The scholarly catalogue of the Greek manuscripts in the Leipzig University Library

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulrich Johannes Schneider
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies ; Medieval History
• Term: from 2011 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 193230269

With 116 items, Leipzig University Library has the third largest collection of Greek manuscripts in Germany. The collection is composed of two sections, on the one hand the university's own Codices graeci, and on the other a deposit of manuscripts owned by the Leipzig City Library. lt contains sev-eral famous pieces such as the Codex Sinaiticus, the chronicles of Genesios or the ceremonial book of Porphyrogennetos. In addition, it stands out for its breadth of contents ranging from liturgical and Bible manuscripts and theological literature through philosophical, poetic and historical to legal, med-ical and mathematical-technical texts. The manuscript collection of Konstantin Tischendorf is of par-ticular significance, due to its age and importance for the history of science.Since 2012, the Centre for Manuscripts at Leipzig University Library has conducted a DFG-project devoted to the scholarly cataloguing of the collection. Prior to this project, the main source of infor-mation consisted of two historical catalogues from the 19th century. These both suffer from several shortcomings, notably their brevity and their limited focus on the central texts. They contain no or little information about codicological aspects or the origins and history of the manuscripts and are also out of date in terms of content. Furthermore, they take no account of the changes in the library's holdings that have occurred over the course of the 20th century.At this point of the project, the cataloguing of the manuscripts from the Leipzig City Library is mostly completed and the cataloguing of the university's own stock has begun on schedule. The work has already provided major insights into the origins and history of the manuscripts, as well as the texts contained within them. All results will be made available online on the Manuscripta Mediaevalia portal.The second phase of the project is intended to conclude the cataloguing work. This includes a sum-mary outline of results, the standardisation and correction of all the data, as well as the generation of a printout from the online documents to form the basis of a book publication.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Foteini Kolovou