Arabs and Arabists contains nineteen selected articles by Alastair Hamilton on the Western acquisition of knowledge of the Arab and Ottoman world in the early modern period. The first essays are on Arabs who visited Europe and gave instruction to Western Arabists, and on Europeans who either visited the Arab (or the Ottoman) world in search of manuscripts and information or who, like Franciscus Raphelengius, Isaac Casaubon and Adriaen Reland, studied it at a distance and remained in the West. These are followed by a section on the actual study of the Arabic language in Europe, and above all the creation of the first Arabic-Latin dictionaries, and another on the European study of Islam and Western translations of the Qurâan.
Alastair Hamilton, Ph.D. (1982), is a Senior Research Fellow at the Warburg Institute, University of London. He has published monographs and articles on relations between Europe and the Arab world, including The Copts and the West 1439-1822 (2006, 2nd ed. 2014).
Preface List of Figures Abbreviations
Part 1: Arabs and Arabists
1 An Egyptian Traveller in the Republic of Letters
âJosephus Barbatus or Abudacnus the Copt
2 Michel dâAsquier, Imperial Interpreter and Bibliophile
3 Isaac Casaubon the Arabist
ââVideo Longum Esse Iterâ
â1âThe Apprentice
â2âThe Method
â3âThe Centre of a Circle
â4âThe Arabist
â5âConclusion
4 âTo Divest the East of All Its Manuscripts and All Its Raritiesâ
âThe Unfortunate Embassy of Henri Gournay de Marcheville
5 From East to West
âJansenists, Orientalists, and the Eucharistic Controversy
â1âThe Embassy in Istanbul
â2âProtestant Reactions
â3âEastern Beliefs
â4âConclusion
8 Pilgrims, Missionaries, and Scholars
âWestern Descriptions of the Monastery of St Paul from the Late Fourteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century
â1âProsperity to Destitution
â2âRevival and Restoration
â3âContinuity and Change
â4âScholarly Investigation
9 The Metamorphoses of Georg August Wallin
Part 2: Arabic Studies
10 Arabic Studies in Europe
â1âThe Motives
â2âThe Grammars
â3âThe Dictionaries
â4âThe Schools
11 The Victims of Progress
âThe Raphelengius Arabic Type and Bedwellâs Arabic Lexicon
12 âNam Tirones Sumusâ
âFranciscus Raphelengiusâs Lexicon Arabico-Latinum (Leiden 1613)
â1âAntwerp
â2âLeiden
â3âPublication
â4âRaphelengiusâs Arabic Manuscripts
âAppendix: Raphelengiusâs Arabic Manuscripts in the Leiden University Library
13 Franciscus Raphelengius
âThe Hebraist and His Manuscripts
15 The Study of Islam in Early Modern Europe
â1âFrom the Islamic Conquests to the Reformation
â2âParallel Developments: the Protestant North
â3âParallel Developments: the Catholic South
â4âConclusion
16 A Lutheran Translator for the Qurʾan
âA Late Seventeenth-Century Quest
â1âThe Turkish Defeat
â2âCompeting Translators
â3âThe Key to Success
17 âTo Rescue the Honour of the Germansâ
âQurʾan Translations by Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century German Protestants
18 The Qurʾan as Chrestomathy in Early Modern Europe
19 After Marracci
âThe Reception of Ludovico Marracciâs Edition of the Qurʾan in Northern Europe from the Late Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century
Index
All interested in the history of Arabic studies and relations between Europe and the Arab world.