Alan Mikhail - The Animal in Ottoman Egypt

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mikhail, Alan

The animal in Ottoman Egypt / Alan Mikhail.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9780199315277 (hardback)

eISBN 9780199315291

1. Animals and civilizationEgypt. 2. Human-animal relationshipsEgypt. 3. EgyptHistory15171882. I. Title.

QL85.M55 2013

304.2'709620903dc23

2013036490

Man is by nature a political animal.

Aristotle

An unnamed donkey from 1697 changed my life. I saw him in a court record one day in 2005. He looked at me. I looked at him. I wrote this book. Just-so stories are of course never just-so. Between an unnamed donkey and this book stand many humans and some nonhumans too.

Among the latter, numerous institutions have generously helped fund the research and writing of this book. I am honored to thank Yale University, my intellectual home; the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities at Stanford University; the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley; the Institute of Turkish Studies; and the American Research Center in Egypt.

For about a decade, the research for this book happily took me to many archives and libraries. For their assistance and patience, I thank the staffs of the Archivio di Stato in Venice; the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley; the Babakanlk Osmanl Arivi in Istanbul; the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University; Dr al-Kutub al-Mi riyya in Cairo; Dr al-Wath iq al-Qawmiyya in Cairo; Ma had al-Makh t al- Arabiyya in Cairo; the Malta Study Center of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at Saint Johns University; the National Archives of the United Kingdom in Kew; the Sleymaniye Ktphanesi in Istanbul; the Topkap Saray Mzesi Arivi in Istanbul; the Topkap Saray Mzesi Ktphanesi in Istanbul; and the Yale Center for British Art. For permission to reproduce images from their collections, I thank the Beinecke Library; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the National Archives of the United Kingdom; the Sleymaniye Ktphanesi; the Topkap Saray Mzesi Ktphanesi; and the Worcester Art Museum.

Countless colleagues and friends read and commented on parts of this book; invited me to present some of it; and generally offered advice, support, and assistance. Among the many, I want to single out Emad Abou-Ghazi, Seven Ar, Abbas Amanat, Antonis Anastasopoulos, Ali Anooshahr, Karl Appuhn, Ali Asani, On Barak, Beth Baron, Ned Blackhawk, Maurits van den Boogert, Antoine Borrut, Richard W. Bulliet, Indrani Chatterjee, George Chauncy, Deborah Coen, Merve akr, Murat Dal, J. P. Daughton, Diana K. Davis, Corrie Decker, Beshara Doumani, Fabian Drixler, Laura Engelstein, Tolga Esmer, Khaled Fahmy, Suraiya Faroqhi, Carter V.