2024 has seen the welcome revival of Arabic as a subject for undergraduate study at New College after the subject had been discontinued for years. The current librarian has chosen to mark this by acquiring for the collections a fine, portable manuscript prayer book in Arabic (and Ottoman Turkish) dating from the very early 19th century. Our new MS 383 is now thus a signal juncture in the college’s history as the inaugural Margoliouth Fellow in Arabic spearheads Arabic’s revival here. That fellowship is named after a former student and fellow of our college, one of the most illustrious British orientalists in recent history.
 

New College Library, Oxford, MS 383, ff. 1v–2r

New College Library and Archives, Oxford