Pre-Modern Arabic Documents : A Concise Introduction into Reading and Publishing / Andreas Kaplony.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaplony, Andreas, Author.

Series:

Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East , 2198-0853 ; 51

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XII, 150 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin Boston De Gruyter, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Andreas Kaplony, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Summary:

Reading Arabic original documents is a serious challenge. At first sight, Arabic original documents seem to be casual and therefore rather illegible. Yet upon closer acquaintance, the opposite shows to be true: Arabic documents are highly formal. Written by professional scribes, they follow rather strict rules (not to speak of fashions) in both text and layout. However, only a few scholars have learned to read them and now take advantage of this formality, and only a very few of these share their knowledge with others. Making this know-how accessible to a wider public is the explicit aim of this handbook: how to deal, in a cautious and self-critical way, with pre-17th-century Arabic documents on papyrus, paper, potsherds, parchment, etc. - how to find them, how to publish them, and how to use them as a source for research in linguistics, literary studies, and writing history.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

1Introduction: The Challenge of Reading Arabic Documents

Arabic Papyrology as an Academic Field in Its Wider Context

Excursus I: Getting Access to Collections and Archives

A Formal (Diplomatic) Typology of Arabic Documents

Writing a Standard Edition

Excursus II: Five Steps to Get Going with a Specific Document - And a Remark on Publishing Many Documents at One Time

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed August 05 2026)

ISBN:

3-11-224814-7