While much research has focused on the journey of Islamic manuscripts into Western libraries, with emphasis on Codicology and Orientalist studies, comparatively less attention has been devoted to the historical circulation of these manuscripts within the pre-modern Islamic world. Recent developments in manuscript studies following the “material turn” adopted by historians and social scientists, have enriched the field by encouraging inquiries into new topics such as the development and management of pre-modern Islamic libraries, the discovery and study of the manuscript fragments kept in storerooms and deposits like the Cairo Geniza and the Qubba of the Umayyad Mosque, the diplomacy of the book, and the movement of scientific works across Islamic territories.

This workshop aims to bring together a group of scholars whose research explores a wide array of themes related to the life, circulation, and transformation of manuscripts within the Islamic world.