ABSTRACT

The library of Tipu Sultan of Mysore is one of the most important in the history of South Asian Islamic collections. Unlike many collections which can be regarded as dynastic libraries, Tipu’s was relatively newly-formed. Most of the books had not been acquired before the mid-eighteenth century but nevertheless came from diverse sources. This gives the collection an added importance in a specifically eighteenth-century context. Following his death in 1799 at the siege of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna, an island in the river Kaveri ca. 13 km. north of Mysore) the library was estimated to consist of about 2000 volumes. Of these the British Library holds 540 manuscripts which can be positively identified as part of the original library while others are in the Asiatic Society, Calcutta and scattered around the world. This article is based on a preliminary study of the collection as it exists today in the British Library, together with a few other volumes which have been examined personally. On the basis of paratextual information I attempt an analysis of the collection as a whole and in particular look at the smaller collections of which it is made.

摘要

迈索尔的蒂普苏丹图书馆是南亚伊斯兰收藏史上最重要的图书馆之一。与许多可以被视为王朝图书馆的馆藏不同，提普的馆藏相对较新。大多数书籍在 18 世纪中叶之前并未获得，但它们的来源各不相同。这使得该系列在 18 世纪的特定背景下更加重要。他于 1799 年在 Seringapatam（Srirangapatna，位于 Kaveri 河中的一个岛屿，位于迈索尔以北约 13 公里处）的围攻中去世后，估计该图书馆藏书约 2000 册。其中大英图书馆拥有 540 份手稿，这些手稿可以肯定是原始图书馆的一部分，而其他手稿则位于亚洲协会、加尔各答并分散在世界各地。这篇文章是基于对今天在大英图书馆中的收藏品的初步研究，以及其他几卷经过个人检查的书籍。在副文本信息的基础上，我尝试对整个收藏进行分析，特别是查看制作它的较小的收藏。