In recent years, a growing interest in “oriental manuscripts” in all their aspects, including the extrinsic ones, has been observed. Research that focuses on holograph, autograph and authorial manuscripts in Arabic handwritten script has nevertheless been casual, although these manuscripts raise important and varied questions. The study of the working methods of authors from the past informs different disciplines: paleography, codicology, textual criticism, ecdotics, linguistics and intellectual history. In this volume nine contributions and case studies are gathered that address theoretical issues and convey different, disruptive perspectives. A particularly important subject of this book, so far rarely discussed in scientific literature, is the identification of an author’s handwriting. Among the authors specifically dealt with in this volume one will find: al-Maqrīzī (m. 845/1442), al-Nuwayrī (m. 733/1333), Akmal al-Dīn b. Mufliḥ (m. 1011/1603), al-ʿAynī (m. 855/1451) and Ibn Khaldūn (m. 808/1406). Contributors: Frédéric Bauden, Julien Dufour, Élise Franssen, Adam Gacek, Retsu Hashizume, Marie-Hélène Marganne, Elias Muhanna, Nobutaka Nakamachi, Anne Regourd, and Kristina Richardson.

Some manuscripts have been produced for the personal use of their scribe only; whereas a number of them are valued as autographs, most have been ephemeral and were discarded. Personal manuscripts were not written for a patron, commissioner, or client. They are personal copies, anthologies, florilegia, personal notes, excerpts, drafts and notebooks, as well as family books, accountancy notebooks and many others; these forms often being mixed with one another. This volume introduces a number of such manuscripts in a comparative perspective, from Japan to Europe through the Middle East, with a focus on the Near and Middle East. The main concern is the possibility of identifying typical features of such manuscripts in terms of materials, visual organization and content. In attempting this, both the conditions of production and traces of the manuscripts' use are taken into consideration, with particular attention to their material aspects.

Based on the author's dissertation (doctoral)-- Harvard University, 2012.

This collection, presented to Michael Friedrich in honour of his academic career at of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, traces key concepts that scholars associated with the Centre have developed and refined for the systematic study of manuscript cultures. At the same time, the contributions showcase the possibilities of expanding the traditional subject of ‘manuscripts’ to the larger perspective of ‘written artefacts’.

This book is a study and edition of the Manhaj al-ʿilm wa l-bayān wa-nuzhat al-samʿ wa l-ʿiyān (The Path of Knowledge and Clarification and the Bliss of Hearing and Seeing). The Manhaj is a Nusayri doctrinal treatise composed by ʿIṣmat al-Dawla during the fifth/eleventh century. This edition makes this important source available to scholars for the first time. The Manhaj is a comprehensive compendium of knowledge for followers of the faith. It is also an autobiographic account detailing the author’s conversion and the teachings of his teacher, Abū l-Fatḥ al-Baghdādī. The Manhaj thus provides a personal, vivid account of the networks through which esoteric knowledge was sought and shared

The general field of study of this volume is the history and culture of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). It contains the proceedings of the First German-Japanese Workshop held at the Toyo Bunko in Tokyo, Japan. The authors write about a variety of topics from rural irrigation systems to high diplomacy vis à vis the Safavid empire and the Ottoman threat. The volume includes case studies of important personalities and families living in the centres of Mamluk power such as Cairo and Damascus as well as analyses of contemporary writers and their stance toward the ruling military class. Next to innovation in the field, this volume is an agenda of an increasing globalisation of scholarship that is fertilizing future research.

Cet ouvrage présente l’édition, la traduction en français et l’analyse de tous les documents de chancellerie (en arabe, latin et italien) concernant les relations établies entre Florence et le sultanat mamelouk entre 1422 et 1510. Prenant en compte les recherches accomplies au cours des dernières décennies dans le domaine des études diplomatiques, ce travail corrige plusieurs erreurs et inexactitudes contenues dans les précédentes éditions de ces sources et contient quelques documents inédits. Une introduction aborde le cadre historique des relations diplomatiques et examine les caractéristiques des sources. Un riche ensemble de notes explicatives et un glossaire analysent leur contenu. Les sources publiées dans ce volume constituent le témoignage historique disponible pour tracer le cadre des échanges diplomatiques entretenus par la Ville du Lys et Le Caire mamelouk. This book offers the edition, translation into French and analysis of all the chancery documents (in Arabic, Latin and Italian) concerning the relations established between Florence and the Mamluk sultanate between 1422 and 1510. Taking into consideration the achievements made in recent decades in the field of Mamluk diplomatics, this work corrects several errors and inaccuracies contained in previous editions as well as presents some unpublished documents. An introduction addresses the historical framework of diplomatic relations and examines the characteristics of the sources. A rich body of explanatory notes and a glossary analyze their content. The sources published in this volume constitute the historical testimony available for outlining the framework of the diplomatic exchanges maintained by the City of the Lily and Mamluk Cairo.