This is a book about the economic and social realities of a world that existed in the Middle East up to our days, seen through the Kaleidoscope of one important town - Jerusalem. The reconstruction of all the guilds that functioned during the Ottoman period draws on the untapped archives of the local court of Muslim Jerusalem (XVIth-XVIIIth centuries) - but it includes a plethora of information on the Christians and Jews of that town who actively participated in its economic life.About 50 different guilds are described: Goldsmiths and blacksmiths, tourist guides and undertakers, tailors and carpenters, soap makers and cotton weavers, beauticians and bookbinders. The modus operandi of each guild, and of the system as a whole, are analysed and presented for the first time as precursers of civil society.The book holds also 19 original documents - facsimiles plus translations - illustrating the activity of several central guilds.

A vivid and detailed picture of everyday life in Ottoman Jerusalem.

Using recent approaches in economic, social, labour and institutional history, this volume analyses guilds in the period 500-1700 AD.

This sweeping look at the city and the District of Jerusalem in the 17th century paints a vivid picture of life in an Ottoman province.

Dealing with the guilds of seventeenth-century Istanbul, this volume provides new information and insights into guild organization, issues of traditionalism and change, and the complex nature of the relationship between the Ottoman state and its guilds.

This collection of articles discusses various political, social, cultural and economic aspects of the Ottoman Middle East. By using various textual and visual documents, produced in the Ottoman Empire, the collection offers new insights into the matrix of life during the long period of Ottoman rule. The different parts of the volume explore the main topics studied by Amnon Cohen: Ottoman Palestine, Egypt and the Fertile Crescent under Ottoman rule, Ottoman Jews and their relations with the surrounding societies and various social aspects of Ottoman societies.

This volume presents the transformation of the Greek-speaking Jewish community of Byzantine Constantinople into an Ottoman, ethnically diversified immigrant community. As the Ottomans influenced its cultural and social values, the community strived to preserve its boundaries with the surrounding society.