The purpose of this article is to examine and evaluate the exegesis in old lithographic and lead-printed manuscripts in the rare lithographic and lead-printed manuscripts repository of the Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi from the perspective of bibliography and cataloguing. For this purpose, the exegesis printed in old lithographic and lead-printed books published between 1245 and 1330 AH were studied and examined by considering the content of the manuscripts in 6 subject categories including Islam and the Infallible Imams, literature, jurisprudence and principles, philosophy and mysticism, Islamic ethics and history. The population studied in this study included 250 manuscripts with exegesis on various subjects, from which 94 exegesis were selected by eliminating duplicate manuscripts and considering more comprehensive exegesis.
Research Method/Approach: Using a descriptive method and content analysis technique, the transcriptions of 94 lithographic and lead printing copies were examined, and the required data were collected using checklists designed for this purpose.
Findings: It was found that the presence of a citation as part of a manuscript can be a useful source of information for the cataloger, especially in incomplete manuscripts without a title page. The cataloger can obtain information such as the title of the manuscript, the name of the author, the name of the translator or corrector, the subject and content of the manuscript, and sometimes the name of the publisher and printer, as well as the year of publication of the manuscript, etc. from the citation or citations in the manuscript.
Conclusion: It is appropriate for catalogers of old lithographic and lead-printed books to consider manuscript abbreviations as a source of information, such as the title page, table of contents, and after..., conclusion, and progression, and not to neglect the available information.