The name of Edward Granville Browne will always live in the annals of Cambridge University Library not only because he wrote the catalogues of the Mohammedan manuscripts (of which this small volume is a continuation), and not only because he gave his own splendid collection to the Library. In addition to these most notable contributions and benefactions, he also bequeathed a sum of money for the purchase of books and manuscripts relating to Islam; and a substantial proportion of the volumes listed in these pages came into the Library's possession as a result of that bequest.

E. G. Browne's successor in the Sir Thomas Adams's Chair of Arabic, Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, being ambitious to continue the tradition of his revered teacher and beloved friend, in his own turn willed to the Library the valuable manuscripts which he had inherited from his grandfather John Nicholson, to which he added other volumes he himself acquired. The R. A. Nicholson bequest is the most important of its kind that the Library has received since E. G. Browne's gift came in. During these twenty-five years other benefactors have also enriched the Islamic collection, and their names are recorded in due place.

This handlist has been compiled upon economic lines; but though austere, it will be found to contain the references adequate to establish the identity and significance of each item. The compiler desires to record his obligation and thanks to Mr Naish, formerly in charge of the oriental department of the Library, who made the index and helped in many other ways.