In 1961 the University Library in Bratislava published the comprehensive catalogue of this collection (Arabische, türkische und persische Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek in Bratislava. Unter der Redaktion Jozef Blaškovič bearbeiteten" Die arabischen Handschriften Karel Petráček, die türkischen Handschriften Jozef Blaškovič, die persischen Handschriften Rudolf Veselý. Bratislava 1961), that describes the total of 598 independent works in the above-mentioned 284 volumes. Works in the Arabic language number 393 works, in Turkish 117, and in Persian 88. The most numerous among these documents are those dealing with theology and jurisprudence (226 in Arabic, 35 in Turkish and 33 in Persian), next comes philosophy (metaphysics, logics, and psychology) and sciences (natural sciences, politics, history, linguistics, literary criticism - 151 in Arabic, 37 in Turkish and 12 in Persian. The third comprehensive thematic matter is formed by the works of belles-lettres, where Turkish (42) and Persian (41) works predominate. The works written in Arabic are only ten in number. This proportion is very representative in a library coming from the Balkans, with the majority of Turkophone muslim readers - theology, jurisprudence and other fields of knowledge were mediated through Arabic, the "multinational" language of intellectuals, although the Ottoman empire gave birth to a number of works in these fields after 15th century, the copies of which circulated and were re-copied in the Balkans. Belles-lettres - Iranian romantic and heroic epics, and their Ottoman parallels, Persian and Turkish poetry - were, like in other Asian and European provinces of the Ottoman empire, widely popular, first of all among the inhabitants of cities. Therefore is its percentage in Bašagić's library rather high and mutually ballanced. The majority of the collection is formed by works that have a museal and instructive value or they are standard works of belles-lettres or science that can be found in every library, such as the compositions by Sa^cdí (No. 586, 589) or Jaláluddín Rúmí (No. 566). More valuable are the older manuscripts, the manuscripts close to the era of the origin of the work and the manuscripts signed by their author or even autographs of the authors. The oldest dated manuscript is the ethical treatise Kitáb ad-daríca ilá makárim aš-šarí^ca (No. 164) by ar-Rághib al-Isbahání (+ 1108 AD), dating from 591 AH (1194-5 AD). Among the ancient manuscripts created before 1000 AH (1591 AD) are Kút al-kulúb (No. 132) by al-Wáciz al-Makkí from 833 AH (1429 AD). A copy of the work An-Násikh wa´l-mansúkh fí´l-Kur´án (No. 19) by Ibn Salláma dates back to 837 AH (1433 AD), Destán-i Iskendernáme (No. 466) by Ahmedí to 891 AH (1486 AD), Mirsád al-^cibád min al-mabda´ ilá l-ma^cád (No. 519) by the Persian mystic Najmuddín Rází, copied by the Turkish poet Hášimí to 893 AH (1487 AD), and Wikáyat ar-riwáya fí masá´il al-Hidáya (No. 56) by Mahmúd b. Sadr aš-šarí^ca to 994 AH (1586 AD). From 15th century come all the older Persian manuscripts too. The oldest one of them is the probably unique anonymous treatise (No. 541) from the sphere of Islamic mysticism, traced to 871 AH (1466-67 AD). Only slightly younger are two minute works on traditions (hadíths) (No. 511, 516) from 879 AH (1474-75 AD) and a copy of the well-known mystical work by Najmuddín Rází, Mirsád al-^cibád min al-mabda´ ilá´l-ma^cád, (No. 519) was completed at the beginning of 893 AH (end of January 1488 AD). From the same year comes the older part of the manuscript volume comprising the famous Khamsa (No. 556) by Ilyás b. Yúsuf Nizámí from Ganja. A copy of a tiny work on silent prayer, Risála dar fazílet-i zikr-i khafí (No. 531) dates back to the very end of 15th century, to 902 AH (1497 AD).

