x x v m INTRODUCTIO.
regarding' the transmission of th e Iraditions from th e first
n a rra to rs down to th e au th o r have been a lto g e th e r left out.
W h a t tb e use of abridgments bad begun, Timur and the
decay of civilisation all bu t completed. I t is oven now doubtful
if a single copy of tb is g re a t work is still in existence out
of Europe. Prof. Spronger was told in 1848 th a t two complete
copies were to be found a t Medina. An In d ian friend of his,
who no t long afterwards went on a pilgrimage to Arabia
u n dertook to in q u ire about them. As th e lib raries a re closed
in tb e sacred month, bo could no t oven got sig h t of the
volumes, bu t was informed th a t tbe work re a lly existed. M.
K u n ik of St. P e te rsb u rg tells in his in te re stin g Appendix
to Dorn’s Caspia th a t Gottw a ld t induced two b a ji’s of Kasan
to make researches about th e existence of a copy a t Medina.
They b ro u g h t home th e vague information th a t a copy had
e x is te d , b u t, as th ey were to ld , th e volumes had been
tran sp o rted to Constantinople, I th in k the la tte r information
less tru stw o rth y th an th e former. To resolve th is very important
question, M. A. von Kremer of Vienna wrote to Sheikh Yusuf
Dhiya eddin al-Khalidi a t Je ru sa lem , who promised to procure
th e req u isite information, and Prof. Koch of Schaffhausen wrote
to th e S h e rif of Mekka.
F o r th e re s t, p a rts of tb e work, mostly from different
copies, are to be found in several lib ra rie s. The Kopriilii-
lib ra ry in Constantinople possesses 8 volumes, th e British
Museum 3, th e Bodleian in Oxford 4, Berlin 6, P a ris 4, Leiden
and Algers each 1. A provisional inv e stig a tio n afforded the
sa tisfa c to ry re su lt, th a t it would be possible to re sto re a
complete copy by help of all these dispersed volumes. From
th a t moment, I firmly resolved to tak e the preliminary steps
for p rep a rin g an edition of this most im p o rtan t work, and to
see w h e th e r it would be possible, with th e aid of others, to
realise th e plan.
The first decisive measure was b ro u g h t about by th e la te
Professor Stilholiii of Basel, whoso loss we bad to deplore
INTRODUCTIO. XXIX
la st winter. The 22'"' December 1872 I received a le tte r
from Prof. Socin, in which in tbe name of Stähelin a certain
sum was placed a t my disposal, if I should feel inclined to
take th e lead in prep arin g an edition of Tabari. Tbis contrib
u tio n (5000 Francs), to g e th e r with a sum of 1500 guilders,
placed a t my disposal by th e Minister of the In te rio r in the
Netherlands, enabled me a t once, with th e assistance of Dr.
Mordtmann, to g e t copied in Constantinople th e first p a rt of
th e first volume and tb e parts th a t contained the years 37 —
40, 51—64 and 158—302 of the Hijra, and in London the
second p a rt of tb e first volume. Thus a b eg in n in g could be
made with th e p rep a ra tio n of tbe te x t. To Dr. B a rth of
Berlin was assigned th e p a rt of the first section, containing
the praeislamitic h istory up to th e Sasanides, to Prof. Nöldeke
of Stra ssb u rg th a t co n ta in in g th e h isto ry of the Sasanides.
Prof. Loth of Leipzig undertook th e edition of tbe life of
Mohammed and tb e four »righteous” Kh a lifa ’s, the la tte r p a rt
of which has been published by Ko seg arten from the Berlin
manuscript (1831 — 53). Prof. Thorbecke of He id e lb e rg took
upon himself th e first, and Dr. Müller of Vienna tb e second
p a rt of th e h isto ry of th e Omayados, Dr. G rü n e rt of Leipzig
th e first p a rt of th e h isto ry of th e A b b a sid e s, whilst the
la tte r p a rt remained for my own share. Perhaps it will be
necessary to seek one or two more collaborators, some parts
of th e work being very extensive.
Thus th e task is portioned out and th e study of th e te x t
has commenced. But before th e whole can be fa irly sta rted ,
th ere is still a g re a t deal to be done. The th ird p a rt of the
Constantinopolitan manuscripts lias been copied, and one
volume in L o n d o n ; we have still to got copied tb e two
th ird s in Constantinople and the two remaining volumes in
th e Britisli Museum. I t will, too, be necessary to have the
copies made in Constantinople once more collated with the
originals in tb e Köprülü by a young O rien ta list of capacity.
I f a copy of the work exists a t Medina, we n e ith e r can nor