I’ve never ordered anything from the Vatican library, so this note is for those who have thought about it but never got around to it.
Today I’ve downloaded the PDF order form from here and posted it off, with an order for PDF’s of microfilms (! — all I can afford) of two Vatican mss. of the unpublished history of the Arabic Christian writer Al-Makin.
I’ve ordered a copy of Ms. Vatican Arab 169 (which I mentioned here when discussing complete copies), and, for good measure, a copy of Ms. Vatican Arab 168 (which from this post contains the first half). I am nervous, tho, that the description in Graf says that the former is folios 1-194r; i.e. around 400 pages, which doesn’t look long enough to me to contain the complete work. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
The order form is simple and obvious — one of the better examples I’ve seen — and in English. They intend to do it online, which they indeed should, but the website isn’t quite ready.
Prices are listed on the form, and are 50 euros for 100 pages, then 20 euros for each chunk of 100 pages thereafter. Payment is on delivery, apparently; I hope they take credit cards!
I will keep you posted on how this goes, and how easy they are to deal with.
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