Sinai Arabic manuscripts

[Sasha Treiger]

Dear Colleagues,

Does anyone happen to know how far along is the digitization process
of the Sinai Arabic manuscripts. I spoke to Father Justin, who is in
charge of this process, when he visited Yale a few years ago, and back
then it seemed that the process was still in its initial stages. Does
anyone have an update?

Also, does anyone know if the following catalogue (and its sequels),
announced on the CEDRAC website (http://www.cedrac.usj.edu.lb/pres/
collaboration.htm), will appear in print soon?

"En collaboration avec le CCL, le CEDRAC prépare le “Catalogue des
manuscrits arabes chrétiens du Sinaï, vol. I : Mss 301-400”, en
anglais et arabe. Ceci est un des projets euro-méditerranéens financés
par l’Union Européenne"

Thank you very much in advance,

Yours
Sasha

[marcel...@skynet.be]

Dear Alexander,
I have no news about the digitization process, but I have sad news
concerning
the access to the Library of St. Catherine Monastery: it will be
inaccessible,
during two years as from the first of June. All manuscrits will be
removed and
the building is going to be completely restored.
Yours,
Marcel Pirard
Institut orientaliste
Université Catholique de Louvain
Belgium

[John Lamoreaux]

Dear Sasha,

Do you suppose that this is actually the second half of Atiya's Catalogue Raisonné (1970)?

The introduction to the Catalogue Raisonné (p. iv) states that a meticulous catalogue of all 602 Sinai MSS had been prepared by Atiya. 

Sadly, no such item seems now to be included among the Atiya papers (

http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Accn0480.xml/ContainerList).

I seem to recall hearing once that Atiya's draft of the catalogue was inherited by Fr. Samir. I'm not sure that's accurate, however.

Best,

John Lamoreaux

[Sasha Treiger]

Dear Marcel, Dear John,

Thank you very much for responding!

I do think the reference on the CEDRAC website is to (the first
installment of) the second half of Atiya's Catalogue Raisonné. I
remember reading this in Father Samir's "Survol de la situation des
recherches arabes chrétiennes" (in: Monferrer-Sala, ed., Eastern
Crossroads), though I don't have the reference with me right now.

The story of Atiya's Catalogue Raisonné is quite interesting.
According to S.S. al-Nashshār, Fahāris al-makhtūtāt al-'arabīya bi-
maktabat Dayr Sānt Kātirīn: Dirāsa tahlīlīya, Alexandria, 2000, pp.
29-30, 42-43, Atiya handed over the unique handwritten copy of the
original English version to his student J.N. Youssef who translated
the entire catalogue into Arabic but was able to publish only the
first part (Alexandria, 1970); Youssef's handwritten copy of the
entire Arabic translation was, as of the year 2000, preserved by his
widow.

Upon translating the catalogue into Arabic, Youssef must have returned
it to Atiya, for Father Samir also refers to the original English
version of Atiya's catalogue: "The original English text was never
published. Before his death in September 1988, Professor Atiya gave me
the only original text he had, the one which he had written in pencil
in 1951 while in the monastery. I am still hoping to find a publisher
ready to publish it" (S.Kh. Samir, "The Earliest Arab Apology for
Christianity (c. 750)," in: S.Kh. Samir and J. Nielsen, eds.,
Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750-1258),
Brill, 1994, pp. 57-114, at p. 59n6).

So the question is when it will be published. Colleagues, any help?

Yours
Sasha

On May 30, 8:56 pm, John Lamoreaux <jc...@mail.smu.edu> wrote:
> Dear Sasha,
>
> Do you suppose that this is actually the second half of Atiya's
> Catalogue Raisonné (1970)?
>
> The introduction to the Catalogue Raisonné (p. iv) states that a
> meticulous catalogue of all 602 Sinai MSS had been prepared by Atiya.
>

> Sadly, no such item seems now to be included among the Atiya papers (http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Manuscripts/null/Accn048...)
> .

>
> I seem to recall hearing once that Atiya's draft of the catalogue was
> inherited by Fr. Samir. I'm not sure that's accurate, however.
>
> Best,
> John Lamoreaux
>
> On May 28, 2009, at 4:19 PM, Sasha Treiger wrote:
>
>
>
> > Also, does anyone know if the following catalogue (and its sequels),
> > announced on the CEDRAC website (http://www.cedrac.usj.edu.lb/pres/

> > collaboration.htm), will appear in print soon?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Roger Pearse]

Or, failing, which, surely a few copies of the manuscript in PDF form
might be a good idea? If only to ensure that it doesn't perish?

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -