As the title of the volume ably indicates, this historical catalogue is a record of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish codices in the library of the Royal University of Uppsala. After a substantial introduction in Latin he divides the materials into different types of documents: encyclopedic and bibliographic, lexical, grammatical, metrical, rhetorical, and epistolary texts. Anthologies and poetic texts are included as well. Historical documents are divided into the subcategories of world history, Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, Syria, Egypt, Mauritanian and other Balkan regions. Biographical and cosmographical texts, scientific and mathematical codices also constitute a large part of this material. Religious texts are also included: prophetic, doctrinal, magical, and ethical materials all appear. A set of indices help to locate specific topics addressed in this wide variety of materials. An unsurpassed catalogue of the holdings in Uppsala, this reference is now once again accessible to scholars and general readers alike.

Carl Johan Tornberg (1807-1877) was a Swedish Orientalist. He studied theology and oriental languages at the University of Uppsala, and also studied in Paris. He became Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Lund. He wrote widely across his many areas of interest.