Fihrist was developed by the OCIMCO project and aims to improve access to the valuable Islamic texts held in the Bodleian Libraries and Cambridge University Library.

The catalogue entries in the Fihrist catalogue are quite basic at the moment as the project has focused on the retrospective conversion of existing descriptions taken from printed and card catalogues.  It will eventually provide detailed manuscript descriptions though that will include digital representations of the manuscripts themselves.

The combined holdings of Oxford and Cambridge form the second largest collection of Islamic manuscripts in the UK and are of considerable intellectual significance. Both libraries have been collecting Islamic manuscripts since the 17th century and still continue to acquire manuscripts by donation or through purchase.

There are many early and rare items with broad subject coverage including:

Medicine
Mathematics
Astronomy
Literature
Religion
Philosophy
Poetry 

For information on ordering copies or to make appointments to study manuscripts in the collections see the Bodleian Libraries or Cambridge University Library web pages.