Materials in Dutch Libraries

compiled by Sen McGlinn

This document lists all of the books and manuscripts available in Leiden libraries and other Dutch public libraries that refer to or relate to the Babi or Baha'i religions. Sen McGlinn, compiler of the list, notes that this list is essentially complete: "some other libraries have some interesting items among early editions, but no others have manuscripts or rare items."

Key to abbreviations:
    +L = Leiden University Library
    +KB = Koninglijk Biblioteek Den Haag, the library of deposit
    +SMcG = Sen McGlinn's own collection
    +DHB = Library at the national Baha'i centre in Den Haag

    Other abbreviations are standard

Contents:
    I. The Báb
    II. Bahá'u'lláh
    III. 'Abdu'l-Bahá
    IV. Shoghi Effendi
    V. Selections and compilations
    VI. Other authors
    VII. Pamphlets and ephemera by anonymous or institutional authors (by title)
    VIII. Journals
    IX. Manuscripts
    Endnotes and Appendices

I. The Báb

II. Bahá'u'lláh

III. 'Abdu'l-Bahá

IV. Shoghi Effendi

V. Selections and compilations

(i.e. from the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice)


VI. Other authors

VII. Pamphlets and ephemera by anonymous or institutional authors (by title)

VIII. Journals

IX. Manuscripts

 Leiden UB., Persian Manuscript collection, Oosterse Handscriften (OOSHSS) room: four items from the Dunlop donation of 1898 (Moojen Momen says a Mr Dunlop was attached to the British Legation in Tehran)[6] but there is also Dunlop, H., who wrote "Perzie voorheen en thans", Haarlem, De Erven F. Bohn, 1912. +L NINO. Pages 327-370 deal with Babism. The publication does not contain anything to indicate it is a translation
Or 4969: Kitáb al-Aqdas. On spine: 2412. Previously catalogued as Arab 2412. Inside cover in pencil: No. 5 bis. 18 x 12 cm., bound in red. The text within gold frames of 11 x 6 cm. 14 lines pp. in a very clear script, largely unpointed, with interlinear annotation in Persian in a neat hand on pages 1-3. 77 pages, originally unnumbered, not numbered by leafs 1-40. In excellent condition and readability throughout. The text ends with verse 190, 'Qad harram alaykum ...". Verse endings are indicated with a space but verses are unnumbered. I have compared the text from pp 66v line 11 to 67v line 2 to the corresponding text on pages 25-27 of the version published by the Baha'i World Centre and found little variation. On p. 25 line 6, Or 4969 inserts 'an' after anfskm, and again on page 27 line 3, 'an' before yamela'. On page 26 line 3, Or 4969 has fijha al-nafus.

Or 4970: Selected Tablets of Baha'u'llah in Arabic (except item 12), bound. On spine: 2413. 25cm. Text unframed 17 x 7, 17 lines per page. Leaves numbered 1 - 103. Some pages with extensive annotations in read and black in shekasteh. Text has red overlining and words and verse ending marks in red. The headers for the individual tablets in red and in one case in blue. Production faults in the paper in the first part have been repaired, while those at the end have not. Text begins in a clear nastaliq to the middle of 53r, then changing to a readable naskh to 60v, the two hands alternating through the remainder with the second in places almost a shekasteh. The books appears to be assembled from 4 original sections, of which the last was only partially written.

  1. 1r in pencil: No. 6a
  2. r - 26r Jawahir al-Asrar
  3. 27r - 31v Tablet to Pope Pius IX
  4. 32r - 33v Lawh-i Malik-i Rus (Tablet to Czar Alexander II of Russia)
  5. 34r - 37r Tablet to Queen Victoria.
  6. 37r - 43v Second Tablet to Napoleon III.
  7. 44r - 48v Surat-ar-Rais (Lawh-i Ra'is II)'
  8. 49r - 64v Lawh-i Sultan, Tablet to the Shah (header in blue)
  9. 64v - 66r Tablet to the father of Badi. Identified as such in a marginal annotation.
  10. 6r - 71r Tablet to Shaykh Abdu'l-Husayn [Tihrani]. Identified as such in a marginal note. Begins: "An ya husayn t...
  11. 71r - 73v Lawh as-Sahab. Identified in header and in a marginal note.
  12. 74r - 76v Surat al-Amin.
  13. 76v - ...? Tablet in Persian without a header in red, the header and first 4 lines in naskh, then nastaliq
  14. [three unnumbered blank leaves]
  15. 86v - 89r Tablet in Arabic, without identification. Begins "In the name of God, the knowing, the wise! Praise be to God..."
  16. [5 unnumbered blank leaves]
  17. 90v - 93r Tablet in Arabic without indentification, space left for a header. In the margin a notation which appears to include lawh al-dhali (?). This tablet stops at the bottom of a page and has no red overlinig or notations. The copying is presumably incomplete. Begins ""Praise be to God ..."
  18. 94v - 103v. Tablet without header in black. The text on the first page consists of verses beginning with subhana formulas. Begins "Huwa al-abda' al abha:
    • subha:na ladha nazala al-a:ya:t li-qaum [el?]fiqhu:n
    • subha:na ladha nazala al-a:ya:t li-qaum al-sha'ru:n"
    • "He is the most wonderful, the most glorious. Praise be to [God] the revealer of verses for the people of understanding. Praise be to [God] the revealer of verses for the people of knowledge."

