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Empire of Books
Constantinople, the Library of AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ« (d. 1135/1723), and the Ottoman Archive of Arabic Literatures
Series: - Bibliotheca Arabica, Volume: 2
Author:
In this book, small texts tell the big history of Arabic literatures. A pioneering analysis of manuscript notes follows the people who made and consumed the physical manifestations of this literary tradition into a detailed panorama of millennial transmission over three continents.
At the centre of this endeavour is an analysis of the life, career, and collecting of AbÅ« Bakr b. Rustam al-Å irwÄnÄ« (d. 1135/1723). As the head of the Ottoman Empireâs administration, he amassed a book collection of unsurpassed textual breadth, historical depth, and refinement. Efforts like his safeguarded this heritage and shaped how we encounter it today. This book highlights the crucial role the Ottoman capital Constantinople played in this process.
At the centre of this endeavour is an analysis of the life, career, and collecting of AbÅ« Bakr b. Rustam al-Å irwÄnÄ« (d. 1135/1723). As the head of the Ottoman Empireâs administration, he amassed a book collection of unsurpassed textual breadth, historical depth, and refinement. Efforts like his safeguarded this heritage and shaped how we encounter it today. This book highlights the crucial role the Ottoman capital Constantinople played in this process.
Boris Liebrenz, Ph.D. (2013) is a senior researcher in the Bibliotheca Arabica project at the Saxon Academy for Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig. He has an abiding interest in the world of Islamic manuscripts and investigates a wide range of documentary sources to explore the social and cultural history of the Middle East. His monographs include Die RifÄÊ¿Ä«ya aus Damaskus (Brill, 2016) and Arab Traders in Their Own Words. Merchant Letters from the Eastern Mediterranean around 1800 (Brill, 2022).
Foreword, Verena Klemm
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Timetable of AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Life
Notes on the Research Corpus
Introduction
1 Who stole the Golden Age?
1.1 The Golden Age: A Numberâs Game
1.2 Thieves
1.3 Violence â Destruction â Loss
1.4 Conclusion
2 More than a Secretary: The Arch-Bibliophile of the Ottoman Empire
2.1 Beginnings
2.2 Egypt
2.3 Constantinople
2.4 Reisülküttab
3 Constantinople: Empire of Books
3.1 A social space
3.2 A test of fire
3.3 Arab Constantinople
4 The Waves of the Book Market
4.1 What a KÄtib Reads â The Literary Horizon of Ottoman Constantinople
4.2 What a KÄtib Buys â The Sources of al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Library
4.3 A Library on the Move: The Afterlife of al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Books
Epilogue
Appendix 1: List of Books Auctioned from AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Estate
Appendix 2: List of Identified Manuscripts from AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Library
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Timetable of AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Life
Notes on the Research Corpus
Introduction
1 Who stole the Golden Age?
1.1 The Golden Age: A Numberâs Game
1.2 Thieves
1.3 Violence â Destruction â Loss
1.4 Conclusion
2 More than a Secretary: The Arch-Bibliophile of the Ottoman Empire
2.1 Beginnings
2.2 Egypt
2.3 Constantinople
2.4 Reisülküttab
3 Constantinople: Empire of Books
3.1 A social space
3.2 A test of fire
3.3 Arab Constantinople
4 The Waves of the Book Market
4.1 What a KÄtib Reads â The Literary Horizon of Ottoman Constantinople
4.2 What a KÄtib Buys â The Sources of al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Library
4.3 A Library on the Move: The Afterlife of al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Books
Epilogue
Appendix 1: List of Books Auctioned from AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Estate
Appendix 2: List of Identified Manuscripts from AbÅ« Bakr al-Å irwÄnÄ«âs Library
Bibliography
Index
All interested in the history of Arabic literatures and its transmission, the history of libraries in the Islamic world, as well the social and cultural history during the Ottoman period.