Naslov
Collecting Manuscripts for the Oriental Collection of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts: The Role of Franz Babinger

Autori
Paić-Vukić, Tatjana

Izvornik
Archivum Ottomanicum (0378-2808) 34 (2017); 111-122

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
The Oriental Collection of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Franz Babinger, collecting Islamic manuscripts, trading in Islamic manuscripts, Bosnia

Sažetak
The author examines the role of the German turkologist Franz Babinger in the formation of the Oriental Collection of the Yugoslav (today Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. Articles related to the establishment of the Collection emphasize the role of Vladimir Mažuranić, a legal historian and former president of the Academy, who provided the decisive initiative and recommended that Babinger be engaged. However, why and how this particular scholar was chosen for the task remained unclear. The letters that Babinger wrote to Mažuranić after 1925 reveal that he himself had offered his services to the Academy. He initiated the correspondence by informing Mažuranić about his research interests and qualifications. In a letter dated January 15, 1927, he enquires whether it would be possible for the Yugoslav Academy to organize the study of Islamic materials, especially numerous important manuscripts, in which he would be involved for an extended period. In August 1927, the Academy officially authorized Babinger to collect manuscripts on its behalf. It appears that the German Turkologist was very skillful and persistent in his desire to pursue historiographical work on South East Europe in the Ottoman period, for which he needed good access to the available sources. With time, as some articles and documents disclose, his other interests would surface as well. Aside from the support and praise which the Academy’s project enjoyed in Bosnia in the 1930s, there were also some rumours related to the activities of Franz Babinger. Accusations were heard in Bosnia and Herzegovina that he was buying manuscripts for his own purposes. Documents from the Registry of the Academy and the Registry of the Oriental Collection confirm that President Manojlović was alarmed by the possibility that Babinger could be involved in such trade. Today, more definite indications of his duplicitous role can be found in the “Catalogue of the Turkish manuscripts in the Library of Leiden University and other Collections in the Netherlands”, which contains descriptions of manuscripts from the collection of Professor Franz Taeschner. Among them is a valuable codex from Bosnia dating from the mid-seventeenth century, comprising treatises on Islamic brotherhoods and guilds. As stated by the compiler of the catalogue, Jan Schmidt, the manuscript includes two letters and a postcard sent to Taeschner by Franz Babinger in 1928 and 1929, mostly concerning the sale of the manuscript. Babinger writes that he bought the manuscript at a high price in the summer of 1927 (while he was in charge of acquisition for the Academy!) from “a hoca” in Gornji šeher, a suburb of Banja Luka (northern Bosnia) and requests 1, 700 dinars/250 Reischmarks for the codex. Concerning the prices given to the owners in Bosnia on other occasions, which rarely exceeded 100 dinars, we can assume that the sum demanded by Babinger was much higher than what he had paid the “hoca”. Babinger certainly had an advantage over other book traders, owing to his vast knowledge of Ottoman history and culture, as well as Islamic manuscripts, but also of the preferences of collectors. What makes this trade dishonest, albeit not illegal at the time, is that Babinger traveled to Bosnia on behalf of the Academy in Zagreb, which had entrusted him with collecting manuscripts for the Oriental Collection, covered his expenses and provided him with a letter of recommendation issued by the Ministry of Education. It was owing to the reputation of the Academy and the active involvement of its president, Manojlović, who regularly exchanged letters and telegrams with Bosnian intellectuals and owners of manuscripts, that Babinger was admitted to Bosnian institutions and private homes.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest

POVEZANOST RADA