Safegaurding Africa's Literary Heritage : timbuktu rare manuscripts project

Minicka, Mary Safegaurding Africa's Literary Heritage : timbuktu rare manuscripts project., 2006 . In LIASA WCHELIG Winter Colloquium : Collaboration for success, Cape Town (South Africa), 14 June 2006. (Unpublished) [Conference paper]

[img]
Preview
 PDF
liasa_wchelig_colloq.06.pdf
Download (136kB) | Preview

English abstract

I would like to first set the context for this presentation: that is the place of Timbuktu – it is a city of legend and myth, as much as of actual history. The city of Timbuktu is located in modern-day West African country of Mali close to the river Niger at its northern-most bend, on the fringes of the Sahara desert. It is though that Timbuktu was founded some time around 1100 CE (Bovill 1958:88; Hunwick 2003:1;Saad 1983:4). The fortuitous placement of Timbuktu at the crossing of the Niger River and a major caravan route that continues to Marrakech (Morocco) in the north and swings towards the modern-day state of Sudan across the Sahara desert; as well as one of the major routes for pilgrimage to Mecca is surely a large part of the reason for its success as a centre of commerce – which brought with it both wealth and culture (Bovill 1958:105; De Villiers & Hirtle 2003:212; Saad 1983:6). Part of the legend of Timbuktu’s manuscripts is due to the reputed vast number of manuscripts to be found in Timbuktu; literature on the subject ascribe anything between one to five million manuscripts in Timbuktu and its immediate environs. Timbuktu’s most celebrated scholar, Ahmed Baba (1564-1627 CE) claimed that his personal library contained some 1 600 volumes (Hunwick 2003:3), and that his was the smallest library within his family. His family, the Aqit, were the leading scholarly family during the 16th century in Timbuktu. The 16th century traveller Leo Africanus, noted that books were the most valued among the various articles of trade and wrote that: “… hither are brought divers manuscripts or written books out of Barbary, which are sold for more money than any other merchandise.” (De Villiers & Hirtle 2003:212; Saad 1983:88). In addition scholars returning from pilgrimage further augmented Timbuktu’s manuscript collections over the centuries and study in other centres of Islamic learning, often copied by their own hands. Within Timbuktu there existed an active copying and scribal industry (Hunwick 2003:3) that ensured a continual production of manuscripts for the consumption of scholars, students and literate citizens.

Item type: Conference paper
Keywords: Timbuktu, Manuscripts, conservation, Islamic civilization, Mali, Africa
Subjects: J. Technical services in libraries, archives, museum.
Depositing user: Fatima Darries
Date deposited: 24 Jul 2006
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:04
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/7831

References

ATIYEH, GN. (ed.) 1995. The book in the Islamic world: the written word and communication in the Middle East. Albany, NY : State University of New York; Library of Congress.

BADKE, D. Watermarks: University of Victoria Lydgate MS Fall of princes. Available http:// (Accessed 11 February 2005).

BAKER, AB & SILVERMAN, R. Misconceptions about white gloves. In. International Preservation News: a newsletter of the IFLA core activity on preservation and conservation. N37. December 2005:4-9.

BERKEY, J. 1992. The transmission of knowledge in medieval Cairo: a social history of Islamic education. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University.

BLOOM, JM. 2001. Paper before print: the history and impact of paper in the Islamic world. New Haven; London : Yale University.

BOSCH, G … et al. 1981. Islamic bindings and bookmaking: exhibition catalogue. Chicago : Oriental Institute, University of Chicago.

BOVILL, EW. [1958] 1999. (2nd ed). The golden trade of the Moors. Princeton, NJ : Markus Wiener Publishers

BOWMAN, AK. & WOOLF, G. (eds.) 1994. Literacy and power in the ancient world. Cambridge : Cambridge University.

CHURCHILL, WA. 1965. Watermarks in paper: in Holland, England, France, etc. in the xvii and xviii centuries and their interconnection. Amsterdam : Menno Hertzberger.

CLANCHY, MT. 1993. (2nd ed.) From memory to written record: England 1066 – 1307. Oxford : Blackwell.

