Libraries, Book Collection and the Production of Texts by the Fatimids

منو

" Libraries, Book Collection and the Production of Texts by the Fatimids "
P. E. Walker

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	47200
Doc. No	:	LA6998
Call No	:	‭10.1163/2212943X-00401003‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	P. E. Walker
Title & Author	:	Libraries, Book Collection and the Production of Texts by the Fatimids [Article]\ P. E. Walker
Title of Periodical	:	Intellectual History of the Islamicate World
Date	:	2016
Volume/ Issue Number	:	4/1-2
Page No	:	7-21
Abstract	:	We possess a good deal of information in our sources about Fatimid royal libraries and about book collections, both those belonging to the imam-caliph and some in private hands. The earliest evidence goes back to the beginning phase of this dynasty but it also continues throughout. Even viewing the available data with skepticism, the caliph’s library must have been immense. One semi-public institution, the Dar al-ʿIlm, begun by al-Hakim, was designed to foster book copying and it had its own library as well. Strictly within the daʿwa, some evidence indicates a kind of curriculum: books and treatises that an authority indicates should be studied prior to reading those more advanced. Most were, however, carefully restricted to the faithful. But some others were not and were designed specifically for public consumption. We also have a royal decree in favor of a famous scholar that specifies how he is to produce books, both to add to the library and to enhance the honor of the Fatimid state.
Subject	:	Ismaili daʿwa; royal libraries; Fatimids; Dār al-ʿilm
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/2212943X-00401003‬