
Contents
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Building up a Book Collection in Late Medieval Damascus Building up a Book Collection in Late Medieval Damascus
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The Profile of the Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī Book Collection The Profile of the Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī Book Collection
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Reviving Orally Transmitted Books Reviving Orally Transmitted Books
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Rituals of a Book Endowment: Binge-reading and Dreams Rituals of a Book Endowment: Binge-reading and Dreams
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Endowing Books in Theory and Practice Endowing Books in Theory and Practice
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Placing the Monument Placing the Monument
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Conclusion Conclusion
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2 Monumentalising the Past
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Published:December 2019
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Abstract
This chapter argues that the Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī Library of Damascus was the oldest continuously surviving book collection of the city when the modern Public Library was founded in 1878. It discusses the practicalities of building up such a library from scratch in late Mamluk Damascus and shows to what extent post-canonical hadith scholarship dominated this book collection. As this line of scholarship was on its way out Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī had to take enormous strides to revive books that needed oral transmission from an authorized teacher. He finally endowed this library - accompanied by a ritualistic binge reading of the books – to create a monument to one part of Syrian book culture that was about to vanish. He placed this monument into one of the most meaningful places to commemorate a way of writerly culture that had been closely tied to his family and quarter.
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