In the section devoted to each library, this work gives information on its catalogue, particularly hitherto published handlists and catalogues as well as variouspublications andshort histories about the library. More importantly, this work contains a cumulativebibliography about the manuscripts located in thelibraries. Thepreviousbibliographies that werepublishedaboutpersonsandsubjectsorabout the manuscripts, locatedin aparticular library, were also included in this bibliography. We hope that this guide book about manuscript libraries will fill an important gap in this field and fulfill the serious need felt for such a work for years.
Bibliography on Manuscript Libraries in Turkey and Publications on the Manuscripts Located in these Libraries: "In order to facilitate the task of researchers, thebookis supplemented with sixoriginal indexes which arepreparedtakingintoaccountall imaginablepossibilities. A guidebook necessary for collectors and all book lovers." Tombak-Kitap, Vol. 12, 1997.
"This ispartofagrowingcorpusofbibliographicalguides tolibrariesandarchives in Turkey,Cyprus,andthe Arab worldpublishedbyIRCICA. Introduction is itself an edifying history of libraries and librarianship in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, providing as well a description of IRCICA's manuscriptprojects.Thisguideunquestionablyrenders researchers in the Ottoman fieldan immenseservice." Jane Hathaway,Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 20, no. 2, 1996