The Library of the Department for the History and Culture of the near East, Hamburg

British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

The Library of the Department for the History and Culture of the near East, HamburgAuthor(s): Angelika HartmannSource: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 8, No. 2 (1981), pp. 139-146Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/194547 .

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SECTION

A. ARTICLE

THE LIBRARY OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE NEAR EAST, HAMBURG

A. Hartmann

What follows is the translation of the text of a paper read

originally in German at the 3rd International Conference of Middle Eastern Librarians in Europe (MELCOM), held in Berlin 6-9 April 1981.

This paper will be divided into two sections:

(i) The development and major strengths of the Library for the

Ristory and Culture of the Near East, Hamburg.

(ii) The research projects of the members of the Department.

i

The full title of the library whose major features I am about to describe is the Institute Library of the Department for the

History and Culture of the Near East at the University of

Hamburg (Die Institutsblibliothek des Seminars fur Geschichte und Kultur des Vorderen Orients der Universitgt Hamburg). It is one of seventeen identical or similar specialist libraries in the Federal Republic of Germany. With an actual stock of around 38,000 volumes, including 108 current periodical titles and about 9,000 offprints, it is, despite some gaps, a well furnished collection, and it ranks among the foremost German institute libraries in Islamic studies. This was not

always the case, as can be seen from a brief look at the

history of the library, which is intimately connected to that of the department.

The Department for the History and Culture of the Near East was founded on 20 October 1908 as part of the Hamburg Colonial Institute (Hamburgisches Kolonialinstitut), established at the same time. Its main purpose was to train, by means of two-seminar courses, businessmen and officials for a future career overseas. The founder-director of the department was no less than Carl Heinrich Becker (1876-1933), who later became the Prussian Minister of Culture. He headed the department until 1913, when he was appointed to a post in Bonn. His successor for the period 1913-1919 was the specialist in Islamic and Ottoman Studies, Rudolf Tschudi.

In 1919 a university was created out of the Colonial

Institute, the first ever university in Hamburg. The

Department for the History and Culture of the Near East became an independent institute within the university and was headed first of all by one of the most wide-ranging and deep-thinking scholars of Islam, Hellmut Ritter (1919-1924), then by Rudolf Strothmann (1927-1948) who was considered one of the greatest experts on Shi'ism.

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For 1927, we can read in a university report that the department had built up a reference library of 3,500 volumes 'in comfortable quarters'. Particularly well represented were the sections of Islamic law, the modern Middle East and East Africa. In addition, the library possessed a fine collection of newspapers and journals published in the Middle East. Each day the library received a copy of an Arabic, a Persian and a Turkish newspaper. (Today, for reasons of space, no newspapers can be accepted; in general, daily and weekly newspapers are collected by the German Oriental Institute (Deutsches Orientinstitut) in Hamburg.) Further teaching materials available in 1927 were a comprehensive map collection, including those maps of the Middle East published by the German General Staff during the war; gramophone recordings produced in the Middle East; some manuscripts and terracottas.

The staff of the department was then composed of the following:

Two professors (one for Islamic studies, one for the more specialized field of Semitic studies).

One lektor, or foreign-language assistant, for Turkish. One part-time specialist lecturer in post-biblical Hebrew (a

Hamburg clergyman who was considered an acknowledged authority in this field).

One Arabic-and one Persian-language assistant.

In the years that followed, the library's holdings reached a final total of 30,000 volumes until, towards the end of the Second World War, an air attack on Hamburg destroyed everything. In 1943, the stock of the library which had been deposited in a store fell victim to the flames with the exception of about 200 books. After the war everything had to begin again.

The basic stock of a new library was laid through gifts and the bequest of the books from the estate of the Arabist Fritz Krenkow, who had lived for many years in India and England. Later came the bequests of Arthur Schaade (mainly ancient and classical Arabic texts), Rudolf Strothmann (mainly on Islamic studies) and Walter Windfuhr (Judaic studies). Responsible for the reconstruction and growth of the department after the war was Bertold Spuler, who was appointed Professor of Islamic Studies in Hamburg in 1948 (this included the sections of Semitic, Turkic and Iranian studies), and headed the department until 1980. His successor is Albrecht Noth.

