Mali: Illuminated folio from a Qur'an from Timbuktu, c. 1775

Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran. The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.