Kashf al-Zunun

Kashf al-Zunun 'an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun (The Removal of Doubt from the Names of Books and the Arts) is a bibliographic encyclopedia of books and sciences compiled by Turkish polymath Kâtip Çelebi. It was written in Arabic and was based on the Miftāḥ al-Saʿāda wa-miṣbāḥ al-Siyādah[n 1] by the c.16th Ottoman historian, Taşköprüzade. However the Kaşf substantially enlarges it, cataloging titles of approximately 15,000 books; 9,500 names of authors; and 300 sciences and arts. The work is seen as a significant example of and contribution to Ottoman historiography.[1][2][3]

Kashf al-Zunun 'an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun
AuthorKâtip Çelebi
Original titleكشف الظنون عن أسامي الكتب والفنون
LanguageArabic, Latin, French
GenreBibliographic-encyclopedia
OCLC469358915

At the age of twenty-five in 1633, while in Aleppo, Celebi began compiling and composing the work; it occupied him for the next twenty years until its completion in 1652. An account of this is contained in another of his widely read books, "Mizan al-Haq," where he writes:

"On my stay in Aleppo, I would visit bookshops to browse, and then when I had returned to Istanbul and came into some money, I began acquiring books and letters. In 1638, a relative died and left me a more substantial legacy, which was spent in large part collecting the great works which I had seen in Aleppo, Istanbul and in the public repositories of the Sultanate of Oman".[n 2]

Celebi died suddenly in 1657, leaving many works in unfinished or draft form.[4]

Contents

Editions
  • Muhammad Azti Effendi Boshnah Zadeh (d. 1681).
  • Ibrahīm al-Rūmi al-Arabji (d. 1775) mentioned by Khalil al-Muradi in his biographic dictionary Silk al-Durar (Arabic).
  • Ahmed Hanífzádeh, Mollae El-Hájj Ibrahím Haníf Efendi, ed., (حنيف زاده) (d.1802) titled (Athārnū) (اثارنو). Contains 5000 books. Appended by Flügel in Vol.VI, Leipzig edition (1835–1858) with Latin translation and a volume for Oriental libraries. [n 3] [n 4]
  • Sheikh Islam Aref Hikmat, ed., (d.1858) up to the letter jím (c). (See Al-Arab Al-Arab 2: 897).
  • Ishmael Pasha al-Baghdadi, ed., (d.1921), titled The Explanation of the Makenun. Contains 19000 books and was followed by translations of the authors (1941).
  • Ismail Saeb Singer, ed.
  • Jamil al-‘Uẓmā (جميل العظم) ('The Great Beauty') (1933), titled al-Sirr al-Maṣūn (السر المصون -خ) ('Well-kept Secret' - kh) with introduction (1000 page) titled Book of Science and Travel (الإسفار عن العلوم والأسفار).
  • Mohammed Al-Sadiq Al-Nefir (1938), titled Salwa Al-Mahzun.
  • Muhammad bin Mustafa al-Bakri ed., (d. 1782), Khulāsat Tahqíq az-Zunūn (خلاصة تحقيق الظنون)('Investigation of Suspicions, abridged'); Index to al-Kashf and amendments.
  • Ali Khairi, ed., (d.1909) Ḍiyā’ al-‘Aiūn (ضياء العيون) (Illumination of the Eminent); a footnote to al-Kashf.
  • Sources of Andalusian heritage: the publications of the Cultural Center in Abu Dhabi, pitfalls of correcting Haji Khalifa in dealing with the heritage of Andalusia.
  • Abridgement and supplement; Hussein Abbasi Nabhani Halabi, ed., (d.1684), titled ('The Complete Memorial of Antiquities').

Translations

Notes
  1. Miftāḥ al-Saʿāda wa-miṣbāḥ al-Siyādah (مفتاح السعادة ومصباح السيادة في موضوعات العلوم} loosely translates: 'The Key to Happiness and the Lamp of Lordship'.
  2. Catalogue reprinted in Bulaq copy of printed edition of the Turkish Information Agency in (1941-1943), published in several volumes and editions.
  3. Aḥmad Ḥanīf-Zādah. (اثارنو) Nova Opera ab Ahmed Hanifzádeh ad continuandum Haji Khalfae Lexicon Bibliographicum collecta et ad ordinem literarum disposita… Edidit G. Fluegel. [With a Latin translation.] 1852 – London.- Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. Muṣṭafā ibn Allāh, called Kātib Chelebī or Ḥajī Khalfah. Lexicon Bibliographicum, etc. tom. 6. 1835 etc. 4o. 14003.g.3. and 15000.e.1.
  4. Catalogue of Arabic books in the British Museum by British Museum. Dept. of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts; W.W. Elliott & Co; Fulton, A. S. (Alexander Strathern) 1894. Catalogue of Arabic books in the British Museum, p.208

References
  1. Gömbeyaz, Kadir. "Çelebi, Kâtip." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  2. "Fihrist." In The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, edited by Esposito, John L.. Oxford University Press, 2003.
  3. Hammond, Marlé. "manāqib." In A Dictionary of Arabic Literary Terms and Devices. Oxford University Press, 2018.
  4. Gömbeyaz, Kadir. "Çelebi, Kâtip." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  5. Katib Jelebi 1835.
  6. Haji Khalfah 1777.
  7. d'Herbelot 1777.

Bibliography
  • Kashf Aa Zunun. Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah. 2008. ISBN 978-2745155009.
  • Hājī Khalfah (1892). Kashf al-ẓunūn. Vol. 2. Dersa'ādet Ḥasan Ḥilmī el-kütübī.
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