Asian & African Studies

All manuscripts are stored in St Pancras and provided they are not restricted (see ‘Restricted items’), they can be delivered within 70 minutes. If you wish to request manuscript items, please contact us before requesting the item. 

Some of our manuscripts and archival materials are usually included in our Archives and Manuscripts catalogue. This catalogue is currently unavailable.

Not all our Oriental-language collections are catalogued online. We have a number of printed catalogues available on the open shelves in the Reading Room under shelfmark ORC, arranged by language.

These links to catalogues, online repositories and digitised manuscripts may help you find what you need:

Africa   

• Catalogue of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the British museum acquired since the year 1847   

East Asia   

Chinese   

• Catalogue of Chinese printed books, manuscripts and drawings in the library of the British Museum, with a print version containing shelfmarks found in the Asian & African Reading Room   

• Supplementary catalogue of Chinese books and manuscripts in the British Museum   

Korean   

• Korean Old and Rare Collection Information System, including information on and images of 92 of the Library’s Korean titles.   

Middle East and Central Asia   

• FIHRIST (Largely Persian, but also includes some Kurdish, Pashto, and Turkic materials)   

 Arabic   

• Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Qui In Museo Britannico Asservantur (1838) Pars Secunda (Arabic)   

• A descriptive list of the Arabic manuscripts acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894   

• Supplement to the catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the British Museum   

• A catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the Library of the India Office (Loth)   

• Catalogue of two collections of Persian and Arabic manuscripts preserved in the India Office library   

• The Arabic Papyrology Database (search under Inventory Number “Lond.”)   

• Catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the Library of the India Office. (Vol. II). Fasc 2: Sufism and ethics; Fasc 3: Fiqh.   

Armenian   

• A catalogue of the Armenian manuscripts in the British Museum   

Coptic   

• Catalogue of the Coptic manuscripts in the British Museum   

• PATHs, an ERC-funded project that includes information on British Library Coptic literary manuscripts, interspersed with information about manuscripts in other collections.   

Hebrew    

• Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts in the British museum Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3   

Persian   

• Rieu’s Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3   

• Catalogue of two collections of Persian and Arabic manuscripts preserved in the India Office library   

• Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the India Office Library (1903)   

• Storey’s Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts Volume III (Qur’anic Manuscripts) along with Guidance on usage     

• Ursula Sims-Williams' Handlist of Islamic manuscripts acquired by the India Office Library 1938-1985   

Syriac    

• Catalogue of Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the year 1838 Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3     

• Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium Qui In Museo Britannico Asservantur (1838) Pars Prima (Syriac and Garshuni)   

• Handlist of Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired since 1899   

Turkish and Turkic    

• Catalogue of the Turkish manuscripts in the British Museum   

South Asia   

South Asian language manuscript catalogues:  

Bengali and Assamese  

• Catalogue of the Bengali and Assamese manuscripts in the Library of the India Office   

Hindi, Panjabi and Hindustani  

• Catalogue of the Hindi, Panjabi and Hindustani manuscripts in the library of the British Museum   

Marathi, Gujrati, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Pushtu and Sindhi   

• Catalogue of the Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Pushtu and Sindhi manuscripts in the library of the British Museum   

Oriya   

• Catalogue of the Oriya manuscripts in the Library of the India Office   

Pali   

• Pali manuscripts in the India Office Library   

Sanskrit and Prakrit   

• Catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the British Museum (1902)   

• Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts in the Library of the India Office Parts 1-4 (1-2636) Parts 5-8 (2637-4203)   

• Catalogue of two collections of Sanskrit manuscripts preserved in the India Office Library (1903)   

Sinhalese   

• Catalogue of the Sinhalese manuscripts in the British Museum   

 Tibetan   

• Catalogue of the Tibetan manuscripts from Tun-huang in the India Office Library   

Southeast Asia

Burmese   

• A catalogue of the Burmese books in the British Museum, L. D. Barrett, 1913   

• A hand-list of the manuscripts in Burmese collection in the British Library San San May, 2011  

• India Office Library Burmese manuscripts in the British Library, San San May, 2019   

• Catalogue of the Burney Parabaiks in the India Office Library, Thaung Blackmore, 1985  

• Catalogue of the Mandalay manuscripts in the India Office Library, Fausboll, 1897    

• Pali manuscripts in the India Office Library, 1882

Thai   

• ‘Henry D. Ginsburg and the Thai Manuscripts Collection at the British Library and Beyond'   

• A guardian of Thai treasures: Henry Ginsburg (1940-2007) on the Asian and African Studies blog.