ZEKY BEY, Ahmed.

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Mémoire sur les moyens propres a déterminer en Égypte une renaissance des lettres Arabes. First edition of this scarce work on the collections of Islamic manuscripts at the Royal Khedivian Library, and the early use of photographic facsimiles as a tool for digitization and preservation. The Egyptian Ahmed Zeky Bey (1867-1934), second Secretary of the Council of Ministers of the Egyptian Government and a member of the Institute Égyptien, was a bibliophile and prolific author of books on Arabic and Islamic art. He worked towards the promotion and dissemination of Oriental languages, cultures, and literatures, and was a supporter of Pan-Arabist theories.This pamphlet praised the efforts of the Royal Library of the Khedive Ismail in its attempt at bringing together the most important manuscripts and printed books pertaining to Egyptian culture and civilisation, most of which had been dispersed among European and Turkish institutional libraries. Zeky encouraged Egypt to "seize back its intellectual supremacy" using two important instruments: libraries and printing presses. He cited European libraries as a model as they did not allow great manuscript treasures to be exported abroad, while seeking to build collections of national importance. Zeky's project envisaged the acquisition of photographic reproductions of Islamic manuscripts from foreign libraries, in order to create facsimiles usable by researchers and as a basis for modern editions produced by the National Printing Pr

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