The most remarkable among the autographs deposited in this library is a dictionary of the Turkish language Akhterí-i mutavvel (No. 455), copied by its author Muslihuddín Mustafá el-Karahisárí in Kütahya in 966 AH (1558 AD). Among minor documents by their authors there is Mukhtasar fí hall al-muškilát fí ^cilm al-fará´id (No. 85) by ^cAbdulkarím b. Muhammad from 946 AH (1539 AD) and Edá-i menásik el-hujjáj (No. 413) by Ibráhím al-Bosnaví, which is, at the same time, probably the only existing copy of this work from 1206 AH (1791 AD). Similarly unique and autographic is a shorter treatise on the ways of reciting the Koran Ta^críf et-tejvíd (No. 394) by Mehmed ^cAlí er-Rákim from 1242 AH (1827 AD). The Bosnian poet Hüseyn Beg Alaybegzáde, under the pseudonym Mírí, wrote a collection of comentaries and an excerpt to Persian poems by Ottoman commentators and a collection of proverbs, titled Mejmú^ca-i Mírí (No. 503).

One of the main reasons that made Safvet Beg Bašagić enlarge the inherited collection of manuscripts, was his interest in the works of Muslim authors from the Balkans and especially from Bosnia. One of the notable Bosnian polyhistors writing in Arabic was Hasan al-Káfí al-Akhisárí from Prusac (1547-1617). Safvet Beg acquired eight pieces from his sparcely found works for his library (No. 74, 99, 100-103, 309 a 437) and also his copy of a Turkish commentary of Gulistán (No. 502) of the Persian poet Muslihuddín Sa^cdí, written by the Ottoman poet Šem^cí Efendi, from 1006 AH (1597). Another Bosnian, writing in Arabic, was Muhammad b. Músá al-Bosnaví ^cAllámak from Sarajevo (+ 1635), whose notes to the glosses to the treatise al-Káfiya on Arabic grammar by Ibn al-Hájib (No. 328) have been preserved. Grammar, logics, and dialectics were the matter of concern of Mustafá b. Júsuf b. Murád al-Mostarí Ayyúbzáde (1650-1707), nicknamed Šehyúyo. His are the copies of a number of minor works on the methods of scientific work (No. 249-260), written in 1089 AH (1678 AD), probably during his pedagogic activity in Istanbul. Another native of Prusac (Akhisar) was Mustafá b. Muhammad al-Akhisárí (+ 1755), who wrote a unique treatise on the holy war - the jihad - Tabšír al-ghuzát fí sabíl Alláh (No. 153), inspired by the wars in Bosnia in 1736-7. Another work of his is a treatise on the merit of visiting cemeteries (No. 154). From the works by a muftí of Mostar, Ahmad Efendi al-Mostarí (+ 1776), our collection has preserved two pieces in Arabic (No. 398 a 406) and one in a Turkish translation (No. 496). A recondite Ahmad ^cAlamí from Podgorica (* 1776 ?) is the author of a commentary to an Arabic treatise on metrics (No. 357). The authors writing in Turkish are represented by ^cAlí Vusletí Beg Užičeví, whose treatise on the siege and seizure of the fortress Čigirin in Ukraine in August 1678 - Ghazánáme-i Čehrín (No. 483, 484) - is present in two unique copies. Another unique work is the poetic composition Murádnáme (No. 475) by Dervíš Paša el-Mostarí (Bayazidagazade + 1601/1603), dedicated to sultan Murad III.(1574-95). There is only one work created by a Bosnian author in the Persian language. It is the poetic composition of ethical contents Bulbulistán (No. 595 a 596) by Fauzí Mostarí, in two unique copies. The work was dedicated to Hekímoghlu ^cAlí paša, a governor of Bosnia, and it was finished in 1152 AH (1739 AD).

Among the rare manuscripts in Arabic, it is necessary to mention a corpus of tracts on logics by al-Fárábí (+ 950) (No. 231) from 1116 AH (1704 AD), comprising 12 treatises. Theology is represented, besides commentaries on some Koranic suras (No. 12, 13, 15 - 18, 22), traditions (No. 32 - 51), and law (No. 52 - 92), by an unusually large treatise Nakš al-fusús (No. 209) by the famous mystic Ibn al-^cArabí and the field of philosophy, besides the above-mentioned works by al-Fárábí, by a numerous series of glosses and supraglosses on as-Samarkandí's treatise Risálat ádáb al-bahth (No. 247 - 270) and on his commentary by Mascúd ar-Rúmí, several treatises on logics (No. 234, 244, 276, 280, 283) and psychology (No. 284, 285). From other fields of science, worth mentioning are the treatises on astronomical instruments (No. 294-304). The fields of linguistics (No. 314-354), rhetorics (No. 359-377) and metrics (No. 354-358) are represented by minor, often strictly specialized works. Belles-lettres are represented by an otherwise unknown tiny work by Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Júsuf aš-Šáfi^cí al-Manzilí Takhmís kasídat al-burda (No. 382).

