History of the Arabic Written Tradition (German: Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, or GAL) is a reference work produced by the German scholar Carl Brockelmann and first published in two editions by Brill in Leiden in 1898 and 1902.

[1] The first edition of the work was first published in two volumes (1898–1902), and aimed to give a framework which divided Arabic literature into periods and subjects.

[2] However, Brockelmann later wrote a series of three Supplementbände ('supplement volumes') that vastly expanded the original work and then revised the original volumes, so the final work comprised the following: Between 2016 and 2018, GAL was published by Brill in an updated English translation as History of the Arabic Written Tradition.

[3] The work is considered a classic of Orientalist scholarship and it remains a fundamental reference volume for all Arabic literature.

[4] Abd ar-Rahman Badawi in his Encyclopedia of Orientalists describes it as "the single and essential source for everything relating to Arabic manuscripts and the places where they are kept.