British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

Manuscripts of the Middle East: A Journal Devoted to the Study of Handwritten Materials of
the Middle East and Related Subjects by Francois Deroche; Adam Gacek; Jan Just Witkam
Review by: Colin Wakefield
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1 (May, 1996), pp. 107-108
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/195839 .
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 REVIEWS: BIBLIOGRAPHIESAND REFERENCE

MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE

STUDY OF HANDWRITTEN MATERIALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND
RELATED SUBJECTS, Volume 6 (1992). Edited by FRANCOISDEJROCHE,
ADAM
GACEKand JAN JUSTWITKAM.
Leiden, Ter Lugt Press, 1994. 164 pp. illustrations,
facsimiles.

Volume 6 of Manuscriptsof the Middle East maintains the diverse approachand high
standardof the earliervolumes. It contains thirteenarticles, of which several are revised
versions of papers originally presented at conferences or lectures, and is generously
illustratedwith many full-page facsimiles of leaves from the manuscriptsand printed
materialunder discussion. In addition, scatteredthroughoutthe issue, and in colour on
the front cover, are illustrationsof twentieth-centurywriting implements from various
countries of the Islamic world, now housed in private collections in The Hague and
Leiden.
The volume begins on a royal note, with an acknowledgmentto HM Queen Elizabeth
II for permission to publish a catalogue of Islamic manuscriptsof the British Royal
Collection preserved at Windsor Castle and at SandringhamHouse. Muhammad Isa
Waley's 'concise catalogue' describes 11 Arabic, 18 Persian, 4 Turkish and 3 Urdu
manuscripts, as well as three albums of calligraphic specimens and portraits. The
catalogue contains a complete listing of all the miniature paintings in the Persian,
Chaghatayand Urdu manuscripts,but most of the Collection's letters in the languages
concerned are excluded. Presumably Muhammad Isa Waley's contributionhad been
submittedto the journal prior to November 1992 as there is no mention of the fire at
Windsor Castle. Adam Gacek, in the second article, continues his research into Arabic
bookbindingby publishing a hithertounknown urjuza (didactic poem) by one Ibn Abi
Hamlda, who 'may have lived in the 9th/15th century'. Described as 'to my knowl-
edge...now the fourth Arabic text on bookbinding which has come to light', the poem
comprises 172 lines and appearsto be preservedonly in a collectaneous manuscriptin
Dar al-Kutub, Cairo. The text is presented here in typescript and facsimile. In their
article 'The Baladiyyat Ahmad ilFar', Jacob M. Landau and Manfred Woidich discuss
a collection of five popularEgyptian plays entitled (authors'transliteration)Kasf isSitdr
CanBaladiyydtAhmad ilFdr. The present article is described as a by-product of their
critical edition and Germantranslationof the plays, which was subsequentlypublished
in 1993. The differences between the two known manuscriptsare discussed, especially
the interpolationsintroducedinto the Leiden copy.
The history of Arabic printingin America and printingby Americanselsewhere in the
world is the subject of the next article 6y Miroslav Krek. Although a New York printer
of Belgian origin was offering in 1790 'types of every kind', including Arabic,
Samaritanand Syriac, the first documenteduse of Arabic type in North America dates
from some thirtyyears later. Moving away from the history of domestic typographythe
authorconsiders the activities of the American Mission Presses in Beirut and Singapore
and examines their respective claims to precedence in the printingof Arabic. In the fifth
article,Ute Pietruschka,as a preliminaryto a projectededition, discusses the relationship
between ChristianArabic and Ethiopic (GeCez)literature,with particularreferenceto the
sources of a philosophical work (Mashafa Faldsfah TabTbdn)translatedfrom Arabic in
the sixteenth century. Next, Devin DeWeese describes the manuscripts of Zubdat
al-Athdr, an important Chaghatay source for the history of Central Asia, and Hans
Daiber reportson anothercollection of Arabic manuscriptsthat 'circumstancesand some
chance' have allowed him to assemble. Necessarily brief descriptions are given of a

107

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REVIEWS: BIBLIOGRAPHIESAND REFERENCE

selection of the more importantmanuscripts(152 in total, containing 262 unpublished

texts). Daiber comments that further observations 'as well as details concerning the
identificationof texts...can be found in the extensive description of my Catalogue of
Rare and UnpublishedArabic Manuscripts(Daiber Collection II)'. I have not been able
to locate a copy of this catalogue, for which no indications of place, publisher or date
are given.
We remain with Arabic manuscriptsin the eighth article. Jiirgen Paul reviews the
Istanbul manuscriptsof al-Safadl's biographicaldictionary al-Wdfi bi-al-Wafayat,with
particular attention to the author's holograph drafts which, despite their obvious
importance,have not been consistently used in the Bibliotheca Islamica edition. Arabic
epigraphy is the subject of the next article, in which F. Th. Dijkema looks at the
problems of editing and presenting Arabic epigraphic material.
There follow two contributions to Hebrew studies. Bruno Chieso addresses some
fundamental questions of textual criticism in the editing of the Hebrew Bible and
discusses 'the text-critical significance of medieval Hebrew translationsand...the first
edition of texts'. Hans-JtirgenBecker examines 'hithertounknownglosses of the famous
Leiden ms Or. 4760' and the role played by the manuscriptin the productionof the first
edition of the Palestinian Talmud,printedby Bomberg in Venice in 1523. Nico van den
Boogert, in the penultimatearticle, reportson a modem 'manuscriptlibrary'in the town
of Tarim in the Yemen Arab Republic, and lastly, Zeina Matarand IngridHeck present
an Ottomanfirman dated 1308 AH [ = 1890] by which Sultan AbdtilhamidII authorizes
the rebuildingof a church in MaCruna, north-eastof Damascus. The firman is published
in facsimile and in romanization,with a translationand notes.

BODLEIAN LIBRARY, COLIN WAKEFIELD

OXFORD

A DICTIONARYOF THE ARABIC MATERIALOF S. D. GOITEIN'SA MEDITER-

RANEAN SOCIETY. By WERNERDIEM and HANS-PETERRADENBERG.Wiesbaden,
Harrassowitz,1994. xvi, 241 pp.

S. D. Goitein's celebrated and monumental five-volume A Mediterranean Society

(Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1967-88) is unquestionablyone of the most importantworks
dealing with social, economic and culturallife among Jewish communities in the Arab
world. Goitein's primary sources are mainly documentary material from among the
Arabic and Judaeo-Arabicmanuscriptfragmentsof the Cairo Geniza. Although Goitein's
Arabic and Judaeo-Arabicquotationsfrom these documentscontributedto his extensive
notes at the end of each volume, a separateglossary of Arabic terms was not provided.
This is also missing from S. D. Goitein and P. Sanders's volume of cumulativeindices.'
This omission, however, has been put right in Diem and Radenberg's Dictionary,
which provides more than an Arabic glossary to Goitein's work. Diem was responsible
for the compilation and philological aspects; Radenbergfor the technical aspects and
computing.Together, they have presentedus with a helpful tool. The Arabic materialis
arranged alphabetically according to roots; and within each entry Goitein's Arabic
quotationsare offered together with English translationsand references to the volumes,

108

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