In this book Yusuf al-Bakhzani has performed the marvelous task of combing through dozens of different historical sources and studies, many of them published in Arabic in the Middle East and little-known, if at all, to Western scholars, and culled references to Syriac books, manuscripts, and libraries—both East Syrian and West—throughout the Middle East, from the Middle Ages to the present; Syriac manuscripts in India also receive attention. A section written by the monk Yuhanna Dolabani on the manuscripts of St. Mark’s in Jerusalem includes colophons relating to books and manuscripts copied from that monastery’s important manuscript collection. Attention is paid to accounts of manuscripts and libraries being destroyed or stolen and this volume gives one a keen sense of the manuscript riches which have been lost down through the centuries in the Syriac tradition. The author also provides very useful lists of the Lebanese Syriac manuscripts which are to be found in various libraries of Europe and the Middle East. Lists are also provided of Syriac manuscripts and their location, from both Middle Eastern and Western collections, according to certain categories, e.g., manuscripts of the Phenqitho, the Beth Gazo, and collections of madrashe, among other things. More like the organized working notes of a scholar after years of reading and classifying than a continuous narrative, this remarkable book will prove a goldmine of extremely useful information to all interested in Syriac manuscripts, book history, and manuscript studies in general.