  19. 104r: Notation in pencil: no. 6d
  20. [7 blank leaves]


Or 4971: 10 items from Baha'u'llah and the Bab

  1. Tablet, 2 pages. On verso, addressed to Jenab-i 'Ayn Lam.
  2. A piece of revelation writing (one A3 sheet, in two columns) and its transcription (1 page, 24 lines A5), again addressed to Ayn Lam. Bears no seal or signature etc.
  3. Tablet. half an A4, in a tiny fine script, by 'Abdu'l-Baha (signed). Beginning (approximately!) He is God! On thee be the illumination and kindness and brightness and blessings of God.
  4. Tablet, one page.
  5. Three short letters from Baha'u'llah. Two of these might be originals, brief notes written on tiny scraps of paper. The third looks more like a prayer copied neatly onto a piece of sturdy paper of book-mark size and tightly folded (to carry in a wallet?).
  6. Collection of prayers. 13pp A5, some water damage. In various hands, not altogether tidy. Page 5 bears the number (date?) 1266.
  7. Two tablets, in a neat ordinary handwriting which looked familiar: is it the same as the Leiden copy of Dawud's ['Geschriften in facsimile'] which is Mishkin Qalim?
    • Lawh Basit al-Haqiqa (according to Moojen). 7 1/4 pages A5, begins 'Hu'.
    • Tablet addressed to Mahdi (according to Moojen) 8 3/4 pages A5, begins with a Bismullah formula. the first line includes the phrase fi bahr el-bada.

  • Commentary on the Surat al-Baqara by the Bab (according to Moojen). 28pp quarto. Water (or red wine) damage. There is no opening formula, and the first lines do not correspond to the opening lines of the Tafsir surat al-Baqara. The first verse commented on is Surah II v.71, the last is verse 94. Presumably therefore a defective copy of the first part of the work. This copy is not listed in Sources p. 201. The commentary has been digitally reprinted by H-Bahai
  • Sahifa Bayn al-Haramayn by the Bab. 48pp octo. Was number 10, renumbered 9. Three quires of 16 pages. The frontispiece looks like a note by the owner, rather than the colophon of the scribe, and bears the date 1261. But MacEoin dates this copy 1263. The date 1261 also appears in the margin of page '19' [i.e. 37] and is written in pencil in roman script in the margin of page 4. Is this a reference to the date of composition, or the date of the copy? Some pages are pointed in red, some have red over-lining, and page 10 has selected words in red. This is the very old copy which Browne refers to in Materials, p. 200, and gives the number 2414 (which is the location not the Mss number). Since MacEoin repeats Browne's mistake he has presumably not seen the mss.

    Or 6131: Collection of letters and memorabilia relating to Johanna Dawud.

