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