Collections of Manuscripts and Rare Publications in Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the history of collections of manuscripts and rare books in the Arabic script in the Republic of Kazakhstan, including how they took shape, their contents, and their scholarly significance. These collections are considered part of the national heritage and are a valuable resource for studying the history and culture of the Kazakh people. Manuscript books and old printed publications, as well as private collections of valuable books, are additional subjects of interest. The unique materials drawn from these sources make it possible to study the cultural processes and particularities of Islamic civilization in Central Asia.

KEYWORDS:

• Manuscripts
• book culture
• cultural heritage
• national and private collections
• Islamic civilization
• original sources

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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6. Qazaq qoljazbalarınıñ ğılımi sipattaması: Auezov atındağı ädebiet jäne öner institutı men “Ğılım ordası” ortalıq ğılımi kĭtaphanasındağı qoljazbalar, 13 vols., (Almaty, 1975–2020).

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8. 2021 jılı Qızılorda qalasınan äkelingen şığıs tilindegi jazılğan sirek basılımdar men biregey qoljazbalardıñ tĭzĭmdemesĭ (katalogı). (Almatı: Qazaq universitetĭ, 2022), 217.

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11. Ospanova Bakıt. “Put’ stanovleniia i sozidaniia,” Kĭtap&Kĭtapkhana 1, no. 17 (2021): 9.

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13. Istoriia bibliotek Respubliki Kazakhstan, (Almaty: Öner, 2011), 1: 263.

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15. Ahmet Baytŭrsïnŭlï reformed the Kazakh writing system using the Arabic script. He made it possible for millions of Kazakhs living outside Kazakhstan to use the same alphabet. Baytŭrsïnŭlï removed all the purely Arabic letters that were not used in the Kazakh language and added letters specific to Kazakh. The new alphabet, which came to be called Jaña Emle (“new orthography”), is still used by Kazakhs living in China, Afghanistan, and Iran.

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17. Pis’mennye i pechatnye pamiatniki muzeev Respubliki Kazakhstan. Sbornik materialov III Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii “Rumiantsevskie chteniia–2019”, Moskva, April 23–24, 2019, Chast’ 2. (Moscow: Pashkov dom, 2019), 305.

18. Abaydıñ ömĭrbayanı men şığarmaşılığı turalı tüpnŭsqa qoljazbalar (Qazaqstan Respublikası Memlekettĭk ortalıq muzeyĭ qorınan): Ğılımi-inventarlıq katalog, 2 vols., (Almatı, 2020), Vols. 1–2; Nursan Alimbai and Napil Bazylhan, Redkie rukopisi i izdaniia v fondakh Tsentral’nogo gosudarstvennogo muzeia Respubliki Kazakhstan: Nauchnyi katalog, ed. Nursan Alimbai. (Almaty: Öner, 2011), 328.

19. Muminov Ashirbek, et al., eds., Book Collection in Arabic Script of the National Center for Manuscripts and Rare Books: Catalogue = Knizhnoe sobranie na arabskom shrifte Natsional’nogo tsentra rukopisei i redkikh knig: Katalog (Nur-Sultan: National Center of Manuscripts and Rare Books; İstanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), 2021), 17. This source is a tri-lingual edition in English, Kazakh, and Russian.

20. Ashirbek, Book Collection in Arabic Script, 18.

21. Ashirbek, Book Collection in Arabic Script.

22. Muminov, Аshirbek. Katalog arabograficheskikh rukopisei muzeia-zapovednika “Azret-Sultan” v gorode Turkestan. (Turkestan [Kazakhstan]: Mŭra, 1997).

23. Materials used here are from the field research of Eastern Studies expert Ömĭr Orazovich Tŭyaqbaev, Director of the Academician K.I. Satpaev Memorial Museum, part of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

24. Antika website: https://antika.kz (accessed August 10, 2022).