Review of Ismail Erünsal's - A History of Ottoman Libraries

The Library of Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār: Book Culture in Late Ottoman Palestine, 2025

Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār’s biography reveals that his career was entangled with numerous power brokers at both the imperial and provincial levels. Indeed, it is quite evident that al-Jazzār aspired to become an actor on the Ottoman imperial scene, “higher than viziers and lower than sultans”, in the words of the prophecy related by the chronicler Cābī. This ambition was translated, among other things, into the library he assembled in Acre. This chapter seeks to situate al-Jazzār’s library in its broader imperial context. We aim specifically to examine how the governor and his librarians participated in the distinctive library culture that emerged primarily in the core lands of the empire and especially, though not exclusively, in Istanbul from the late seventeenth century onwards.

Nazariyat, 2020

Muqarnas Supplements, vol. 14, 2019

libraries Ottoman libraries are best understood as falling within one of two groupings, those belonging to the traditional era and those belonging to the era of modernization. In the earlier traditional era only waqf libraries were found; these institutions were founded and supported by an endowment or charitable trust system. The modern era saw the formation of many more libraries inspired by Western models, although there were still some waqf, or endowed institution, libraries. TRADITIONAL WAQF LIBRARIES Traditional waqf libraries, which were founded during the height of the Ottoman era in the 15th and 16th centuries, became an integral part of educational and cultural life. Almost 500 waqf libraries, spread throughout the vast Ottoman lands, were formed by sultans, sultans' mothers, government officials, scientists, and philanthropists who considered books and libraries essential. These libraries were the main centers that provided for the intellectual needs of scientists and citizens, and increased in number and in terms of the resources they contained. The three most library-rich cities of the Ottoman Empire were Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne. The foundation of a waqf library was documented by a waqf deed (waqfiye). Generally, originals of these deeds were kept by the foundation executives; approved copies were kept in government archives. Waqf deeds contained information such as where, when, by whom, and under what circumstances the library was founded, as well as the name(s) of the foundation executive(s). The number, salary, and qualifications of any staff were included in the deeds, along with rules about lending and other conditions of use. Information relating to donations of books sometimes included book lists, which could be considered as types of library catalogues. Information such as book names, quantities, and physical specifications can be found in waqf deeds organized in this manner. These libraries typically consisted of 15-20 manuscripts, although some independent libraries contained as many as 5,000 volumes. After the first Muslim--directed printing house in the Ottoman Empire began operating in 1729, donations of printed books to libraries increased, although their numbers were still small compared to manuscript donations. Lending was a common practice in Ottoman waqf libraries. Information on to whom and under what conditions books were to be lent was stated in the waqf deeds. However, due to an increase in the number of books going missing, lending was stopped after the 18th and the 19th centuries. At the same time, the hours of operation were extended. Libraries were managed by supervisors (nazır) who were responsible for daily operations and the appointment of staff, and foundation executives (mütevelli) who were responsible for the daily running of libraries and for supervising staff during book counting. The most senior library officers were the head librarians (hafız--ı kütüb). Payment of librarians depended on the size of the library they worked in. The main duties of librarians were maintenance, borrowing, and lending. In different eras they were given various duties during prayers and educational activities held in the library. Librarians were asked to serve the readers with a smiling face, to open and close the library on time, and to be honest and hardworking. It was clearly stated in the waqf deeds that librarians who did not obey such rules would be removed. Until the emergence of independent libraries in the 17th century, only one librarian was in charge at each institution. The other library staff were the librarian's apprentice (yamak), the librarian's clerk (katib--ı kütüb), who kept recordings of borrowings and of

Journal of Islamic Studies, 2021

This book was a long time coming. As the author humorously explains in its opening pages, after completing work on his dissertation in 2008 (which this book is based on), Baykal's life ventured into the land of tech start-ups and IT consultancies, far away from the 'hallowed halls' of academia. Focused on the history of the Ottoman periodical press in Istanbul during the early twentieth century, this book is the latest in a growing body of literature on publishing in the Empire's varied languages. A few studies have examined how small religious presses operated by Armenian, Jewish, Greek, and other non-Muslim communities in the Ottoman world began slowly to churn out books in the late 1400s. Recent literature on the topic has largely focused on the publishing industry's important advancement during the long nineteenth century when private printing presses were producing all sorts of material for commercial use and were set up in many major Ottoman cities, from Istanbul to Beirut, Cairo, and Baghdad. Nevertheless, English-language studies on the history of the Ottoman press, specifically the periodical press, in Anatolia are few and far in between. (Most appear in edited volumes. For a selection, see Geoffrey Roper [ed.], Historical

Turkey has a rich book and library tradition going back centuries. This article presents an overview of Turkish libraries and librarianship by providing information specifically on the library tradition in Turkey, public and special libraries, librarianship education , professional associations and publications, and recent developments including some special projects run by the state and NGOs.

