One of the most loyal supporters of the National Library was the American tycoon and librarian Willard Fiske (1831–1904). During his lifetime, he gave the library over 1,500 books, and then bequeathed a large part of his books to the library in his will, over 2,500 volumes, many of which are valuable and rare. The books arrived at the library soon after his death, but were not unpacked from boxes until after the library’s move to a new building in 1908. Recently, it was discovered that among the books the library received from Fiske’s collection were four foreign manuscripts, all of which are unique. One of these manuscripts, Lbs 5336 8vo, contains a book of hours, written ­­on parchment, probably in the 15th or 16th century. Two of the manuscripts are in Ottoman Turkish / Persian and belong to the literary tradition of the Ottoman Turks. The fourth manuscript, Lbs 5339 8vo, is a Gospel book in Armenian. It is not known where or when Willard Fiske came across these manuscripts, whether he bought them or received them as a gift. However, it is known that in addition to being a great book collector, Fiske was interested in Egypt and Egyptian culture and traveled there often. All the manuscripts have been digitized and are available on handrit.is. In the next few days, they can also be seen on display in the foyer of the National collection on the library’s 1st floor.

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