Yahuda was one of the most prolific collectors of Arabic manuscripts of the twentieth century. He collected manuscripts for upwards of forty years over a vast geography. At least 8,000 manuscripts passed through his hands.

The Seven Yahuda Collections

To date, seven institutions in Western Europe and North America have been identified that were benefactors of his manuscript sales.

Between 1921 and 1924, the British Museum bought about 200 manuscripts from Yahuda. This relationship led to further sales. Edward Edwards (d. 1944), a librarian at the British Museum from 1904 to 1935, introduced Yahuda to Francis W. Kelsey at the University of Michigan, who bought 265 manuscripts from Yahuda in 1926. In 1927, Kelsey introduced Yahuda to Chester Beatty. This relationship would be one of Yahuda’s most important, involving the sale of several hundred manuscripts. Between 1926 and 1929, Heidelberg University Library also acquired a number of manuscripts from Yahuda, either as purchases or gifts. In 1941, Yahuda sold 129 medical manuscripts to the U. S. National Library of Medicine.

Yahuda’s largest sale of manuscripts took place in 1942. Chester Beatty had introduced Yahuda to Robert Garrett (1875–1961), a Princeton alumnus who had a long standing interest in the Near East. Garrett purchased more than 5,300 Yahuda manuscripts and donated them to Princeton University Library.

Just months before his death in 1951, Yahuda donated the remaining 1,400 manuscripts in his collection to the National Library of Israel.

Written by Garrett Davidson and Torsten Wollina