Empire of Books

In this book, small texts tell the big history of Arabic literatures. A pioneering analysis of manuscript notes follows the people who made and consumed the physical manifestations of this literary tradition into a detailed panorama of millennial transmission over three continents.At the centre of this endeavour is an analysis of the life, career, and collecting of Abū Bakr b. Rustam al-Širwānī (d. 1135/1723). As the head of the Ottoman Empire’s administration, he amassed a book collection of unsurpassed textual breadth, historical depth, and refinement. Efforts like his safeguarded this heritage and shaped how we encounter it today. This book highlights the crucial role the Ottoman capital Constantinople played in this process.