Abstract
Taking into consideration the trials that Mulay Zaydān’s library housed at El Escorial went through in the course of its history, we realise that it does not include all the manuscripts that belonged to the Saʿdian sultan. It should be remembered that this conviction already appears in M. Ḥajjī’s work (La vie intellectuelle au Maroc à l’époque saʿdide). However, the author did not provide sufficient information to identify the volumes that had been removed from the Sultan’s library during its vicissitudes and, like some of the manuscripts in the Escorial, still bear lapidary ownership marks. Apart from the two famous manuscripts composed for the benefit of Aḥmad al-Manṣūr (Tartīb dīwān al-Mutanabbī and al-ʿAwd aḥmad), Ḥajjī merely scratches the surface of the idea that the Escorial library in its present state does not represent the Sultanian library in its original state. He only points out, without further elaboration, the existence of a large number of manuscripts bearing the exlibris of Aḥmad al-Manṣūr or his two sons, Mulay Zaydān and Abū Fāris, scattered throughout Morocco. Investigations carried out as part of the SICLE project (2016-2021) have led to the discovery of more than a dozen manuscripts undoubtedly belonging to the Sultan's collection before it was transported to El Escorial. This discovery reinforces one of the findings set out in Les livres du sultan. Matériaux pour une histoire du livre et de la vie intellectuelle du Maroc saadien (2022). On several occasions, reflections on the various aspects of the Sultan's library are tempered by considerations on the losses suffered by the library, not only as a result of the fire of 1671 but also due to a number of little-known factors. This paper discusses some examples of manuscripts that are not in El Escorial but whose exlibris clearly prove that they belonged to the Sultan’s library while it was in Morocco during Mulay Zaydān’s lifetime. This is the first attempt to reconstruct this part of the library’s story on the basis of manuscripts scattered across various parts of Morocco and Europe. The copies found are listed and described, mainly taking into account their contents and their specific features in terms of marks linked to the history of the texts: marks of ownership, reading and hearing certificates as well as other signs helping to follow their course. The paper will also look at the codicological and palaeographic aspects of these manuscripts in the light of the research carried out in Les livres du sultan.