For the manuscripts in Turkish, it is necessary to name, besides the aforementioned works by Bosnian authors writing in Turkish, some other remarkable works. Most probably unique among theological documents are the rules of dervishes, the so-called taríketnáme (No. 426-428). Valuable manuscript samples of the works about the history the Balkans are represented by the treatise on military expeditions of sultan Süleyman (1521-1566) (No. 449), a complaint (No. 451) of Bosnian leaders to sultan Mahmud I. about the comfortless state of the province, accompanied by a request for help, and a copy of the charter (No. 452) of the foundation of Ferhád paša in Banjaluka. A number of documents contained in the collection of official documents Kitáb al-inšá (No. 441) from 1121 AH (1709 AD) deals with the situation in Bosnia. Unique is the original of the official book of Timişoara fortress revenues from 1070 AH (1659-70 AD), Defter-i resídát-i nefs-i kal^ce-i Temešvár (No. 453), originating in the library of the Transylvanian family of the Pálffys. Anothe valuable item is the third known copy of the Janissary corps code - Yeničeri kánúnnámesi (No. 439). Politics is the subject of the work of the before-mentioned Bosnian author Hasan al-Káfí al-Akhisárí Usúl al-hikam fí nizám al-^cálam, originally written in Arabic (No. 309), to which the author's commented Turkish translation has been preserved (No. 437).

Besides the mentioned titles - the autographs of Turkish authors, Mustafá al-Karahisárí, ar-Rákim and Ibráhím Bosnaví, have already been cited - it is possible to turn attention to some other manuscripts of poetic anthologies - the díwáns. There are two copies of a little known anthology of poems - a díwán - of a Sarajevo literary, sheikh Hasan Efendi Sarayli el-Bosnaví, nicknamed Ká´imí Baba, a díwán of the Bosnian governor from the turn of 18th and 19th centuries, Ebú Bekr Sámí Paša (+ 1813) and an anthology of soothsaying poems - Váridát (No. 480-482) - "The things to come". Here belongs the díwán of an otherwise unknown poet Nazíf (No. 485). Two majmú^cas (No. 489-490) contain a number of poems by classical and Bosnian poets, e.g. two poets from Užica, Vusletí and Zárí, Ilhámí Baba, and Ká´imí Baba Sarayli. The poems of the latter two are written in Arabic script, in the Bosnian-Turkish language. Folklore literature is represented by two manuscripts, the first of which contains an incomplete version (about the first quarter) of the account of ^cÁšik Gharíb (No. 508) and the second a tale of the judge and the thief - Kádí ile ogru (No. 509).

Also the manuscripts in Persian contain several remarkable volumes. The undoubtedly most interesting and probably the most valuable of them is a rather old volume with signature TE 23 (overall description in No. 533), dating back approximately to the first half of 16th century. Its 137 leaves contain 27 shorter treatises and abstracts of the works by the greatest representatives of Persian mysticism. The highest rank among them is occupied by the anthology of 372 tetrastichs by ^cUmar Khayyám (No. 578). It is known that the Danish Iranist Arthur Christensen, (J. Rypka, Sbírka arabských, perských a tureckých rukopisů v universitní knihovně v Bratislavě. Prúdy, IX (1925) p. 184 sqq.), when he was about to purchase Bašagić's manuscript library, wanted to do so mainly because of this volume.

Another valuable documents is the codex TB 1, containing the complete Nizámí's Khamsa (No. 556), the older part of which (fol. 74 a 77-305) from 1488 makes it one of the oldest copies of this epic cycle. Also the manuscript Mesneví by Jeláluddín Rúmí (No. 566) can be dated to the era about 1500. Among the Persian manuscripts of this collection we can find all the "gardens" - starting from the well-known Sa^cdí's Golestán (No. 586, 587) and Bústán (No. 589), through Jámí's Beháristán (No. 592) and Kamálpašazáde's Nigáristán (No. 593) to the little known Sunbulistán by Šujá^caddín Gúrání (No. 594) and Bulbulistán (No. 595, 597; cf. Milivoj Malic, Bulbulistan du Shaikh Fewzi do Mostar. Paris 1935 and recently Fevzi Mostarac, Bulbulistan, preveo sa persijskog jezika, uvod sa napomenama i komentarima napisao Jemal Cehajic. Sarajevo 1973.) by a Mostar poet Fauzí al-Mostarí. The before-cited codex TE 23 contains two - unattested in available catalogues - minor treatises by ^cAbdurrahmán Jámí (No. 528, 529) and similarly unrecorded is Mi^cráj as-sálikín (No. 521) by ^cAbdulláh Badakhšání.

