In 1885 Professor Heinrich Thorbecke, then of Heidelberg, published the first part of his edition of the collection of selected ancient Arabic poems (, or , or ), made, at the instance of the Caliph al-Manṣūr, for the instruction of his son, afterwards the Caliph al-Mahdī, by Abu-l-‘Abbās al-Mufaḍḍal, of the tribe of Ḍabbah (died 168). This collection, more generally known as the Mufaḍḍalīyāt, consisted, according to the Kitāb al-Fihrist (p. 68), of 128 poems, of which the published portion contains 42. In January 1890, Professor Thorbecke died, and the edition has not been carried further.