    Other useful resources in Leiden:
    Nicholson, R. A. , A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental Mss Belonging to the late E. G. Browne, Cambridge University Press, 1932. +L 898 B 7
    The OOSHSS room has some catalogues of the Persian and Arabic mss. held at other libraries, of which I have reviewed only:
    British Museum Library:
    Meredith-Owens, Handlist of Persian Manuscripts 1895-1966. Publ. 1968. +L OOSHSS C 3136
    The following seem to have nothing of interest:
    Blaskovic, Jozef, Arabische turkishe und persische Hss. . . +L 853 C 4
    Brockelmann, Carl, Katalog der orientalischen Hss der Staat. . . +L 8019 E 10
    n. a. , Orientalsiche Hss: tuerkishce, persische. . . +L 851 E 14

    Endnotes and Appendices

    [1] Appendix 1: Contents of Khitab-khane-ye Yohanna Dawud

    The frontispiece is tipped in, and has a short Tablet in Nastaliq from 'Abdu'l-Baha addressed to and in praise of a group of Baha'is who have established a library. The Tablets starts with: "Ay touor-i golshan-i mahabbat'u-llah" {O [thou who art] the birds of the rosegarden of the love of God}. The lower half of the page has a section of calligraphy in the style (thulth) used in mosques. The words are in praise and gratitude to God. Under this, and in the same style, is Yhanna Dawud's name and the date 1911.
    The verso has a page of notes in Persian in the handwriting of Yuhanna Dawud. It is an ordinary, yet neat, Persian style handwriting. At the end of his notes he offers a prayer:
    "He is the God, the Exalted One
    These sacred utterances [Writings] have been revealed from the August Pen [of] Baha'u'llah, glorified be His Glory; and transcribed in the handwriting of late Meshkin Qalam, may the divine Spirit be his recompense; and this servant has published it for the benefit of all the friends.
    Placing my trust in Him,
    [this] mortal one
    Yuhanna Dawud Baha'i
    London 72, equivalent to 1914
    Postscript in another hand (?):
          O Lord, bless the reader of this book and protect him from all earthly and heavenly calamities. Amin and Amin"

    (the same hand has added occasional marginal notes and page numbers throughout. Pencilled comments have been erased, and errors or comments which must have been in ink have been scratched off the page).

    Contents: Main text contains two tablets which have been published in "Iqtidarat va Chand Lawh-i Digar" (1310) in the hand of Mishkin-qalam. The first tablet (pp 5 - 11) is directly copied from "Iqtidarat va Chand Lawh-i Digar" pp 273-9. The original Tablet starts from page 267, but Yuhanna Dawud seems to have only included the latter part of the original tablet. On top of the first page of Tablets (page 5) the words 'Ya Baha'u-l Abha' in Dawud's handwriting are not part of Baha'u'llah's tablet.
    Pages 11 - 47 are extracted from Iqtidarat pp 68-110. Therefore, it contains a number of Tablets.

    B.2.1) The first Tablet is only part of the original Tablet, Lawh-i 'Abd'ul-Razzaq which in Iqtidarat starts from pages 43 and end on 74 or 78. On your copies they go from page 11 to 17 or 21 (I am not exactly sure were does this Tablet finishes as page 78 of Iqtidarat (p 21 here) has a clear literary demarkation for the end of Tablet and beginning of another one.)

    B.2.2) The second Tablet is recorded in its entirety. It starts with these words: "Biasm-i Mahbub-i YektA RAihiyi ahzAn jamAl-i rahmAn rA ihAtih nemoudah" {'In the name of One Beloved The odors [winds] of sorrows have engulfed the Beauty of the Merciful.'} It starts from page 78 of Iqtidarat (page 21 of your copies) and ends on page 105 of Iqtidarat, page 47+ here). HOWEVER, since the last line of this Tablet appears on the fist line of page 105, Dawud has employed a physical cut and paste and has placed this last line on bottom of page 47.
    _____________________
    C) THE CLOSING PAGE
    _____________________

    C.1) On the side one of the last sheet only 2 lines appear in the same
    style as A.1.1: "Care of Jinab-i Mirza Lutf'ullah, the pilgrim / London Jinab-i Mirza Yuhanna Dawud upon him rest Baha'ullah-i Abha"

    C.2) On side two of the last sheet is the complete text of 'Abd'ul-Baha's Tablet, in pastoral style, full of praise and encouragement, addressed to Yuhanna Dawud. It employs a Hebrew Bible terminology (as is 'Abd'ul-Baha's literary style in creating masterful links and associations to the recipient's names or backgrounds.) The second half of this Tablet is a prayer in Arabic, in honour of Yuhanna Dawud in which his own names appears in its beginning: "elAhi elAhi Inna abdu-ka Hanna [sic] Dawud .." {O my God, O my God verily this is Thy servant [Yu]hanna Dawud }

