfer Western culture to Egypt.  Finally, it would print textbooks, journals, religious, scientific, and literary classics for scholars and the public.

The Library of Congress possesses large number of Arabic early imprints in its collections, many of which were purchased as part of larger collections such as the Philip Shaker collection and the Joseph Haiek collection.  Others were acquired through various other purchases and acquisitions over the years.  While most of those early imprints were in Arabic and produced in the Arab world, the collection also includes several works produced in Europe as early as the 17th and 18th centuries.  The latter include Arabic bibles printed in Rome from the 17th Century, as well as various Arab classics, including histories, literary, and religious works, produced in Europe by European Orientalists.  It is noteworthy that these Western imprints will often include the mostly Latin (and other western language) translations, along with the original Arabic text in the same volume.

The goal of the Arabic Language Rare Materials Collections project is to make all these rare materials, housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division, available to researchers online.  Over the years, there has been high demand for these items and numerous inquiries have been made about their availability to researchers.  Due to their fragility, however, serving them to patrons has often presented serious challenges to their well-being.  The project’s goal therefore is to both preserve the items, thus preventing any potential damage from constant use and scanning, as well as providing free access to them to in digital form.  Their availably online, with the option to download the work in its entirety if so desired, further relieves scholars from the need to travel untold distances often to view a single item.