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Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri was a fourteenth-century Egyptian polymath and the author of one of the greatest encyclopedias of the medieval Islamic world-a thirty-one-volume work entitled The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition. A storehouse of knowledge, this enormous book brought together materials on nearly every conceivable subject, from cosmology, zoology, and botany to philosophy, poetry, ethics, statecraft, and history. Composed in Cairo during the golden age of Islamic encyclopedic activity, the Ultimate Ambition was one of hundreds of large-scale compendia, literary anthologies, dictionaries, and chronicles produced at this time-an effort that was instrumental in organizing the archive of medieval Islamic thought. In the first study of this landmark work in a European language, Elias Muhanna explores its structure and contents, sources and influences, and reception and impact in the Islamic world and Europe. He sheds new light on the rise of encyclopedic literature in the learned cities of the Mamluk Empire and situates this intellectual movement alongside other encyclopedic traditions in the ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods. He also uncovers al-Nuwayri's world: a scene of bustling colleges, imperial chanceries, crowded libraries, and religious politics. Based on award-winning scholarship, The World in a Book opens up new areas in the comparative study of encyclopedic production and the transmission of knowledge.

Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Arabic --- REFERENCE / Almanacs. --- REFERENCE / Curiosities & Wonders. --- REFERENCE / Encyclopedias. --- REFERENCE / Questions & Answers. --- History and criticism. --- Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, --- Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, --- Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, --- 03 --- 094 <6> --- Arabic encyclopedias and dictionaries --- 03 Encyclopedieën. Naslagwerken--(Algemene) --- Encyclopedieën. Naslagwerken--(Algemene) --- 094 <6> Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Afrika --- Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Afrika --- History and criticism --- E-books --- Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, --- Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Arabic - History and criticism. --- Nuwayrī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, - 1279-1333. - Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab.

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This book is the first to date to be dedicated to the circulation of the book as a commodity in the Mamluk sultanate. It discusses the impact of princely patronage on the production of books, the formation and management of libraries in religious institutions, their size and their physical setting. It documents the significance of private collections and their interaction with institutional libraries and the role of charitable endowments (waqf) in the life of libraries. The market as a venue of intellectual and commercial exchanges and a production centre is explored with references to prices and fees. The social and professional background of scribes and calligraphers occupies a major place in this study, which also documents the chain of master-calligraphers over the entire Mamluk period. For her study the author relies on biographical dictionaries, chronicles, waqf documents and manuscripts.

Books --- Libraries --- Scribes --- Calligraphers --- History --- Library materials --- Publications --- Bibliography --- Cataloging --- International Standard Book Numbers --- Penmen --- Artists --- Copyists --- Documentation --- Public institutions --- Librarians --- Boekgeschiedenis --- Islam --- Handschriften. Epigrafie. Paleografie --- boekgeschiedenis --- kopiisten [schrijvers] --- anno 1200-1499 --- anno 1500-1599 --- Syrië --- Egypte --- E-books --- History. --- 094 =9 --- 094 <56> --- 094 <6> --- 094 <6> Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Afrika --- Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Afrika --- 094 <56> Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Levant --- Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Levant --- 094 =9 Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Oosterse talen --- Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora--Oosterse talen --- Book history --- Manuscripts. Epigraphy. Paleography --- book history --- scribes [people] --- Syria --- Egypt --- Books. --- Calligraphers. --- Libraries. --- Scribes. --- 400-1600 --- Egypt. --- Syria. --- Books - Egypt - History - 400-1450 --- Books - Egypt - History - 1450-1600 --- Books - Syria - History - 400-1450 --- Books - Syria - History - 1450-1600 --- Libraries - Egypt - History - 400-1400 --- Libraries - Egypt - History - 1400-1600 --- Libraries - Syria - History - 400-1400 --- Libraries - Syria - History - 1400-1600 --- Scribes - Egypt - History --- Scribes - Syria - History --- Calligraphers - Egypt - History --- Calligraphers - Syria - History