Overview

Andre Du Ryer was French vice-consul in Egypt from 1623 to 1626, and both as adviser and interpreter to the French ambassador in Istanbul and ambassador extraordinary of the sultan to France in the early 1630s, he assembled a fine collection of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic manuscripts most of which are now in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. After reconstructing his diplomatic career and his life after his return to France in 1633, the authors assess Du Ryer's contribution to Turkish and Persian studies, his translation of the Quran both in France and in the countries where it was translated (England, Holland, and Germany), and his manuscript collection. Du Ryer is presented in the historical context of French diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire and in the context both of contemporary European orientalism and of the development of French literature in the reign of Louis XIII and the minority of Louis XIV. He emerges as an important and influential figure whose significance has never previously been appreciated.

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9780197144022

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Reviews

...this monumental work should be read by anyone seriously interested in learning about aspects of Islam and the West in the seventeenth century, which are so vividly brought to life here. Ahmad Gunny, Journal of Islamic Studies ... impressive book ... an exemplary work of scholarship, attractively written and exhaustive in content ... With its fine typography, excellent illustrations and handsome format it is a joy to read. Edmund Bosworth, Times Literary Supplement ... the authors show, with convincing detail, that [Du Ryer] was a real scholar, a man whose practical training illumined and enriched his intellectual formation. Edmund Bosworth, Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Alastair Hamilton, former Louise Thijssen-Schoute Professor of the History of Ideas at Leiden University and Professor emeritus of the History of the Radical Reformation at the University of Amsterdam, is the Arcadian Visiting Research Professor at the School of Advanced Study, London University, Warburg Institute. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. Francis Richard, former Keeper of Persian Manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, is now in charge of the Department of Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre.

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