Via The Papy List:

The Arabic Papyrology Webclass (Spring 2008): Early Letters

During the last years, there has been a heated debate about how far we should trust the literary sources on Umayyad and Early Abbasid history. Alternatively, we might use original letters preserved from that time. In this on-line webclass, each week (or two weeks), we will read an unpublished Arabic letter from eighth century Egypt.

Dates: Spring semester 2008, 18th of February - 26th of May, 2008, Mondays, 12-14 h (Swiss time, time might be changed). Participants: MA and PhD students in Arabic and Islamic studies, scholars interested in Arabic documents, persons in charge of Arabic manuscript collections, etc. Requirements: a computer (download of two plug-ins); internet access; earphones; microphone (internal or external). Communication will be through your browser. No installation of applications or special fonts. You will be sent a scan of each letter in advance. Estimated time for preparation: 1-2 hours/week. Teaching language: German or English, depending on participants. Fees: CHF 250.- (scholarships on request).

Further information and registration: http://www.ori.uzh.ch/apw.
Deadline for registration: 4th of February, 2008.
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Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony
Orientalisches Seminar, Universität Zürich
Wiesenstrasse 9, Büro H-05, CH-8008 Zürich
Tel. 0(041)44 634 07 36, Fax 0(041)44 634 36 92
www.ori.uzh.ch. kaplony at oriental.uzh.ch

From the introduction:

The following list includes classical and modern publications which deal with, or are relevant to, the study of the Arabic manuscript codex. Excluded from this list are works of calligraphy and palaeography, since there is already a good select bibliography of those by Saydū and al-Yūsuf. Classical works of the 'ādāb al-kātib' genre, although containing a wealth of information also application to codices, they fall within the scope of Diplomatic and therefore are also mainly excluded.

Full article is here.

The Checklist of Arabic Documents, prepared by Dr Petra M Sijpesteijn, Dr John F Oates and Dr Andreas Kaplony is downloadable as PDF or can be read as html in your browser. It's purpose (from the site):

The Checklist of Arabic Documents aims to facilitate and advance the use of Arabic documents. By providing this inclusive bibliography of editions of Arabic documentary texts - on papyrus, paper, parchment, leather, ostraca, wood, stone and bone - in monographs and articles, and setting out a standardized system of abbreviations for monographs of Arabic document editions, we hope it will serve to enhance the transparency of citations and improve the accessibility of editions, functioning as a useful point of reference for Arabists and non-Arabists, specialists and non-specials alike.

The Arabic Papyrology Database states that its website is for:

Proper papyrologists, historians, philologists, editors, professors, students: Specialists in Arabic studies, Islamic studies, history of the Middle East upt to the 10th/16th c., Islamic law, linguisits, historians in general - just anyone dealing with Arabic documents. Try it out!

It includes a free virtual "arabic papyrology school" to help one grow accustomed to the nuances of Arabic paleography.
(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)

In addition to adding Professor Witkam's excellent site to the blogroll, I wanted to briefly point out the existence of the reference page of the site, in which numerous works -- in Arabic, English, and other languages, classical and modern -- are available for free download. In fact, the entire text of al-Tanahi's Madkhal ila Tarikh Nashr al-Turath al-ʿArabi, mentioned in a previous post on this blog, is available, as well as countless other texts. A treasure trove for the penniless, online Middle Eastern medievalist!

The Library of Congress provides a Romanization Table for Arabic in a friendly, downloadable PDF. While there will be little new for anyone with any sort of Arabic training, it does contain a helpful section on transliteration (here called "Romanization of Arabic orthographic symbols") methodologies, especially for those non-letter and vowel signs such as the hamzah, ayn, and other maddah, and others that seem to be often misused. Of course, the page includes the romanization tables of other languages.

The Islamic Manuscript Association is a relatively young organization (apparently largely organized and run by the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation in conjunction with the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge), though their website is already full of information for people interested in manuscripts, codicology and paleography in the Muslim world. This page on the site, "Bibliography on Islamic Papers, Book Structures Pigments and their Conservation" is a nice starting point for those interested in conservation in the widest sense.

The OttomanStudies.com website claims to to be able to assist in procuring manuscripts and materials from Turkish archives and libraries, as well as to provide other research assistance. From their site:

• Translation of documents/written sources in Ottoman Turkish into English/Modern Turkish
  
• Scanning of Ottoman Turkish/Modern Turkish resources on specific topics and providing a report on the findings
  
• Carrying out research in archives/libraries and posting the findings to your address
  
• Getting copies of resources you have the references for or you have already scanned through and posting the copies to your address
  
• Exact translation of academic articles and papers in English/Turkish using the appropriate jargon
  
• Tutorial courses in Otoman Turkish

(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)