Old Catalogues

The Khalidi Library contains 5 index lists of its collection which were compiled throughout the 120 plus year history of the Library. The oldest catalogue was produced by Muhammed Sun’allah, before the Library’s official establishment.

The Library contains 5 old catalogues which record the manuscripts and books housed in the Library from earlier times compiled by different people. Often, a catalogue listed the manuscripts and books donated by a particular person. For example, Yusuf Dia’s catalogue lists about 800 written and printed books in Arabic and foreign languages which he had donated to the library.

  1. Catalogue 1126 (no date) lists the books donated by Sheikh Muhammad Sun’allah, arranged by subject and they are divided in the record according to topics. Towards the end of the catalogue are several notes related to the endowment and debts. 
  1. Catalogue 1178 (no date, un-authored) contains a list of 147 printed Arabic books and hand-written manuscripts, noting the title and author, whether it is published, and where it was published. 
  1. Catalogue 1179 (no date, un-authored but possibly compiled by Yusuf Dia) begins by listing 241 printed Arabic books, followed by a list of 41 Arabic manuscripts, followed by a list of 70 books in Turkish and Persian. 
  1. Catalogue 1180 entitled فهرسة الفهرسة" lists Arabic and Turkish books and manuscripts by subject matter along with the title, place of publication, and whether the document is printed or hand-written. Towards the end of the document are approximately 14 pages of text that are difficult to read. 
  1. Catalogue 1900 is a reprint of "برنامج المكتبة الخالدية العمومية" published in 1900 by Habbal, and re-published in 1980 in Amman by Adel Hussein al-Khalidi and Ragheb Hasan al-Khalidi. The 1980 publication is the same as the original except that it contains a two-page introduction.