Islamic manuscripts are voices from the past, revealing scholarly debates and networks, as well as aspects of daily life. They allow us to witness the transmission of knowledge and economic and cultural exchanges of centuries gone by. The present articles mirror this variety of aspects involved when dealing with Islamic manuscripts, and emphasize their importance as sources for our knowledge of history. The articles cover research on single manuscripts, as well as collections, the problems of editing, as well as cataloguing. New technologies have extended the possibilities of preserving and presenting manuscripts - accessible online, digitised and catalogued, they serve an international research community and become a worldwide cultural heritage.

Stefanie Brinkmann is lecturer at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Leipzig University, Germany. She is active as team member of projects on Islamic manuscripts held at Leipzig University Library. Educated in Arabic and Persian Studies, as well as Italian Philology, she holds a PhD in Arabic Studies. Beate Wiesmueller has been research associate in projects on cataloguing Islamic manuscripts and Oriental rare books. Since 2006 she is research associate in Leipzig for projects on Islamic manuscripts. She has authored several publications on Oriental collections and holds a M.A. in Islamic Studies, English Philology and Comparative Religious Studies.