Abstract
Turkish libraries today possess the richest and most valuable collection of Islamic manuscripts in the world. This priceless collection consists of approximately 160,000 manuscripts in Arabic, 70,000 in Turkish and 13,000 in Persian, making a total of 250,000, which rises to 600,000 if one includes majmū‘as. These figures do not take account of the thousands of pamphlets and reports in the archives and manuscripts in private collections. Approximately 146,000 volumes of the total of 250,000 manuscripts kept in Turkish libraries are in Istanbul. According to the aforementioned figures Istanbul is the repository of the largest Islamic manuscripts collection in the world. Although we do not have systematic catalogues it is possible to say that only 6-7 % of those manuscripts kept in Turkey are written in Persian. However these manuscripts are extremely important in terms of their age, originality and artistic value. Ancient and valuable copies of many manuscripts regarding Iranian language, literature, history and culture are kept in Turkish libraries. These manuscripts were collected over a long period of time. This article is a preliminary step in tracing the development of the collections of Persian manuscripts in Turkish libraries, by studying the example of the Istanbul libraries
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