Kashf al-Zunun

Kashf al-Zunun 'an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun (The Removal of Doubt from the Names of Books and the Arts) is a bibliographic encyclopedia of books and sciences compiled by Turkish polymath Kâtip Çelebi. It was written in Arabic and was based on the Miftāḥ al-Saʿāda wa-miṣbāḥ al-Siyādah{{refn|group=n|Miftāḥ al-Saʿāda wa-miṣbāḥ al-Siyādah ({{lang|ar|مفتاح السعادة ومصباح السيادة في موضوعات العلوم}}} loosely translates: 'The Key to Happiness and the Lamp of Lordship'.}} by the c.16th Ottoman historian, Taşköprüzade. However the Kaşf substantially enlarges it, cataloging titles of approximately 15,000 books; 9,500 names of authors; and 300 sciences and arts. The work is seen as a significant example of and contribution to Ottoman historiography.

At the age of twenty-five in 1633, while in Aleppo, Celebi began compiling and composing the work; it occupied him for the next twenty years until its completion in 1652. An account of this is contained in another of his widely read books, "Mizan al-Haq," where he writes:"'On my stay in Aleppo, I would visit bookshops to browse, and then when I had returned to Istanbul and came into some money, I began acquiring books and letters. In 1638, a relative died and left me a more substantial legacy, which was spent in large part collecting the great works which I had seen in Aleppo, Istanbul and in the public repositories of the Sultanate of Oman'."Celebi died suddenly in 1657, leaving many works in unfinished or draft form.

Contents

 * Vol.1. Preface & Letter alif
 * Vol.2. Letters bá-jím
 * Vol.3. Letters ه|há-س|sín
 * Vol.4. Letters ش|shín-ق|cáf
 * Vol.5. Letters ك|káf-م|mím ( -moghíth)
 * Vol.6. Letters mím (mofátehat- )-ي|yá
 * Vol.7. Library catalogues of Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Rhodes and Istanbul.

Editions

 * Muhammad Azti Effendi Boshnah Zadeh (d. 1681).
 * Ibrahīm al-Rūmi al-Arabji (d. 1775) mentioned by Khalil al-Muradi in his biographic dictionary Silk al-Durar (Arabic).
 * Ahmed Hanífzádeh, Mollae El-Hájj Ibrahím Haníf Efendi, ed., (حنيف زاده) (d.1802) titled (Athārnū) (اثارنو). Contains 5000 books. Appended by Flügel in Vol.VI, Leipzig edition (1835–1858) with Latin translation and a volume for Oriental libraries.
 * Sheikh Islam Aref Hikmat, ed., (d.1858) up to the letter jím (c). (See Al-Arab Al-Arab 2: 897).
 * Ishmael Pasha al-Baghdadi, ed., (d.1921), titled The Explanation of the Makenun. Contains 19000 books and was followed by translations of the authors (1941).
 * Ismail Saeb Singer, ed.


 * Jamil al-‘Uẓmā (جميل العظم) ('The Great Beauty') (1933), titled al-Sirr al-Maṣūn (السر المصون -خ) ('Well-kept Secret' - kh) with introduction (1000 page) titled Book of Science and Travel (الإسفار عن العلوم والأسفار).
 * Mohammed Al-Sadiq Al-Nefir (1938), titled Salwa Al-Mahzun.
 * Muhammad bin Mustafa al-Bakri ed., (d. 1782), Khulāsat Tahqíq az-Zunūn (خلاصة تحقيق الظنون)('Investigation of Suspicions, abridged'); Index to al-Kashf and amendments.
 * Ali Khairi, ed., (d.1909) Ḍiyā’ al-‘Aiūn (ضياء العيون) (Illumination of the Eminent); a footnote to al-Kashf.
 * Sources of Andalusian heritage: the publications of the Cultural Center in Abu Dhabi, pitfalls of correcting Haji Khalifa in dealing with the heritage of Andalusia.
 * Abridgement and supplement; Hussein Abbasi Nabhani Halabi, ed., (d.1684), titled ('The Complete Memorial of Antiquities').

Translations

 * Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopaedicum,(1835-58) Arabic-Latin by Gustav Leberecht Flügel
 * Bibliothèque Orientale, (1697) French by Barthélemy d'Herbelot and Antoine Galland, with contributions from Johann Jacob Reiske and Henry Albert Schultens.