Today the library covers the entire geographical area of Islam from Egypt to Pakistan and Central Asia, and from the Balkans to the Sudan. Only India and the Maghrib are excluded or given reduced coverage. Considerably more than half the book-stock consists of material in the cultural languages of Islam: Arabic, Persian, and Turkish (Ottoman and modern Turkish as well as other Turkic languages). The strengths of the library are many and varied:-

The history -- including the cultural history -- of the Arab world, Turkey and Iran.

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Islamic theology and religion. Geography, including economic and social history. Philology (Classical and modern Arabic, Persian and Turkish

literature). Semitic studies (Philology and history). The history of Christianity in the Orient, especially of

Eastern Christianity. Turcology (Turkey and Central Asian Turkic languages).

Manuscripts, microfiches and photographs are not held by the library. Material of this nature is transferred to the State and University Library in Hamburg (Staats- und Universitgts- bibliothek Hamburg), incorporated into their holdings and made available for consultation there.

Within the Department, one of the leading specialist journals is prepared and published: Der Islam, edited by Bertold Spuler. It appears twice yearly and contains academic articles and book reviews covering the whole field of Islam. The publishing costs are mainly borne by the German Society for Research (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). As for the history of the journal, it is almost as old as the Department itself, having been founded by C.H.Becker in 1910.

With the translation of Bertold Spuler to Emeritus Professor on 31 March 1980, the structure of the Department was altered, which naturally had its effect on the main areas of library activity. The Department as a whole is still divided between Islamic studies and Iranian studies, but henceforth the Islamic section comprises three independent sections: (a) Islam, which is by far the largest; (b) Turcology; and (c) Semitic studies (the post in this last section is frozen). Thus, gaps in Arabic

and Turkish texts have now been filled, in hadith, in modern belles-lettres (above all Turkish and Turkic) and in the contemporary history of the Islamic countries.

The entire collection is included in an alphabetical author catalogue and a subject catalogue which, at the same time, gives the location of the books. Books in oriental languages possess their own title catalogue. The subject catalogue with its numerous 'see-references' fulfils for the time being the function of a key-word catalogue, although the latter would be useful and, in future, will become necessary.

The list of accessions to the library is sent to the Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Hamburg and thus appears in the Central Catalogue of North Germany (Norddeutscher Zentralkatalog). A copy of each relevant Islamic catalogue entry is sent to the Documentation Centre of the German Oriental Institute (Dokumentationsleitstelle des Deutschen Orientinstituts) and -- from today -- to the State Library in West Berlin (Staatsbiblio- thek Berlin). Our catalogue entries follow the Rules for Alphabetical Cataloguing (Regeln fur Alphabetische Katalogisier- ung). More relevant material, outside the Department, can be

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found in other specialist libraries in Hamburg, e.g. the German Oriental Institute, other departments within the faculties of Oriental Studies and History, in the Institute for the History of German Jews (Institut ffr die Geschichte der Deutschen Juden), in the International Economics Archive (Weltwirtschaftsarchiv), in the Max Planck Institute for International and Comparative Law (Max-Planck-Institut fir Internationales und Vergleichendes Recht) and, of course, in the Staats- und Universitltsbibliothek

Hamburg.

The library is headed by an academic assistant with a Dr.Phil. in Islamic Studies. She is assisted by a part-time library assistant and, when required, by student helpers. The library is primarily for reference, and readers who are not full-time students attending courses within the Department may not borrow. The library functions as a lending library for other users.

