Texts, Scribes and Transmission: Manuscript Cultures of the Ismaili Communities and Beyond

The past few decades have seen a burgeoning interest in the manuscript cultures of the Muslim world. The study of manuscripts has brought to light new perspectives on the transmission of texts and larger questions of cultural practices passed down within the learned circles of premodern Muslim societies. The intellectual and literary heritage of Ismaili communities, who form a branch of Shi'i Islam, has until recently been preserved in private and largely inaccessible libraries. This open a...