This partial catalogue of one of the greatest Arab-language collections in the world (it only contains acquisitions since 1838), in what in now the Berlin State Library, takes nine hefty volumes to describe 10637 manuscripts; there is a tenth volume of indices. Each manuscript is described physically, Arabic title and colophon are described, and the contents summarized. They are listed by category, in an intricate tree; the main heads are General works (encyclopedic works, school books, and so on); the Koran (together with introductions and commentaries); the Hadith; Theology; Cufic texts of all kinds; Prayers, including magical texts and fortune-telling; Law; Philosophy; Ethics; Astronomy; Mathematics; Geography; Natural Science; Medicine; Grammar; Dictionaries; Scansion; Rhetoric; Literature (two and a half volumes: poetry by century and prose fiction and romance by length; History and Biography; Bibles and other Christian literature. Appendix of works acquired during the compilation; introduction on the nature of the collection and its major acquisitions; samples of Arab script in plates.