    This Tablet is dated 22 Ab [?] 1919

    [2] Appendix 2: Contents of Dreyfus, Hipp., L'oeuvre de Bahaou'llah

    Contents vol 1: La Très Sainte Tablette, Les Paroles Cachées, Les Sept Vallées, La Lettre sur le Bayan. Last of these consists of several sections beginning p 109, "Au nom de Dieu, le Très-Saint, le Très-Grand, le Très-Haut! Votre lettre est parvenue à l'Intelligence suprême, et del la texture de ses mots se sont répandues les brises de l'amour du Roi des noms et attributs...." the first section refers to the people of the Bayan, criticising them for believing they have achieved the hight of understanding when they have not even understood the purpose of "the manifestion of the Point of the Bayan, (may the sould of all on earth be sacrificed for him!)" On p 114 there is a passage referring to the abrogation of the Forqan (Quran), and the general principle that a later verse abrogates an earlier verse. p 115 has a reference to the martyrdom of the third to believe (i.e., Dayyan), on p 116 to the Báb's command that nobody should question the eternal beauty. This is not abrogated here (indicating a date before the Aqdas verse?). Page 188 has a reference to Jenab-i Sayyah, but it does not tell us whether this was before or after the exile to Cyprus. Also a passage which says that Sayyid Mohammed Isfahani is the master and Yahya is the disciple. Page 119 refers to the prophecy of Mustaghath. Page 120 has a passage addressed to the Babis: "ne commettez pas ce qu'ont commis Pharaon et Hamman, et Nemrod, et Chaddad...". Page 123 says "si vous ne comprenez par les versets en arabe, lisez au moins les paroles de Dieu en persan..." but it is not clear whether the language of the original has changed, or, more likely, Bahá'u'lláh has switched from interpreting the Arabic Bayan to dealing with the Persian Bayan. Page 125 has a reference to one Hadi, whom Dreyfus identifies as Mirza Mohammed Hadi Daoulatabadi, one of the chief Azalis. On page 126 there is a break in the text, and a section explaining the difference between the Qa'im and Qayyoum begins. On page 131 this is explained in abjad terms, the difference between the abjad values of the two words being 14, which is the number of Baha. Page 132 says "O my servant! I want to write these few words in Persian, for the love of God". The section continues with a discussion of the 9 years between the two manifestations, and ends on page 134 with a break in the text which may indicate the end of the tablet.

    The following sections are all taken from the Lawh-i-'Abdu'r-Razzaq: the first, on life after death, is translated in Gleanings LXXX and, in a slightly longer form, in Dawud's 'The River of Life' page 16 onwards. Dreyfus has the same extra material as Dawud. On page 137 there is another break in the text followed by a section on creation, which is translated in Gleanings LXXVIII, but where the Gleanings passage stops (middle of p 138 of Dreyfus), the text continues for almost 2 pages, to speak of the inaccessibility and incomparability of God. This ends with a break on page 140, and the next section in response to a question regarding antedeluvian times has been translated in Gleanings LXXVII and by Dawud in The River of Life pp 18-21 (Dawud and Dreyfus both provide a short piece of text missing in Gleanings after "not until after a considerable lapse of time did Arabic become the language of Revelation.... ") as well as one paragraph at the end omitted in Gleanings. This is the end of the tablet (p 143)

