Reconstructing Erpenius' Library
The First Collection of Oriental Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library
Published on 18. December 2024
Book
Hardback
282 pages
978-90-04-71259-1 (ISBN)
Description
This volume is the first comprehensive study of one of the most important collections of oriental manuscripts in early modern Europe which belonged to Thomas Erpenius (d. 1624), the renowned Dutch Arabist, orientalist and the first Chair of Arabic Studies at Leiden University.
It reconstructs his personal library which was the center of scholarly debates for centuries, full of rare and sometimes unique materials.
Widely known as a rich source of Muslim literature and Asian languages, the collection was purchased by George Villiers, the 1st Duke of Buckingham (d. 1628) and ultimately donated by his widow, Katherine Villiers, to Cambridge University Library in June 1632.
This volume provides detail on Erpenius' life and career, his manuscript collections and their reception and preservation in Cambridge. Furthermore, the author challenges the idea of European orientalism by redefining the role of Erpenius in in shaping academic study of the Orient and 'organic' orientalism in the West.
It reconstructs his personal library which was the center of scholarly debates for centuries, full of rare and sometimes unique materials.
Widely known as a rich source of Muslim literature and Asian languages, the collection was purchased by George Villiers, the 1st Duke of Buckingham (d. 1628) and ultimately donated by his widow, Katherine Villiers, to Cambridge University Library in June 1632.
This volume provides detail on Erpenius' life and career, his manuscript collections and their reception and preservation in Cambridge. Furthermore, the author challenges the idea of European orientalism by redefining the role of Erpenius in in shaping academic study of the Orient and 'organic' orientalism in the West.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
685 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-71259-1 (9789004712591)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
MAJID DANESHGAR , Ph.D. (2013), is Associate Professor of Area Studies at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan and was formerly Munby Fellow at Cambridge University Library in association with St John's College, Cambridge, and also Marie Curie Fellow at Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg, Germany. Among his publications are Studying the Qur'an in the Muslim Academy (OUP 2020), I Want to Become an Orientalist Not a Colonizer or a "De-Colonizer" (MTSR, 2020).