The present volume is the main achievement of the Research Networking Programme Comparative
Oriental Manuscript Studies funded by the European Science Foundation in the years 2009 2014.
It is the first attempt to introduce a wide audience to the entirety of the manuscript cultures
of the Mediterranean East. The chapters reflect the state of the art in such fields as
codicology palaeography textual criticism and text editing cataloguing and manuscript
conservation as applied to a wide array of language traditions including Arabic Armenian
Avestan Caucasian Albanian Christian Palestinian Aramaic Coptic Ethiopic Georgian Greek
Hebrew Persian Slavonic Syriac and Turkish. Seventy-seven scholars from twenty-one
countries joined their efforts to produce the handbook. The resulting reference work can be
recommended both to scholars and students of classical and oriental studies and to all those
involved in manuscript research digital humanities and preservation of cultural heritage. The
volume includes maps illustrations indexes and an extensive bibliography.
