{"title":"Paul Sbath’s Manuscript Library","authors":"Celeste Gianni","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article concerns the manuscript collection of the Syrian Catholic priest Paul Sbath (Aleppo, 1887–1945), who is regarded by some as one of the twentieth century’s most controversial collectors. This is primarily due to the mysterious circumstances under which he obtained and consolidated his collection of 1,325 manuscripts, part of which he sold to the Vatican Library in 1927. Through a close study of the negotiations around the acquisition of Sbath’s manuscripts by the Vatican, this article explores the different, and sometimes conflicting, conceptualizations of a manuscript library in the early post-Ottoman period. Physically displaced following the historical events that were drastically transforming the Middle East in the early 20th century, Sbath’s collection has been a moving library—during his life and after—from Aleppo to Jerusalem, then from Cairo to the Vatican, and back to Aleppo. Using previously unresearched archival sources at the Vatican, this article explores how Sbath’s goal was to create a modern Western waqf (endowment) of books: a hybrid library reflecting the continuation of the Middle Eastern manuscript tradition in dialogue with the Western perception of a manuscript library, as well as representing Sbath’s identity as an Arab Catholic priest living through the contemporary challenges of war, plague, displacement, and migration in the Middle East in the interwar period.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48782961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"التملّكات في مخطوط ”المنزع البديع في تجنيس أساليب البديع“ لأبي محمد القاسم السجلماسي (بعد ٧٠٤هـ)","authors":"أحمد السعيدي","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 حاول المقال إنجاز دراسة كوديكولوجية في مخطوط موجود بمكتبة برلين هو ”المنزع البديع في تجنيس أساليب البديع“ لأبي محمد القاسم السجلماسي (توفي بعد ٧٠٤هـ)، من خلال دراسة ظهرية المخطوط والتركيز أساسا على خوراج النص والتملكات، وعددها ستة منها الواضح والمبتور والمطموس بسبب ترميم يدوي بلصق الورق أو بسبب التشطيب على المكتوب. لقد بيّنت الدراسة نصوص التملكات ورحلة المخطوط بين دمشق والقاهرة وتونس وبرلين، وطبيعة المتملكين وهم من العلماء أمثال حسن العطار وخالد الزهاني ومحمد بيرم الرابع التونسي.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46962581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards the Perfect Jung","authors":"Mohammad Karimi Zanjani Asl, David Durand-Guédy","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article presents a set of four multitext manuscripts made in Tabriz during the reign of the Safavid Shāh Sulaymān (r. 1666–1694). The texts are organized around one core abstruse text (lughuz) penned by the patron of the work, the vizier of Azarbayjan and mustawfī al-mamālik, Ẓahīr al-Dīn Ibrāhīm (d. 1102/1690). Analysis of these manuscripts, copied successively over a period of 12 years by the same hand, reveals the endeavours of the patron and the copyist to produce an artefact that was increasingly refined in terms of layout. The Sackler manuscript is the most recent and also the most accomplished. The amount of time and money put into this project is unusual for a non-royal patron. This editorial project might be linked to Ẓahīr al-Dīn’s political ambitions to find a position or to restore his reputation at the royal court at Isfahan.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47618635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Amulet Scroll from Erzurum from August D. Żaba’s Kurdish Collection in the Manuscript Department, National Library of Russia, Kurd. 51","authors":"Khanna Omarkhali","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article presents an edition, translation, and study of the amulet scroll Kurd. 51 from the Kurdish collection of August D. Żaba that was presented by him to the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Russia (NLR) in St Petersburg in 1868 along with 52 manuscripts and lithographs. The amulet contains passages in Arabic and Persian and was found, according to Żaba, among the Kurds in Erzurum.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42165461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Islamic Palm-Leaf Manuscripts from Lombok","authors":"Dick van der Meij","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01302003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01302003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The religious background of manuscripts and texts from Lombok is not always certain. Nevertheless, in view of the overwhelming Muslim population on the island, many texts in manuscripts are inspired by Islam. Most manuscripts in Lombok are written on palm leaves, and these lontar manuscripts used to be kept by the people in great numbers, especially among the Waktu Telu, Muslims who adhere to a local variety of Islam, distinct from mainstream Sunni Islam. Material and non-material aspects of the lontar manuscripts from Lombok are discussed here. Apart from the Sasak inhabitants of Lombok, the Balinese community in West Lombok is also familiar with Muslim texts, and some aspects of the materiality of the lontar manuscripts from both communities containing Islamic texts are discussed here. The examples of the manuscripts highlighted here offer wider insights about these so far ill-studied manuscripts from Lombok in Indonesia.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43050271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Two New Arabic Business Letters from the Berlin Collection","authors":"Ahmad Kamal","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 There is a high percentage of letters among Arabic documentary material. The vast majority of them remain unpublished, however. This article presents the edition, translation, and commentary of two as yet unpublished business letters currently kept at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. The first was sent to solicit help with some calculations and to stress the importance of the results (P.Berl.inv. 8582), and the second was sent to grant a monk permission to join the harvest (P.Berl.inv. 6746 verso).","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44581488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Early Collections of the Works of Ġiyāṯ al-Dīn Jamšīd al-Kāšī","authors":"Osama Eshera","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01302001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01302001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Ġiyāṯ al-Dīn Jamšīd al-Kāšī (d. 832/1429), also known as Kāšānī, was a prominent astronomer and mathematician in the 9th/15th century and was a central figure at the observatory in Samarqand under the patronage of Ulugh Beg (r. 811–853/1409–1449), the Timurid ruler of Transoxiana. Kāšī’s works have frequently been copied and circulated in bound collective volumes, the earliest of which was produced during Kāšī’s lifetime by his colleague, Muʿīn al-Munajjim al-Kāšī, and is now held as MS Tehran, Malik 3180. This article introduces the second earliest such volume, which is currently held in a private collection in Toronto, Canada. The only dated colophon in MS Toronto is a forgery. Fortunately, I located another copy of Kāšī’s Miftāḥ al-ḥisāb that was transcribed in the same hand and bears a genuine copy date of 881/1476. Thus, MS Toronto was in fact produced approximately fifty years after Kāšī’s death and about eighty years earlier than the spurious colophon would indicate. In addition to resolving further codicological questions, this article highlights the decorative and paleographic features that make this codex an exemplar of the intellectual and material history of Timurid bookmaking. Ultimately, this codex offers valuable new evidence on the early transmission of Kāšī’s works as bound collections.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48496441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Islamic Manuscripts from Aceh in the British Library","authors":"A. T. Gallop, Oman Fathurahman","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01302002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01302002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Aceh has long been renowned as a centre of Islamic scholarship, and some of the most famous Malay texts were composed in this area of north Sumatra. However, despite an abundance of philological and literary studies of texts from Aceh, little attention has yet been paid to the materiality of the manuscript culture of the region. A small collection of 18 manuscripts from Aceh now in the British Library has therefore been subjected to detailed codicological scrutiny. These manuscripts, which appear to be representative of the books which circulated in the 18th and 19th century, contain multiple texts in Arabic, Malay and Acehnese, and the full contents of each volume are identified and contextualised with respect to other collections. Particular attention is paid to the original covers or bindings of the manuscripts, and illuminated elements, and some comments are drawn about the broader Acehnese tradition.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43757886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}