Vol. 2 No. 2 June 1996

Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research.

CONTENTS

TEXTS AND MANUSCRIPTS: DESCRIPTION AND RESEARCH - 3   V. Livshits. Sogdian Buddhist Fragment KRIV/879 No. 4263 from the Manuscript Collection of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies - 3 Valery Polosin. Muslim Bindings with al-Khalidiyani Double Borders - 9     TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION - 13   E. Tyomkin. On the Term Itihasa and the Problem of the Structure of the Mahabharata Text - 13     PRESENTING THE COLLECTIONS - 19   O. Vasilyeva. Oriental Manuscripts in the National Library of Russia - 19 O. Frolova. Some Notes on the Arabic Manuscripts and Collections in the Library of the Oriental Faculty of the St. Petersburg University - 36 A. Sazykin. The Collection of Mongolian Manuscripts and Xylographs in the Ethnological Museum of the Republic of Tuva in Kyzyl - 44     ORIENTAL MANUSCRIPTS AND NEW INFORMA TION TECHNOLOGIES - 50   H. Braam, M. Vandamme. A Robust and Versatile Solution for the Digital Publication of Manuscript Materials - 51     PRESENTING THE MANUSCRIPT - 56     A. Khalidov. A Unique 14th Century Literary Anthology Manuscript from Baghdad - 56 A. Sazykin. Illustrated Manuscript of "One Hundred Thousand Verses" in the Mongolian Fund of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies - 62     BOOK REVIEWS - 64

AUTHORS

Dr. Firuza I. Abdullaeva - Associate Professor of Persian at the Oriental Faculty of the St. Petersburg State University, specialist in the Iranian philology and Islamic culture. Author of a series of works in the field.

Dr. Hansje Braam - Researcher at the Department of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Arts, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Expert in Oriental studies computing. Author of a number of articles in the field.

Prof. Dr. Olga B. Frolova - Head of the Chair of Arabic Philology at the Oriental Faculty of the St. Petersburg State University, specialist in the history of Arabic literature and culture, author of a number of monographs, of a textbook and a series of articles devoted to the various aspects of Arabic written heritage.

Prof. Dr. Anas B. Khalidov - Head of the Near Eastern Department of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, expert in the field of Arabic manuscript tradition, culture and literature, author of a series of manuscript catalogues, monographs, and articles.

Dr. Prof. Vladimir A. Livshits - Leading Researcher of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the British Academy, specialist in the history of the Iranian languages and in the history of Central Asia, author of a series of monographs and articles.

Mr. Alexander S. Matveev - Postgraduate student of the Oriental Faculty of the St. Petersburg State University, personal student of Prof. Joseph Bell at the University of Bergen. Specialises in Arabic medieval history, author of a number of articles in the field.

Dr. Irina E. Petrosyan - Senior Researcher of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, author of a series of monographs and articles dealing with the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire.

Dr. Valery V. Polosin - Senior Researcher of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, expert in various fields of Arabic manuscript tradition, author of one monograph and a series of articles.

Dr. Efim A. Rezvan - Research Director of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, specialist in Arabic and Islamic studies, author of a number of monographs and a series of articles devoted to the problems of the Russian-Arabic relations, history of Islam and Oriental studies computing.

Dr. Alexey G. Sazykin - Senior Researcher of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, expert in Mongolian literature and handwritten tradition, author of a number of catalogues of Mongolian manuscripts and block-prints, monographs and a series of articles.

Dr. Edward N. Tyomkin - Senior Researcher of the Manuscript Department of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, specialist in the history of ancient culture and mythology of India, in Central Asian philology, author of a series of monographs and articles.

Dr. Marc Vandamme - Senior Researcher at the Department of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Arts, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Specialist in the pre-Chaghatay, Chaghatay and modern Central Asian languages, author of a number of books and articles on this and other related subjects.

Dr. Olga V. Vasilyeva - Curator of the Oriental collection, Manuscript Department of the National Library of Russia, specialist in Turkish literature and the history of Islamic book, author of a series of articles in the field.

Dr. Margarita I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya - Supervisor of the Manuscript Department of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, expert in the history and philology of ancient Central Asia, author of a series of monographs and articles.