Chapter 8 The Consul and the King
Wetzstein and Alexander
In: Manuscripts, Politics and Oriental StudiesSearch for other papers by Faustina Doufikar-Aerts in
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Abstract
The Wetzstein collection of Arabic manuscripts, brought to Berlin in the nineteenth century, contains a series of popular epics, categorized as “Grosse Romane”. They formed an important corpus of texts, and the initial reference for my research into the oriental Alexander tradition, in particular the popular romance Sīrat al-Iskandar. This survey provides an overview of my personal experience: the weal and woe of some twenty-five years of manuscript research. It reviews historical ways of cataloguing, classifying and handling manuscripts, microfilms and printing devices. It also demonstrates how the Wetzstein manuscripts formed the basis for my investigations into text transmission and my long lasting involvement in manuscript collation, editing, translating and not least: Alexander.