Medieval and Modern Philologies

Authors as Readers in the Mamlūk Period and Beyond

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open access | peer reviewed

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.

Keywords Libraries • Pluri-maḏhab referencing • Ašʿarī • Intellectual independence • Ottoman book history • Ṣaḥḥāflarşeyḫizāde Esʿad Efendi • History of reading • Books circulation • Marginalia • Authors’ methodology • Individual reading practices • Scholars’ networks • Mutakallimūn • Source methodology • Critical reading • Medieval translation • Mamlūk period • Ownership statements • Commentaries • Taǧ al-Dīn al-Subkī • Ideal of affective relationship • Library • Paratext in manuscripts • Paratextual marks • Ottoman Mecmūʿa • Medieval commentary • Ornate prose style • Way of reading texts • Ǧamʿ al-ǧawāmiʿ • ʿAhd Ardašīr • Consultation notes • Book circulation • Isnād • Conceptual framework of response • Book loans • Autograph • Readings • Ǧumhūr al-ṣaḥāba • al-Ṣafadī • Ottoman reading culture • Public reading • Scholars’ library • Arabic manuscripts • Bilingualism • Collecting • Authorship • Literary tastes • Quoting • al-Maqrīzī • Correspondence • Companions • Intellectual history • Mistakes • Ottoman scholars’ reading practices • Methodology • Autograph manuscripts • Active and responsive reading • Mamlūk scholars • Interrelation of writing and reading • Book production • Copying

Thema codes GTB • NHTB • 3KL • 1QFA

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-560-5 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-560-5 | ISBN (PRINT) 978-88-6969-561-2 | Number of pages 326 | Dimensions 16x23cm | Published March 8, 2022 | Language fr, en

Subseries Serie orientale e-ISSN 2610-9476 ISSN 2610-9468

Copyright © 2022 Élise Franssen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.