COOK, M. The opponents of the writing of Tradition in early Islam. In Arabica. 1997(XLIV):437-530.

Countermark. In. Bookbinding and the conservation of Books: a dictionary of descriptive terminology. Available at: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu (accessed 9 December 2004).

DE VILLIERS, M. & HIRTLE, S. 2003. Sahara: the extraordinary history of the world’s larges desert. New York : Walker.

DUTTON, Y. (gen. ed.) 1995. The codicology of Islamic manuscripts: proceedings of the second conference of Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 4-5 December 1993. London : Al-Furqan.

EL FASI, M & HRBEK, I. 1988. General history of Africa III: Africa from the seventh to the eleventh century. Paris : Unesco; Heinemann.

GATES, HL. 1999. Wonders of the African world. New York: AA Knopf.

GREENFIELD, J. 1998. ABC of Bookbinding … et al. Delaware, Mass : Oak Knoll Press.

HARRIS, N. Chapter 11: devices and desires In. Analytical bibliography: an alternative prospectus. April 2004. Available http://ihl.enssib.fr ( accessed 12 September 2004).

AL-HASSAN, AY & HILL, DR. 1992. Islamic technology: an illustrated history. Paris : Unesco.

Heretics and the renaissance: the Albigensian papermakers and watermarks. In. Theosophy. V 53, N 9:262-266 1965. Available at: http//:www.widsomworld.org (accessed 3 February 2005).

HORRIE, C. & CHIPPENDALE, P. 1990. What is Islam? London : Star ; WA Allen & Co.

HRBEK, I. 1988. Africa in the context of world history. In. EL FASI, M & HRBEK, I. (eds.) General history of Africa III: Africa from the seventh to the eleventh century. Paris : Unesco; Heinemann.

HUNTER, D. [1930] 1971. (repr.). Papermaking: through eighteen centuries. New York : Franklin.

HUNWICK, J. The Timbuktu manuscript tradition. In. Tinabantu: journal of African national affairs. V1.N2. June 2003:1-9.

LOVEDAY, H. 2001. Islamic paper: a study of the ancient craft. [London] : Don Baker Memorial Fund.

MAHDI, M. 1995. From the manuscript age to the age of printed books. In. Atiyeh, GN. (ed.) 1995. The book in the Islamic world: the written word and communication in the Middle East. Albany, NY : State University of New York; Library of Congress.

MAKKI SABAI, M. 1987. Mosque libraries: an historical study. London; New York : Mansell.

MINICKA, M. 2005. Timbuktu Rare Manuscripts Project: promoting African partnerships in the preservation of Africa’s heritage. [unpublished conference paper presented at the XVIII Bi-annual Esarbica General Conference on Archives and Records in the Information Society: the African Agenda.]

ROBINSON, CF. 2003. Islamic historiography. Cambridge : Cambridge University.

ROSENTHAL, F. 1995. “Of making many books there is no end:” the classical Muslim view. In. Atiyeh, GN. (ed.) 1995. The book in the Islamic world: the written word and communication in the Middle East. Albany, NY : State University of New York; Library of Congress.

SAAD, EN. 1983. Social history of Timbuktu: the role of Muslim scholars and notables, 1400 – 1900. Cambridge : Cambridge University.

SZIRMAI, JA. 1999. (2001 repr.) Chapter 5: The Islamic Codex. In. The archaeology of medieval book binding. Aldershot, Hants : Ashgate.

TURNER, J. (ed). 1996. Islamic art In. The dictionary of art. London : Macmillan.

Watermark. In. Bookbinding and the conservation of Books: a dictionary of descriptive terminology. Available at: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu (accessed 9 December 2004).

WERNER, L. Mauritania’s manuscripts. In. Saudi Aramco world. V54, N6. Nov/Dec 2003. Available: http://www. saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200306/mauritania.s.manuscripts.htm (accessed11 December 2004).


Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
Contact us
Send email Sponsors
Sponsor: AIMS Sponsor: D&P Sponsor: UniNa CAB Get connected
Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Linkedin LinkedIn RSS RSS