"a comprehensive guide to trickery and scams as practiced in the thirteenth century in the cities of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Egypt"--
Uncovering the professional secrets of con artists and swindlers in the medieval Middle East
The Book of Charlatans is a comprehensive guide to trickery and scams as practiced in the thirteenth century in the cities of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Egypt. The author, al-Jawbari, was well versed in the practices he describes and may well have been a reformed charlatan himself. Divided into thirty chapters, his book reveals the secrets of everyone from Those Who Claim to be Prophets to Those Who Claim to Have Leprosy and Those Who Dye Horses.
The material is informed in part by the authors own experience with alchemy, astrology, and geomancy, and in part by his extensive research. The work is unique in its systematic, detailed, and inclusive approach to a subject that is by nature arcane and that has relevance not only for social history but also for the history of science. Covering everything from invisible writing to doctoring gemstones and quack medicine, The Book of Charlatans opens a fascinating window into a subculture of beggars guilds and professional con artists in the medieval Arab world.
A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Recenzijos
"A mesmerising account of . . . quacks and tricksters." (The Spectator) "Provides us with an unusual glimpse into the street life of medieval Islamic societies rarely captured in more elevated Arabic literary sources." (New York Review of Books) "As insightful and entertaining in the 21st century as it was when it was first written Offers a unique window into the lives of everyday and marginalized people in the Middle East, Northern Africa and West Asia." (AramcoWorld)
Letter from the General Editor |
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iii | |
Foreword |
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ix | |
Acknowledgments |
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xii | |
Introduction |
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xiii | |
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Map: al-Jawbari's World: The Periphery |
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xviii | |
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Map: al-Jawbari's World: The Center |
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xix | |
Note on the Text |
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xx | |
Notes to the Introduction |
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xxv | |
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1 | (430) |
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Chapter 1 Expose Of The Tricks Of Fake Prophets |
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12 | (20) |
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Chapter 2 Expose Of The Tricks Of Fake Shaykhs And Illusionists Among The Dervishes, The Shaykhs, And "The Righteous" |
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32 | (36) |
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Chapter 3 Expose Of The Tricks Of Fire-And-Brimstone Preachers |
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68 | (10) |
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Chapter 4 Expose Of The Tricks Of Monks |
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78 | (12) |
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Chapter 5 Expose Of The Tricks Of Jews And Others |
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90 | (8) |
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Chapter 6 Expose Of The Tricks Of The Banu Sasan |
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98 | (20) |
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Chapter 7 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Work Solomon's Ant |
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118 | (20) |
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Chapter 8 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Practice War And Bear Arms |
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138 | (8) |
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Chapter 9 Expose Of The Tricks Of The People Of The Kaf, That Is, Alchemy |
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146 | (34) |
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Chapter 10 Expose Of The Tricks Of Apothecaries |
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180 | (12) |
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Chapter 11 Expose Of The Tricks Of The People Of The Mtm (Who Are Treasure Hunters Who Pretend To Have Access To Hoards Of Wealth And Buried Treasure) |
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192 | (10) |
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Chapter 12 Expose Of The Tricks Of Astrologers Who Ply Their Trade On The Highway |
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202 | (26) |
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Chapter 13 Expose Of The Tricks Of Spirit Conjurors |
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228 | (24) |
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Chapter 14 Expose Of The Tricks Of The Doctors Who Practice On The Highways |
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252 | (26) |
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Chapter 15 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Extract Worms From Teeth |
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278 | (8) |
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Chapter 16 Expose Of The Tricks Of Eye Doctors Who Use Metal Instruments |
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286 | (2) |
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Chapter 17 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Dye Horses |
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288 | (6) |
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Chapter 18 Expose Of Their Tricks; Example: Those Who Dye Humans |
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294 | (10) |
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Chapter 19 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Manipulate Fire And Can Block Its Heat |
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304 | (6) |
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Chapter 20 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Concoct Artificial Foodstuffs |
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310 | (8) |
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Chapter 21 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Work Knockout Drugs And Stupefacients |
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318 | (6) |
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Chapter 22 Expose Of The Tricks Of Notaries, That Is, Of The People Who Draw Up Contracts |
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324 | (6) |
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Chapter 23 Expose Of The Tricks Of Prestidigitators |
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330 | (6) |
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Chapter 24 Expose Of Jewelers And Their Fake Products |
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336 | (10) |
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Chapter 25 Expose Of The Tricks Of Money Changers, Of Scams They Pull And Scams Pulled On Them |
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346 | (10) |
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Chapter 26 Expose Of The Tricks Of Those Who Creep Up On Beardless Boys At Music And Chanting Performances And Weddings And On Journeys And So On |
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356 | (4) |
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Chapter 27 Expose Of The Tricks Of "The Masters Of The Crafts" |
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360 | (46) |
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Chapter 28 Expose Of The Tricks Of Sneak Thieves (Thieves Who Enter Houses Unlawfully) |
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406 | (4) |
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Chapter 29 Expose Of The Tricks Of The Thieves Who Enter Houses By Making Holes In Walls And Committing Murder |
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410 | (6) |
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Chapter 30 Expose Of The Tricks Of Women, And Of Their Cunning, Craftiness, And Duplicity |
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416 | (15) |
Notes |
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431 | (23) |
Glossary of People, Places, and Little-Known Simples |
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454 | (19) |
Bibliography |
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473 | (5) |
Further Reading |
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478 | (2) |
Index |
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480 | (13) |
About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute |
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493 | (1) |
About the Typefaces |
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494 | (1) |
Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature |
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495 | (4) |
About the Editor |
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499 | (1) |
About the Translator |
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500 | |
Jaml al-Dn Abd al-Ram al-Jawbar (Author) Jaml al-Dn Abd al-Ram al-Jawbar (fl. early seventh/thirteenth century) was born in the Ghouta region near Damascus. He was the author of three texts, of which only The Book of Charlatans survives. Manuela Dengler (Editor) Manuela Dengler studied Arabic in Damascus and Cairo and received her Ph.D. in Oriental Philology and Islamic Studies from the University of Cologne (Germany). She is the author of the first text-critical edition based on a wide examination of the existing manuscripts of the Book of Charlatans by the thirteenth-century Syrian author al-Jawbar, which she has now re-edited for the Library of Arabic Literature. Besides her research activity, she works in the fields of foreign cultural policy, the dialogue between Western and Muslim societies, and refugee policy. Humphrey Davies (Translator) Humphrey Davies is an award-winning translator of some twenty-five works of modern Arabic literature, among them Alaa Al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building, five novels by Elias Khoury, including Gate of the Sun, and Amad Fris al-Shidyq's Leg over Leg. He has also made a critical edition, translation, and lexicon of the Ottoman-period Brains Confounded by the Ode of Ab Shdf Expounded by Ysuf al-Shirbn, as well as editions and translations of al-Tnis's In Darfur and al-Sanhr's Risible Rhymes from the same era. In addition, he has compiled with Madiha Doss an anthology in Arabic entitled Al-mmiyyah al-miriyyah al-maktbah: mukhtrt min 1400 il 2009 (Egyptian Colloquial Writing: selections from 1400 to 2009) and co-authored, with Lesley Lababidi, A Field Guide to the Street Names of Central Cairo. He read Arabic at the University of Cambridge, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and previous to undertaking his first translation in 2003, worked for social development and research organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Sudan. He is affiliated with the American University in Cairo.