Primary literature:

• collection of important source texts
• translations of standard works
• translations of modern Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature

Secondary literature:

• lexicons, dictionaries, historical reference works, bibliographies, manuscript catalogues
• overall presentations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature and language history
• works on religion, mysticism and philosophy
• selected literature on intellectual and religious developments in individual countries
• selected literature on the history of the entire Islamic world and especially the Ottoman Empire
• journals (religion, culture, language, literature)

University Library special collections

see Manuscripts and bequests, Orient photography, Bibliotheca Indica, Bibliotheca Afghanica

Libraries with additional holdings

Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Basel:

• selected research literature on focus topics
• teaching material for the Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages
• modern literature in the original languages

Oriental manuscripts

The collection comprises around 700 Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts. The Arabic manuscripts are published in a printed catalogue:
Die Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Basel. Arabische Handschriften. Unter der Leitung von Gregor Schoeler beschrieben von Gudrun Schubert und Renate Würsch. Vorarbeiten von Fritz Meier, Gertrud Spiess, Hedwig Djeddikar. Basel 2001

Bequests of Orientalists

• Hieronymus Harder (1648-1675): biography
• Samuel Flury (1874-1935): biography, NL 166
• Wilhelm Sarasin-His (1882-1950): NL 232
• Rudolf Tschudi (1884-1960): biography, NL 287
• Fritz Meier (1912-1998): biography, publication list, NL 323
• Alfred Bloch (1915-1983): NL 399
• Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003): biography, NL 334

Access to manuscripts and bequests in swisscollections

Early prints

• early translations of the Koran into European languages
• European first prints of Arabic and Persian scripts
• Oriental first prints of Arabic, Persian and Turkish writings

Access to early prints in swisscovery Basel 

In bequests

• Samuel Flury (1874-1935), swisscollections signature: NL 166:46
• Wilhelm Sarasin-His (1882-1950), swisscollections signature: NL 232:U
• Alfred Sarasin-Iselin (1865-1953), swisscollections signature: NL 231 : 6 and Bibliotheca Indica (see below)
• Albert Socin (1844-1899), swisscollections signature: NL 383 : U
• Rudolf Tschudi (1884-1960), swisscollections signature: NL 287:U

Rudolf Tschudi‘s bequest contains 480 Oriental photographs from the second half of the 19^th century. This includes the over 140 Oriental photographs of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Basel, which were originally part of the same collection. The bequest of Wilhelm Sarasin-His contains 65 photographs. All are catalogued in swisscollections. In 2018 they were digitised and uploaded to e-manuscripta.ch.

In other collections

• Collection of views  Franz Eduard La Roche (1847-1912)
• Photo album Vues de Brousse
• Photo album Landschaftsveduten von Palästina
• Photo album Palästina & Italien

These photographs are recorded in swisscovery Basel

The Bibliotheca Indica is a collection of around 3000 volumes on Asian art, archaeology, handicrafts and history with a focus on South Asia. The collection was bequeathed by Alfred Sarasin to the University Library Basel, together with a foundation whose interest can be used to purchase new publications. For this reason, the collection did not stop growing in 1953, but also includes - to a lesser extent – more recent literature on archaeology and the history of art of South Asia and neighbouring areas.

Origins of the Bibliotheca Indica

Alfred Sarasin-Iselin (1865-1953) took over the management of Riggenbach & Cie. in 1893, which was re-named Bank Sarasin & Cie after him. Since 2011 the company has belonged to the J. Safra Sarasin Group. Alfred Sarasin-Inselin was one of the founders of the Swiss Bankers Association, its president, president of the Swiss National Bank and a member of numerous boards of directors. He represented Switzerland several times on economic issues abroad.
article about Alfred Sarasin-Iselin in Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz

In an article, Alfred Sarasin himself described how his Bibliotheca Indica came about:
"In the winter of 1889/90, over a period of four months, my friend, architect Emanuel LaRoche, and I started out from Colombo, travelled throughout India and primarily visited sites with buildings of architectural worth. (…)  I expressed to La Roche my wish that what we would see and deal with, should result in a publication. (…) For this, the existing literature had to be obtained. I took over these aspects of the work more and more, and eventually decided to purchase literature on Indian art and archaeology whenever the possibility arose."
(Alfred Sarasin: Meine Bibliotheca Indica. - Basel, 1944. - S. 3-4. - to the holding in swisscovery Basel)