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