The rich collection of letters addressed to Pascual de Gayangos by friends and colleagues from Spain and other countries is an extremely valuable document for the history of orientalism and of many other scholarly pursuits during the central years of the nineteenth century. Among these letters, preserved in the Royal Academy of History, Madrid, thirty were written by the Dutch orientalist Reinhart Dozy (1820–83), who, as is well known, was perhaps the most important scholar of his time in the field of what was then called ‘Muslim Spain’. The first letter of Dozy to Gayangos was written on 27 July 1841, when he was a young student of Hendrik E. Weijers (1804–43), a professor at the University of Leiden. By the time Dozy wrote the last of his preserved letters, on 11 August 1852, he himself had become a professor at the same university and had established his reputation as a foremost Arabist and historian, thanks to his many learned publications on lexicography, Arabic manuscripts, and the history of al-Andalus. His letters during this crucial period of his life are a magnificent testimonial to his scientific interests, the progress of his work, and his relationship with Gayangos and other colleagues, as well as to his personal attitudes and opinions.

As far as is known, only two letters from Gayangos to Dozy have been preserved, which are now kept in the Library of the University of Leiden. It is impossible, therefore, to follow accurately the personal exchange carried on by the two scholars, as only one voice, that of Dozy, is to be heard. However, the personality of Gayangos, as translated by Dozy, acquires consistency letter after letter, and finds confirmation in his last letter to the Dutch orientalist, as will be shown below. In more than one sense, Dozy’s letters are as important for the appraisal of his own character as they are for the understanding of that of Gayangos.