Two manuscripts (TF 55 a TC 11) contain altogether three folk versicles in the Bosnian dialect (fig. 1033, 1035, 1036), recorded in Arabic script.

The manuscript collection of Safvet Beg Bašagic's family developed through gathering copies that reached the Balkans in various ways or were created by local intellectuals or professional copiers, who wrote their names at the end of their copies.

Ownership records on board papers or elsewhere betray the owners of individual manuscripts before they came to the library of Bašagic's family. Ahmedí's Iskendernáme (No. 466) was in the holdings of an Egyptian Mameluke emir Khoshgeldi; the document Núr el-hüda (No. 423) was, among others, in the ownership of Mírí ^cAbdulkádir, the son of Melek Ahmed Paša, grand vizier (1060 AH/1650 AD) and governor of Bosnia (1069-70 AH /1658-1660 AD), and also Mahmúd Núreddín, a distinguished secretary at the Ottoman Porte in Istanbul; the symposium Majmú^ca-i Mírí (No. 503) was owned by several Bosnian personalities, such as ^cAbdulláh Efendi Kantamírí, Sálih Efendi Sabyic and Šákir Efendi Hajalic. The library of the Turkish scholar Ahmed ^cÁsim was the source of the díwán of the Persian poet Sá´ib (No. 565), Pandnáma by Faríduddín ^cAttár (No. 570) and an anthology of works by Persian mystics (sign. TE 23) (No. 533), into which Ahmed ^cÁsim inscribed his two ghazals. Another owner of this anthology, the Bosnian poet Mírí Hüseyn Beg, also added his verses. The díwán of Šamsuddín Háfiz (No. 557) was a property of the Bosnian poet Šeychzáde ^cAlí Bosnaví, while the owner of another copy of the same díwán (No. 558) was, among others, the Bosnian financial administrator of timar dependencies Mahmúd Beg. Among the owners of the copy of Jámí's Silsilat ad-dahab (No. 569) were two Herzegovinian notabilities - Hasan Beg Bošatli and Mahmúd Paša Bošatli.

If we turn our attention to the names of the scribes and authors of a number of documents in the library, we can identify several localities where these people came from. Some of them were the cultural centres of Muslim Bosnia and Herzegovina. The one which is necessary to name first is Sarajevo, the place where lived and worked Muhammad b. Músá ^cAllámak al-Bosnaví (No. 328), Ahmad ^cAlamí (No. 357), al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-Bosnasaráyí (No. 270) and Hüseyn Bek Mírí (No. 503) and the scribe Mehmed Sálim b. Hasan Gloceví (No. 487). Next comes Mostar, the home of Mustafá b. Júsuf b. Murád (No. 244), Dervíš Paša Bayezidagic (No. 475), Ahmed Efendi Muftí (No. 389, 411, 496), Ziyá´í b. ^cAlí al-Mostarí (No. 495) and the scribes Mustafá b. Sálih al-Mostarí (No. 475) and Mustafá al-Mostarí (No. 438). Among other places was Prusac (Akhisar), the home-place of Hasan al-Káfí (No. 74, 99-103, 437) and Mustafá b. Muhammad al-Akhisárí (No. 153, 154) and the scribes Hamza b. Ibráhím al-Akhisárí (No. 437), ^cAbdulláh Ramazánhoja el-Akhisárí (No. 497) and Mehmed b. Hasan al-Akhisárí (No. 502). Vusletí Beg (No. 483, 484, 489) a Zárí (No. 489) lived in Užica. Livno was the place of origin of the scribes ^cAbdulláh Efendi Karabegovic (No. 418, 458), Ibráhím b. Mehmad b. Núh Khalífe (No. 434, 436) and Sefer b. Ramazán (No. 456). ^cÖmer b. ^cOsmán en-Najjár el-Orahoví came from Orahova and Haji Mehmed b. Haji ^cAlí el-Belgrádí (No. 482) from Belgrade. Nevesinje gave birth to Ahmad b. Hasan an-Nevesíní (No. 589).