Inter-library loans are excluded because of internal needs, although exceptions on a personal basis are always possible.

ii

The Department for the History and Culture of the Near East is

currently staffed by 4 professors, 4 lektoren, or foreign-language assistants, for Arabic, Persian and Turkish, 2 academic assistants and four administrative and technical assistants. Normally, further academics work as specialist lecturers in the Department. There are not yet any general research programmes, but rather

widely distributed single research projects. The most important of these in the Islamic field is here sketched out in brief (researchers' names appearing in alphabetical order):-

Professor Dr. Werner Ende 1. The religio-historical background to the present religious,

cultural and political situation in Saudi Arabia.

Part of a research project of the German Oriental

Institute, financed by the Volkswagen Foundation (Stiftung Volkswagen). The first publication will appear towards the end of 1981.

2. The relationship between the Arab independence movements and the German Reich (nineteenth and twentieth centuries).

Long-term project in collaboration with Dr.Peter Heine, Mdnster. Part publications have already appeared or are in the press.

3. The situation of the Twelver Shi'a in Arab countries.

Long-term project. Some monographs have already appeared or are in the press. Major Work on this topic in preparation.

From the summer term of 1981 Professor Ende will be the incumbent of a newly created Chair in Islamic Studies with

particular reference to the Political and Historical Aspects of Modern Islam. No specific course is planned but, rather, special emphasis within the field of Islamic studies is envisaged.

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Students should thereby receive a wider professional perspective outside the University: the diplomatic service, aid to developing countries, world of commerce, etc.

Professor Dr. Ronald Emmerick (pre-Islamic Iran, no Islamic studies) .

Dr. Gerd Grog] (Iranian studies; at themoment no Islamic research

projects). The concept of the modern fire-temples still in use in Iran and India. The question of worship. Joint project with the Zoroastrian high priest in Bombay, an Indian architect. Contacts with the Parsee community in Bombay.

Dr. Angelika Hartmann (Academic assistant in Islamic studies. Librarian)

1. A critical editio princeps of an Arabic text will be

presented in the summer of 1981 as a doctoral thesis (Habilitation): The 'spiritual advice' of 'Umar al-Suhrawardi (Rashf al-nasa'ih al-imaniyya wa-kashf al-fada'ih al-yunaniyya), a Sunni theological treatise of the first third of the 6th/13th century. The edition of the text (c.500 pages) precedes the German section (c.350 pages

dealing with the textual criticism, notes and a study of the spiritual world in which the author lived). Supported by the German Society for Research (Deutsche Forschungsgemein- schaft).

2. In preparation are other editions of Arabic texts relating to the Islamic legal and theological schools of thirteenth- century Iraq.

3. A critical edition of a Sufi commentary on the Qur'an with a more detailed study of the history of Sufi Qur'anic exegesis (long-term project).

4. Preparations almost completed for the first study of the complete works of the mystic, theologian and lawyer 'Umar al-Suhrawardi (d.AD 1234) with an attempt to put his works in chronological order.

Professor Dr.Petra Kappert (Turcology)

1. The Ottoman Empire and the French Revolution/The European Ottoman relations during the Napoleonic era according to the Sefaretname of the Ottoman Grand Ambassador Abdurrahim Muhibb Efendi along with Ottoman and European archival sources.

2. Turkish literary currents in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: individual problems, reception of foreign literature, etc.

3. Poetry and prose writing by women in the Ottoman Empire.

4. Parvus Efendi and his circle. The effect of the socialist Alexander Helphand in Istanbul cn the eve of World War One.

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Dr.Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh (Lektor in Persian)

For close on ten years Dr.Khaleghi has been occupied with the preparation of a critical edition of the Shah-nama. This has consisted in checking critically all or most of the large number of manuscripts written before 900/1495 and then in selecting the best. Dr.Khaleghi hopes to complete his preparations in 1981 and thereafter to begin the main task, that of the edition itself; this will be based on 12-15 manuscripts and will be accompanied by a critical commentary.