Browsing through the Sultan's Bookshelves. Towards a Reconstruction of the Library of the Mamluk Sultan Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 906-922/1501-1516) [Mamluk Studies, Vol. 26] (Bonn University Press), 2021

Starting from 135 manuscripts that were once part of the library of the late Mamluk sultan Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 1501–1516), this book challenges the dominant narrative of a “post-court era”, in which courts were increasingly marginalized in the field of adab. Rather than being the literary barren field that much of the Arabic and Arabic-centred sources, produced extra muros, would have us believe, it re-cognizes Qāniṣawh’s court as a rich and vibrant literary site and a cosmopolitan hub in a burgeoning Turkic literary ecumene. It also re-centres the ruler himself within this court. No longer the passive object of panegyric or the source of patronage alone, Qāniṣawh has an authorial voice in his own right, one that is idiosyncratic yet in conversation with other voices. As such, while this book is first and foremost a book about books, it is one that consciously aspires to be more than that: a book about a library, and, ultimately, a book about the man behind the library, Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī. Open access since April 2024! Also downloadable through https://bonndoc.ulb.uni-bonn.de/xmlui/handle/20.500.11811/11485

Libri, 2001

Previous articles have dealt with various aspects of the Ottoman library system including the catalogues of the collections. However, since their publication, new material has come to light and this is now the opportune moment to review the development of cataloguing, from the foundation of the first Ottoman libraries to the present century. In this article, Turkish library catalogues and cataloguing shall be dealt with in three distinct periods. The first period covers the history of cataloguing from the very beginning to the second half of the 19 th century, dealing in particular with three of the earliest catalogues, dating from the 16 th century. The second period deals with the attempts to prepare union catalogues of the collections in the libraries of Istanbul, together with the appearance of the first printed catalogues for individual libraries. The third is the Republican period, covering the seven decades from 1923 to the present day.

Studia Islamika, 2023

The Ottoman manuscripts, which mean texts written in the Ottoman Turkish language, were collected during the first part of the 1990s, inventoried, and cataloged during the early period of ISTAC. The collection possesses two hundred manuscripts on diverse subjects. This makes the SMNAL the most pertinent library in Southeast Asia, a place hoard of Ottoman Turkish manuscripts. This initiation of acquiring a certain number of Ottoman manuscripts by Sayyid Muhammad Naquib al-Attas which seems to have been purchased in the late decades of the twentieth century is no doubt an opening towards the path to the study of the Ottoman civilizational and intellectual ecosystem among the Malay scholars and students of the Ottoman studies (Turcologists).

Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Kattānī. Tarīkh al-maktabāt al-islāmiyya wa-man allafa fīlkutub (History of Islamic Libraries and Bibliographers). Ed. Aḥmad Shawqī Binbīn and ʿAbd al-Qādir Saʿūd. Rabat: Markaz al-Dirāsāt wal-Abḥāth wal-Turāth, 1434/2013. Hardback. 615 pp. RDMK (Arabic ISBN): 978-9954-542-05-7.

2023

This paper endeavors to give a quick view of the Ottoman manuscript (Osmanlı elyazmaları) collection at Sayyid Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas Library (SMNAL) of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) by reviewing a published catalog. The Ottoman manuscripts, which mean texts written in the Ottoman Turkish language, were collected during the first part of the 1990s, inventoried, and cataloged during the early period of ISTAC. The collection possesses two hundred manuscripts on diverse subjects. This makes the SMNAL the most pertinent library in Southeast Asia, a place hoard of Ottoman Turkish manuscripts. This initiation of acquiring a certain number of Ottoman manuscripts by Sayyid Muhammad Naquib al-Attas which seems to have been purchased in the late decades of the twentieth century is no doubt an opening towards the path to the study of the Ottoman civilizational and intellectual eco-system among the Malay scholars and students of the Ottoman studies (Turcologists).