A History of Ottoman Libraries

Download or read book A History of Ottoman Libraries written by İsmail E. Erünsal and published by Academic Studies PRess. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.