Konrad Hirschler Knihy

This book discusses the largest private book collection of the pre-Ottoman Arabic Middle East for which we have both a paper trail and a surviving corpus of the manuscripts that once sat on its shelves: the Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī Library of Damascus

The study offers a unique theoretical perspective on the social contexts and narrative structures of pre-modern Islamic historiography, focusing on Arabic texts from seventh and thirteenth century Syria and Egypt. It explores how historical narratives were shaped by their cultural and social environments, providing insights into the historiographical practices of the time.

Focusing on the Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī Library of Damascus, this book explores the significance of a major private collection from the pre-Ottoman Arabic Middle East. It examines how the library served as a means for its owner to preserve and celebrate a scholarly heritage tied to his personal and communal identity. The text introduces a fresh perspective on Arabic book culture, provides a critical edition of a key medieval book list, and offers insights into the mobility of endowed books, all while including a color reproduction of the complete catalogue.

Using a variety of documentary, narrative and normative sources, this title explores the growth of reading audiences in a pre-print culture. It examines the accessibility and profile of libraries. It looks at popular reading practices, often associated with the notion of the illicit.

This book discusses the only known private book collection from pre-Ottoman Jerusalem for which we have a trail of documents. It belonged to an otherwise unknown resident, Burhān al-Dīn; after his death, his books were sold in a public auction and the list of objects sold has survived.This list - edited and translated in this volume - shows that a humble part-time reciter of the late 14th century had almost 300 books in his house, evidence that book ownership extended beyond the elite. Based on a corpus of almost fifty documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf collection in Jerusalem, it is also possible to get a rare insight into the social world of such an individual. Finally, the book gives a unique insight into book prices as it will make available the largest such set of data for the pre-Ottoman period.