This certainly seems a noble and worthwhile project. But to reach its
goal "to make available the entire publishing output of Afghanistan", it
will surely have to be international in scope. Many of these items are
to be found in British and Russian libraries, and maybe nowhere else.
One of the items on the website -- Sar-rishtah-i Islamiyah Rum, c.1887 -
has been scanned from an incomplete copy "in a private collection",
whereas there is a complete copy in the British Library in London,
according to their published catalogue.
The very detailed catalogues of Shcheglova also record a number of Kabul
and Herat imprints in collections
in St Petersburg.
Also, it should be made clear that what are on the website (so far) are
digitised images of the original
lithographs, not digitised texts.
But let us all wish the venture every success, and give it whatever
assistance we can.
Geoffrey Roper
Islamic Bibliography Unit
Cambridge University Library
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