There are over 275 Ottoman Turkish and Caĝatay manuscripts in Canada, including more than 200 in the collection of Professor Eleazar Birnbaum. These are remarkable in terms of age (mostly 15th to 17th century) and subject range. The descriptions in this catalogue are unusually detailed: they include author, title, subject, contents, first and last words, date of manuscript, calligraphy, foliation, dimensions, and the location of similar manuscripts elsewhere. Among other special features are details of watermark designs in the paper (useful for dating undated manuscripts), descriptions...

Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Birnbaum Collection, Toronto includes many early copies, from the 6th century A.H. / 12th century C.E. onwards. They cover a wide range of subjects. The catalogue gives detailed descriptions of 66 Arabic and 34 Persian works, arranged by subject. Author and title indexes provide easy access, and photographs of selected pages enhance the descriptions. The manuscripts were acquired individually over many decades.