A unit on the shelf
The University of Michigan’s Islamic manuscripts collection covers jurisprudence together with many other subjects. It is a useful setting in which to consider a basic bibliographic problem: a volume on a shelf and a work named in a bibliography are not necessarily the same unit.
A single physical volume may carry several works; a work may also survive in several copies. A legal historian’s count can therefore change according to the unit being counted. The distinction should be explicit before a catalogue search is turned into a statement about the size or influence of a textual tradition.
A hypothetical composite
Consider a volume containing a principal text, a short treatise and notes added in unused space. An argument about the principal text’s circulation does not automatically describe the circulation of the additions. Their dates and hands might differ. This is a hypothetical example of a question for inspection, not a description of an unnamed Michigan item.
The catalogue may supply separate descriptions or a general contents note. The images can show physical boundaries that a short title list cannot. A research note should record where a work begins and ends, while keeping observations about script or page layout separate from the catalogue’s attributions.
A bibliography with locations
Michigan’s directory of digitized collections provides routes to other repositories for comparison. Its value is not just that it adds more images. It helps a reader find additional witnesses and identify the holding institution behind each copy.
For a bibliography, give the work’s identifying information and then the manuscript shelfmark and folio location. If the argument depends on a marginal addition, cite that addition specifically. This makes the reference useful to both a reader searching for a work and a reader inspecting a particular object, without asking either to guess which unit the author had in mind.
References
- University of Michigan: Islamic Manuscripts
A collection spanning jurisprudence, language, literature, science and other subjects.
- Michigan: Digitized collections for Islamic manuscript studies
An annotated directory including the Yemeni Manuscript Digitization Initiative and participating repositories.
Filed under Manuscripts & history. Sources and corrections.