- Singleton, Brent D. (2004). "African Bibliophiles: Book and Libraries in Medieval Timbuktu." Libraries & Culture, 39 (1), 1-12.
- A "Dig Deeper" article from Early Libraries
- Accessible online at http://bit.ly/2kuUMez
My interest in this article is the same as in previous entries--what were libraries like in non-Western historical context? This is the first article on African libraries that I have seen thus far, so I jumped at the chance to read it.
The beginning of Timbuktu's story is familiar--a succession of rulers who emphasize education and literacy bring the city and its library into a "Golden Age," famed throughout the Islamic world, before war "reduced the level of scholarship to a low from which the city would never completely recover." During the Golden Age, the learned society was like that of other Islamic cultures I have read in this class. Books were more than just information, they were status symbols! No business, mosque or scholar's home was complete without a vibrant library. I loved this (albeit extreme) example pulled from a man's journal, that he "was able to purchase a rare, imported copy of Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Firuzabadi’s al-Qamus al-muhit for the enormous sum of eighty mithqals. This amount was equal to the purchase of two horses and totaled roughly twelve ounces of gold." As also evidenced by trading logs, paper and ink were in high demand.
No public libraries were established, however. Funding for private libraries came completely from wealthy individuals. This is apparently at odds with library culture in most Islamic countries, which were known for providing free supplies so patrons could copy materials at will. But given that the city of Timbuktu was geographically isolated and its society already bent towards great displays of individual wealth, it is not surprising they did not adopt a public institution.
The Moroccan invasion of 1591 put an end to this Golden Age, but I don't think it put an end to Timbuktu's library culture. I was reminded while reading this of a recent story about a movement of librarians, based in Timbuktu, to preserve historic manuscript deemed forbidden by al-Qaeda. What a history within a single city!
The beginning of Timbuktu's story is familiar--a succession of rulers who emphasize education and literacy bring the city and its library into a "Golden Age," famed throughout the Islamic world, before war "reduced the level of scholarship to a low from which the city would never completely recover." During the Golden Age, the learned society was like that of other Islamic cultures I have read in this class. Books were more than just information, they were status symbols! No business, mosque or scholar's home was complete without a vibrant library. I loved this (albeit extreme) example pulled from a man's journal, that he "was able to purchase a rare, imported copy of Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Firuzabadi’s al-Qamus al-muhit for the enormous sum of eighty mithqals. This amount was equal to the purchase of two horses and totaled roughly twelve ounces of gold." As also evidenced by trading logs, paper and ink were in high demand.
No public libraries were established, however. Funding for private libraries came completely from wealthy individuals. This is apparently at odds with library culture in most Islamic countries, which were known for providing free supplies so patrons could copy materials at will. But given that the city of Timbuktu was geographically isolated and its society already bent towards great displays of individual wealth, it is not surprising they did not adopt a public institution.
The Moroccan invasion of 1591 put an end to this Golden Age, but I don't think it put an end to Timbuktu's library culture. I was reminded while reading this of a recent story about a movement of librarians, based in Timbuktu, to preserve historic manuscript deemed forbidden by al-Qaeda. What a history within a single city!
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