The owner of this private library, Ḥikmat Raḥmānī, is known for his work cataloging several libraries in Iraq, such as the library of Dayr al-Ābāʼ al-Karmalīyīn (Baghdad, Iraq). The sixty-three manuscripts which constitute his private collection have recently become available in HMML’s Reading Room.

These manuscripts express the various interests of their owner. His library includes historical works, dictionaries, notebooks, and musical notations and hymns. More importantly, many manuscripts in the Private Library of Ḥikmat Raḥmānī are related to Father Anistās Mārī, al-Karmilī, 1866-1947. For instance, there are autographs of his published works such as Muʻjam al-Musāʻid, and others of works that were never published such as Muʻjam al-Qabāʼil al-ʻArabīyah. There are also some of his compilations in addition to correspondence with some of the intellectual elites of his days. View now