The Book of Charlatans
ByPublisher Description
is a comprehensive guide to trickery and scams as practiced in the thirteenth century in the cities of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Egypt. Al-Jawbarī was well versed in the practices he describes and may have been a reformed charlatan himself. Divided into thirty chapters, the book reveals the secrets of everyone from "Those Who Claim to be Prophets" to "Those Who Claim to Have Leprosy" and "Those Who Dye Horses."
The material is informed in part by the author's own experience with alchemy, astrology, and geomancy, and in part by his extensive research. The work is unique in its systematic, detailed, and inclusive approach to a subject that is by nature arcane and that has relevance not only for social history but also for the history of science. Covering everything from invisible writing to doctoring gemstones and quack medicine,
opens a fascinating window into a subculture of beggars' guilds and professional con artists in the medieval Arab world.
An English-only edition.
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About Jamal al-Din ?Abd al-Ra?im al-Jawbari
(fl. early seventh/thirteenth century) was born in the Ghouta region near Damascus. He was the author of three texts, of which only
survives.
is a speculative fiction writer from New York City. Her debut,
, was short-listed for the Locus, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards.
is an award-winning translator of some twenty-five works of modern Arabic literature, among them Alaa Al-Aswany's
, five novels by Elias Khoury, including
, and A?mad Faris al-Shidyaq's
. He has also made a critical edition, translation, and lexicon of the Ottoman-period
by Yusuf al-Shirbini, as well as editions and translations of al-Tunisi's
and al-Sanhuri's
from the same era. In addition, he has
compiled with Madiha Doss an anthology in Arabic entitled
(
) and co-authored, with Lesley Lababidi,
. He read Arabic at the University of Cambridge, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and previous to undertaking his first translation in 2003, worked for social development and research organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Sudan. He is affiliated with the American University in Cairo.
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