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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 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.

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:<blockquote>"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".</blockquote>Celebi died suddenly in 1657, leaving many works in unfinished or draft form.

Contents

Editions

  • Muhammad Azti Effendi Boshnah Zadeh (d. 1681).
  • IbrahÄ«m al-RÅ«mi 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., () (d.1802) titled (AthārnÅ«) (). Contains 5000 books. Appended by Flügel in Vol.VI, Leipzig edition (1835–1858) with Latin translation and a volume for Oriental libraries.
  • 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 () ('The Great Beauty') (1933), titled al-Sirr al-Maṣūn () ('Well-kept Secret' - kh) with introduction (1000 page) titled Book of Science and Travel ().
  • Mohammed Al-Sadiq Al-Nefir (1938), titled Salwa Al-Mahzun.
  • Muhammad bin Mustafa al-Bakri ed., (d. 1782), Khulāsat Tahqíq az-ZunÅ«n ()('Investigation of Suspicions, abridged'); Index to al-Kashf and amendments.
  • Ali Khairi, ed., (d.1909) Ḍiyā’ al-‘AiÅ«n () (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

References

Bibliography