The collection of Malay manuscripts in the British Library consists of about 100 volumes and over 300 documents, uniting collections from the British Museum and the India Office Library, including the archives of the English East India Company. These manuscripts originate from all parts of maritime Southeast Asia, including present-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and the southern regions of Thailand and the Philippines, and range in date from the 17th to the early 20th century. The strengths of the collection are in the fields of literature, history and law, and include some exceptionally significant items such as the oldest known copy of the earliest Malay history, Hikayat Raja Pasai(Or. 14350), and one of the finest illuminated Malay manuscripts, a copy of theTaj al-Salatin(Or. 13295).
Through the generous support of Singapore-based American philanthropists William and Judith Bollinger, the complete collection of Malay manuscript volumes in the British Library was digitised between 2013 and 2015, in collaboration with the National Library Board of Singapore. The manuscripts can be accessed through the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site, and also on the National Library of Singapore's BookSG site. Most of the Malay manuscripts listed below are described in M.C. Ricklefs and P. Voorhoeve, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1977), an updated edition of which, to include recent acquisitions, has recently been published:
M.C.Ricklefs, P.Voorhoeve and Annabel Teh Gallop. Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections. New Edition with Addenda et Corrigenda. Jakarta: Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient,Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia, Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, 2014.
Listed below are the digitised Malay manuscripts, some with parts in Arabic; Lampung manuscripts; and Qur'an manuscripts from Southeast Asia. Hyperlinks from the shelfmark link to the catalogue description for each manuscript; then click on the thumbnail image to get to the full digitised version of the manuscript. Also included in the list below are links to related blog posts, where available. If you would like to keep in touch with progress, subscribe to ourblogand follow us on Twitter @BLAsia_Africa or @BLMalay; or contact me by e-mail: annabel.gallop@bl.uk
Malay
IO Islamic 2906Islamic catechism in Arabic by al-Samarqandi, with Malay translation, Batavia, early 19th c.