The manuscript collection of Habiba Mehmedbašić from Stolac

Abstract

During the Ottoman rule over Bosnia & Herzegovina the Herzegovinian town Stolac was an important centre of culture, science and education. Numerous native families, from which some very prominent people in the field of public and cultural life came, used to collect, preserve and study oriental manuscripts.

A number of them even originate from Stolac, native people being either their authors or copyists. In the Mehmedbašić family there were always members desirous of books and knowledge. In one branch of the mentioned family, whose present legatee is Habiba Mehmedbašić nee Behmen, in addition to a very rich collection of printed books, some fifty manuscripts in Turkish, Arabic and Persian have been preserved.

This paper briefly describes the manuscripts, aiming at presenting a family library from Stolac and contributing,at the same time, to the studies of the cultural life of the place.