FOREWORD.

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those who had illustrated his monastery. He wished to transmit them to posterity and composed the Liber Superiorum, dedicated to his friends Abd-Ischo (p. 1) and Hassan, son of Sabr-Ischo (p. 141), who had urged him to write this work.

The Liber Superiorum, very useful for mysticism as well as for history, is not unpublished. Assemani, in his famous Bibliotheca Orientalis (¹), provided a detailed analysis and some excerpts. Mr. Budge, a learned orientalist from London, published a complete edition (1893) with an English translation. Mr. Budge used a manuscript from the British Museum, two manuscripts that belonged to him personally, and the manuscript from the Vatican Library. If, despite these previous publications, we resolved to edit the Liber Superiorum again, it is because we had in our hands a new manuscript located in the Berlin Library, and we believed we were able, through a more in-depth study of the text and a more rigorous vocalization, to provide a more exact and correct edition. When we adopted some corrections made by Mr. Budge, we always, as is only right, credited the author.

We will take the liberty here of pointing out to orientalists the origin of a fault, convinced that our remark may be of some utility to them. Everyone knows that copyists, especially modern copyists, are responsible for many errors due to inattention and ignorance.

(¹) III. I. 464—501.