Professor Dr.Albrecht Noth (Islamic studies)

1. Study on the problem of minorities in Islam.

Long-term project in collaboration with other scholars in the field. Ten-year support through the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Up to now, six volumes have appeared in the Bonner Orientalistische Studien, Vol.27, i,ff. Altogether, ten to twelve are planned, and they will form part of a publications programme. The series will conclude with a general volume on the problem.

2. Jewish minorities in Egypt at the end of the nineteenth century/beginning of the twentieth century.

This project, supported by the Volkswagen Foundation, has developed from the series on minority problems discussed above. It will be presented as a thesis by Frau Gudrun Kramer under the supervision of Professor Noth.

3. Codex Diplomaticus Regni Siciliae.

In this international project supported by the German Society for Research, the entire corpus of documents of the Normans in southern Italy and Sicily will be collected and edited. Professor Noth has been commissioned to edit the Arabic and Greco-Arabic documents. Volume 2 is in preparation.

4. Survey of Contemporary Bahrain.

Inter-disciplinary project run by the University of Bonn in collaboration with economists and agricultural experts. Professor Noth has been entrusted with the section on Islam. The project will run for three years, supported by the Volkswagen Foundation.

5. Co-editor of the journal Saeculum.

Co-operation in the publications of the Institute for Historical Anthropology, Freiburg, founded in 1975 (Institut fir Historische Anthropologie). So far, two volumes have appeared: Vol.I - Sickness, Healing and the Art of Medicine; Vol.II - The Origin and Growth of the Legal Tradition. In the second volume Professor Noth contributed the section on the religious law of Islam, the Sharila. At the present time, work is in hand on the third volume (Children, Youth and Family Structures) to which Professor Noth and Dr.Harald Motzki are contributing the Islamic element.

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6. Conservation and Register of Manuscripts from the Yemen.

A cache of manuscripts of the greatest importance was discovered during the restoration of the Mosque in Santa, including, for example, very old fragments of the Qur'an and documents. It is intended to list and preserve these manuscripts along with the manuscripts from the traditional public and private libraries. The project, under the direction of Professor Noth, is expected to last several years and is funded by the Cultural Section of the German Foreign Office (Kulturabteilung des Auswartigen Amtes). Due to intensive collaboration with the conservators (Head conservator: Herr Bartelt), a workshop was set up on the spot where an orientalist (from 1 March 1981) and a conservator (from 1 April 1981) will always be present; they will be in charge of microfilming the manuscripts as well as their conservation.

Dr.Abdulghafur Sabuni (Lektor for Arabic)

Introduction to Arabic Studies.

A teaching manual, in which the question of the structural link between various aspects of Arabic studies is given prominence. It will deal with the classical language and the dialects, above all with the development of Arabic philology and literature. About 150 pages long, it will probably be published in Autumn 1981.

Professor Dr.Hanna Sohrweide (Visiting Professor in Turcology)

Preparation of the third volume -- the third by the author -- of Turkish manuscripts in the series: Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany, edited by Dr.Wolfgang Voigt. (Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland.)

Over 90 volumes have so far appeared as part of this project.

Professor Dr.Bertold Spuler

1. Continuation of the reports on the different Eastern Churches (Chronik der Ostkirchen) which are being published in international specialist periodicals. The present situation of the Oriental Christians.

2. Conclusion of a long-term project on the history of the Great Seljuqs: Religion, History and Culture of the Seljuqs: Iran between the Seljuq and Mongol Conquests.

3. Professor Spuler is the editor of the Handbook of Oriental Studies (Handbuch der Orientalistik), published since 1948 by E.J.Brill of Leiden.

In our library-- as elsewhere --there are problems and plans. They include the hope of a many-sided exchange of views with similar specialist libraries. We are therefore interested to hear your experiences and eager to co-operate with others. The full address of the library is:

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Bibliothek, Seminar fir Geschichte und Kultur des Vorderen Orients, Universitat Hamburg, 2 Hamburg 13, Rothenbaumchaussee 36, Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Tel: (O 40)41 23-32 10.

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Documents

The Library of the Department for the History and Culture of the near East, Hamburg