Authors as Readers in the Mamlūk Period and Beyond
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abstract
Authors read and they use their readings within their writing process. Scrutinizing authors’ readings provides information on their tastes, working subjects at a given period, methodology, and scholarly milieu. It also brings a lot to intellectual history, highlighting the texts and manuscripts circulating in a certain context. Eight contributions investigating the readings of as many authors, from different points of view, are gathered here. The studied authors are mainly from pre-modern Islam – al-Qādī al-Fāḍil, Ibn Taymiyya, al-Ṣafadī, al-Subkī, al-Maqrīzī – with three exceptions: an incursion into the Ottoman 19th century – Esʿad Efendi –, a detour by the French court of Charles V – Evrart de Conty –, and a preface about Greek Antiquity – Philodème de Gadara.
Intellectual history • Book loans • Critical reading • Mamlūk period • Library • Ottoman Mecmūʿa • Book production • Book circulation • Collecting • Paratextual marks • Ideal of affective relationship • Ǧumhūr al-ṣaḥāba • Scholars’ networks • Authorship • Paratext in manuscripts • Authors’ methodology • Source methodology • Medieval translation • Ṣaḥḥāflarşeyḫizāde Esʿad Efendi • Commentaries • ʿAhd Ardašīr • History of reading • Individual reading practices • Scholars’ library • Mistakes • Ǧamʿ al-ǧawāmiʿ • Literary tastes • Taǧ al-Dīn al-Subkī • Ašʿarī • Libraries • Public reading • Conceptual framework of response • Pluri-maḏhab referencing • Books circulation • Bilingualism • Methodology • Consultation notes • Correspondence • Interrelation of writing and reading • Marginalia • al-Maqrīzī • Ornate prose style • Ownership statements • Intellectual independence • Autograph manuscripts • Autograph • Copying • Active and responsive reading • Medieval commentary • al-Ṣafadī • Mamlūk scholars • Mutakallimūn • Ottoman book history • Ottoman reading culture • Quoting • Readings • Way of reading texts • Companions • Ottoman scholars’ reading practices • Arabic manuscripts • Isnād