    [3] Appendix 3: Contents of Rosen's collected tablets

    The book was printed at the Daar al-'uluum printers' shop in St. Petersburg, and the publisher is the Imperial Academy of Sciences (Akademiya Nauk). The majority of these Tablets are in Arabic, but there are a couple in Persian. The vowelings of the Arabic are provisional ...
    1. Arabic. Exordium: Huva al-'aziiz al-baaqii al-'aliyy al-bahiyy al-abhaa.
      First sentence: Dhakara [dh-k-r] allaahu fii shajarati al-quds, buq'atin allatii baaraka-haa 'alaa buqaa'i al-ard.i Allaahu, laa ilaaha illaa hu, al-muhayminu al-qayyumu
    2. Arabic. Exordium: Huva al-'aziiz al-baaqii al-qayyum
      First Sentence: Dhaalika al-kitaabu yuhdii ilaa al-rushdi wa ja'ala-hu Allaahu hujjatan wa dhikraa li-man fii al-samawaati wa al-ard.iin
    3. Arabic. Huwa al-'aziiz al-qayyuum al-'aalii al-'aliim
      Haadhaa dhikrun min Allaahi ilaa alladhiinahum kassaruu as.naama anfusihim bi-taqwaa Allaah wa hafaz.uu amaanaati Allaahi fii suduurihim wa kaanuu bi al-'adl amiinan
    4. Arabic. Tablet of Ahmad (the famous one that appears in all the Prayer
      Books) Huwa al-Sultaan al-'aliim al-hakiim
      Haadhihi waraqatu al-firdawsi tughanni 'alaa afnaani sidrat al-baqaa'i bi-alh.aanin qudsin maliihin wa tubashshiru al-mukhlis.iina ilaa jawaari Allaahi
    5. Arabic. Huwa al-'aziiz al-baaqii al-jamiil
      Tilka ayaatu al-qudsi nuzzilat bi-al-haqqi min laday Allaahi al-'aziiz al-jamiil wa fii-haa maa yughnnii al-naasa 'an kulli man fii al-samawaati wa al-ard.iin
    6. Arabic. Exordium: Huwa al-'aziiz al-'aalii al-qayyuum
      First line: Haadhaa lawhun yantuqu bi al-haqqi wa fiihi maa yuhdii al-naas ilaa Allaahi al-'aziiz al-jamiil alladhii qaddara la-naa maa laa qaddarahu li-ahadin min khalqihi
    7. Arabic. (this is to a woman that was in the presence of Baha'u'llah for a while)
      Exordium: Huwa al-'aziiz al-qayyuum
      First line: inna yaa ummata Allaahi an ushkurii fii nafsiki bi-maa yadhkuruki Allaahi h.iina'idhin bi-lisaanin qudsin mah.buub
    8. Arabic. Concerning the book of God as the standard of knowledge. Addressed to Kamaal al-Diin
      Huwa al-'aziiz
      inna yaa kamaala al-diin an ishad fii nafsika bi-annahu laa ilaaha illaa huwa al-mubdi'u al-badii'
    9. Arabic. To 'Ali
      Huwa al-baaqii al-'aziiz al-qayyuum
      Inna yaa 'Ali fa ashhad fii nafsika wa dhaatika wa ruuhika bi-anna-hu huwa Allaah laa ilaaha illaa anaa al-'aziiz al-qayyuum.
    10. Arabic. Addressed to the People concerning religious fanaticisim
      Huwa al-muqaddas al-munazzah al-'aliyyu al-'aalii al-qayyum tilka aayaatu al-malik al-muta'aalii al-muqtadir al-'aziiz al-mahbuub wa yudhakkiru al-naasa fii kolli maa afrat.uu fii janbi Allaahi

    [4] Appendix 4: Contents of Dawud, The River of Life

    (Selections from Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Dawud's translations, and Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to English believers)

    English text:
    11. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í revelation and its object
    15. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Moral and spiritual exhortations
    16. Bahá'u'lláh, The immortality of the spirit, same text as Gleaning LXX p. 153
    18. Bahá'u'lláh, The prophets and kings in Pre-adamic ages, same text as Gleanings LXXXVII, p. 172
    21. Bahá'u'lláh, the complaints of Bahá'u'lláh
    26. Bahá'u'lláh, the Word of God
    30. Bahá'u'lláh, the doctrine of the unity of God
    33. Bahá'u'lláh's, Epistle to a Christian Bishop residing at Istanbul, same as Gleanings XXXVI
    38. Bahá'u'lláh? the blessed people,
    41. Bahá'u'lláh, the privileges and duties of the Bahá'ís
    45. Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the chief of the Persian mystics
    48. Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to an early Bahá'í
    50. Bahá'u'lláh's comfort [to] his disciples.
    51. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Manifestation of God, same text as Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
    55. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's teachings and influence
    57. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The universal enlightenment
    58. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The duty of the Children of Israel
    60. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Epistle to a Bahá'í teacher

    I have checked these through the REFER programme and, with the exception of items 16, 18 and 51, have not located the sources of any of them.

    In one of the Persian tablets, 'Abdu'l-Bahá asks Dawud to distribute /send some tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and in another He says He will send good tablets to replace defective ones in a library. Could the selection of these English texts be based on one or other of these? See Dawud material in the Leiden Mss collection and in the BML catalogue of Meredith-Owen

    The preface states that Dawud had 'Abdu'l-Bahá's permission to translate tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá from Arabic and Persian. Most of these tablets are in the hand of Mishkin Qalam, some in the hand of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

    [5] copied front pages.
    [6] in his transl. of the tablet of uncompounded reality.

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