History of Ottoman Libraries
A History of Ottoman Libraries tells the story of the development and the organization of Ottoman libraries from the fourteenth through the twentieth century. In the first part, the book surveys the phases through which the Ottoman libraries evolved from a few shelves of books to sizable, endowed collections housed in free-standing library buildings. Ottoman libraries were mainly established as charitable foundations, that is by endowing the books and steady income for the maintenance of the collection and the library building. The second part of the book focuses on the organization, the personnel, and the day-to-day functioning of Ottoman libraries. This first complete history of Ottoman libraries was written based on hitherto untapped archival sources.
İsmail Erünsal obtained his PhD from Edinburgh University in 1977. He taught at Istanbul University’s Department of Library Sciences, and later chaired the Department of Archival Studies of Marmara University from 1990 to 2006. Professor Erünsal has extensively published on the history of libraries, booksellers, and book culture in the Islamic world.