The Library has a fine collection of Shahnama manuscripts from the John Frederick Lewis Collection, Lewis O. 50-59, 166. With the exception of the last, these have been catalogued by Muhammed Ahmed Simsar, Oriental Manuscripts....A descriptive catalogue with forty-eight illustrations, Philadelphia, 1937, pp. 71-91.
Visits to the Collection were made in June 2006 and November 2008, by Ch. Melville and Ms. Bilha Moor. Most of the manuscripts had to be paginated before proper reference could be made to them. We would like to record the exceptional assistance and kindness of the Library staff, especially Bill Lang (in 2006) and Janine Pollock (in 2008), and their willingness for the Project to photograph the complete set of images.
It is of interest to draw attention to the Library's digital collection of medieval and Renaisance manuscripts, which can be viewed online at http://libwww.freelibrary.org/medievalman
