Winner of the 2018 PROSE Awards: R.R. Hawkins Award for excellence in scholarly publishing

The award-winning Arcadian Library Online enables easy exploration of the rich holdings of the Arcadian Library, revealing the shared cultural heritage of Europe and the Middle East across the course of a millennium. Images are displayed in high resolution, full colour and include bindings, clasps and page edges. Choose between an English or Arabic interface and search in either language.

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History of Science and Medicine

The History of Science and Medicine collection brings together one of the world’s most important and unique collections of books and manuscripts showcasing the contribution of early Arab and Persian scientists, doctors and thinkers; their translation, reception and influence in Europe and their lasting influence on the development of Western scientific and medical knowledge.

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Europe and the Ottoman World

The new collection brings together a fascinating archive of rare and important diplomatic correspondences, treaties and accounts of ambassadorial missions, many of which are being made available publicly for the first time. Originating from between 1475 and 1877, the collection charts and illustrates the complex relationships between the Ottoman Empire and European powers from the golden age of the Empire's expansion and flourishing through to the era of its decline.

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Rhazes de Variolis et Morbillis

Rhazes (860-932), a great clinician, ranks with Hippocrates, Aretaeus, and Sydenham as one of the original portrayers of disease. His description of smallpox and measles is the first authentic account in literature, a classic text, preserved in the original Arabic, with parallel Latin translation...

Rhazes - Liber nonus ad Almansorem

The ninth book of Rhazes Liber ad Almansorem, which was popular as a therapeutic guide, circulated in independent copies or editions in addition to being found with the work of which it was a part.

Abulcasis – Liber de Cirurgia

An early and complete manuscript of the most important medieval treatment of practical surgery and the first illustrated treatise on surgical instruments. Albucasis (c. 936 - c. 1013) was the greatest Muslim surgeon; he exerted a very deep influence upon the development of European surgery down to the...

Averroes - Expositio prologi magni Averrois

Extremely rare first edition of Lignamine’s commentary on Averroes’ Aristotelian philosophy of science. Lignamine was a Professor of Philosophy and medicine at the University of Padua.

Alexander - The Natural History of Aleppo

The first edition, by Alexander Russell, a Scottish physician to the Levant Company in Aleppo, appeared in a single volume in 1756. In 1740, Russell was appointed to the English Factory (trading center) in Aleppo, where he became the chief medical practitioner.

Fustat Papyrus

An important group of twenty early Arabic fragmentary papyrus documents dating from the 8th-10th century and ranging in subject matter from religious quotations to medical advice, from trader's accounts to historical notes, and from personal correspondence to talismanic formulae.

Ibn Baklarish - Book of Simple Medicines

Kitab al-Musta‘ini, or Kitab al-adwiyah al-mufradah (Book of Simples), is a treatise on medical remedies and drugs which draws on the learning of earlier Arab scholars such as Ibn Butlan,Al-Kindi and Al-Biruni, as well as classical Greek authors such as Galen, Dioscorides, Aristotle and Hippocrates.

Alfraganus - Brevis Astronomo

This is a very rare first edition of Farghānī’s best known and most influential work, on Ptolemaic astronomy, dated 3 September 1493. The text is descriptive and non-mathematical, which, along with its clear and well-organised presentation, likely contributed to the text’s popularity.

Kitāb al-milāl wa al-duwal

Fragments from the Kitāb al-milāl wa al-duwal, manuscript, 10th century. North Africa. The famous astrologer Abū Ma`shar (d. 886) named his book Kitāb al-Milal wal-Duwal, The Book of Religious Communities and Dynasties.