[Review of:] Ḥannā Diyāb: Kitāb al-Siyāḥah (The Book of Travels) (ed. Johannes Stephan, trans. Elias Muhanna) (Library of Arabic Literature.) 2 vols; xlii, 328 pp., vii, 330 pp.

Zaki, Vevian (2023): [Review of:] Ḥannā Diyāb: Kitāb al-Siyāḥah (The Book of Travels) (ed. Johannes Stephan, trans. Elias Muhanna) (Library of Arabic Literature.) 2 vols; xlii, 328 pp., vii, 330 pp. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 86, No. 1: pp. 181-183

Abstract

Ḥannā Diyāb, a Maronite from Aleppo who lived from approximately 1687 until after 1764, has gained increased fame in the last decades. It is now known that he was the source for a number of stories of the Arabian Nights published in French (1704-1717) by the orientalist Antoine Galland. These stories, albeit not found in the written Arabic tradition of the Arabian Nights, remain an important oral contribution, as they include some of the best-known stories from the collection, such as Aladdin and the Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, among others. Kītāb al-Siyāḥah, or The Book of Travels, is another contribution of Ḥannā Diyāb, yet this time written. In this book, he narrates his travels as an assistant to Paul Lucas, the envoy of French king Louis XIV, to collect antiquities from the Ottoman Empire. Ḥanna's travels started in 1707 and included Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and France (where he met Galland), before his return home to Aleppo in June 1710. This account is recorded in Arabic in a single manuscript, which is MS Vatican, BAV, Sbath 254. The book in hand opens up Ḥannā's travel account to a wider Arabic-and English-speaking audience. It comprises an Arabic edition of the text with extensive notes and an introduction by Johannes Stephan, along with a parallel English translation by Elias Muhanna. It comes in two volumes with a foreword by Yasmine Seale and an afterword by Paolo Lemos Horta. The account is divided into chapters, each covering a specific portion of the journey.

• Item Type: Recension
• Keywords: Ḥanna Diyāb; Travel; Eastern Christians; Early modern period
• Faculties: Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies; Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies > Arabic and Islamic Studies
• Subjects: 200 Religion > 270 History of Christianity; 900 History and geography > 990 History of other areas
• Place of Publication: London
• Language: English