Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the Leiden University Library and Other Collections in the Netherlands ─ Minor Collections

Schmidt (Ottoman studies, Leiden U., the Netherlands) offers a thorough, and engaging catalog of Turkish manuscripts, fragments, and related materials in the fourth and final volume cataloging Turkish writings in the Netherlands. Each collection is presented in a separate chapter, with an introduction describing its history, and a detailed description of each work of the collection. Included among the historic fragments in Turkish are numerous archives, including those of 20th-century figures held in the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, miscellaneous fragments in the university library in Groningen, and the collections of the museum of ethnology (Museum Volkenkunde) in Leiden. Of particular interest is Schmidt's lengthy summary of the life of Fritz Rudolf Kraus garnered from the letters of the Kraus archive of the Leiden U. Library. The volume includes numerous color and b&w plates of excellent quality. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jan Schmidt is lecturer in Ottoman Studies at Leiden University. He has published widely on various aspects of Ottoman history and literature and is the author of A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester published by Brill (2011).