Fonds SC54 - The Narrative of Taleb Sidi Ibrahim be Muhammed in Berber, Arabic and English

Zone d'identification

Cote

GB 891 SC54

Titre

The Narrative of Taleb Sidi Ibrahim be Muhammed in Berber, Arabic and English

Date(s)

  • 1835 (Création/Production)

Niveau de description

Fonds

Étendue matérielle et support

1 bound volume handwritten

Zone du contexte

Nom du producteur

Nom du producteur

Notice biographique

William Hodgson was born in Georgetown, USA. He studied oriental languages while working for the Department of State, became a dragoman in the Barbary States and was Acting Consul in Algiers from 1826-29. He returned to Washington in 1830 but in 1832 went to Constantinople and then on to Egypt in 1834. In 1836 he was in London. This is possibly when the manuscript was given to the Royal Asiatic Society. In 1837 he left Washington for Lima, Peru, but was taken ill at Panama. He also served in Tunis in 1842, but returned to America via many European countries in 1842 to marry Margaret Telfair. He became a mainstay of the Georgia Historical Society. He died in New York in 1871.

Histoire archivistique

The Berber manuscript and its Arabic translation were commissioned by William Hodgson. He created the English translation and introduction in 1835.

Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert

The exact date when the manuscripts entered the Society's collections is unknown. It is probable that Hodgson donated them to the Society when he was in London in 1836. A footnote in the Journal for 1837 states that all three manuscripts were in the Society's possession. They were bound together by the Society into a volume with half calf binding and marbled boards.

Zone du contenu et de la structure

Portée et contenu

'The personal narrative of the Taleb Sidi Ibrahim be Muhammed el-Messi, of the province of Sus; including some Statistic and Political Notices of the extreme south-west country of Morocco'. The Berber manuscript was commissioned by William Brown Hodgson (1801-1871), US State representative to North African Barbary States, who had it translated into Arabic. From the Arabic translation he made an English translation. All three are bound within the book with an introduction by Hodgson, concerning the commissioning of the manuscript, which he believed was the third manuscript to be written in Berber. The introduction is dated 1 March 1835.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation

Conditions d’accès

Open. Please contact the archivist. Details can be found here : https://royalasiaticarchives.org/. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Language of material

  • berbère
  • arabe
  • anglais

Script of material

    Language and script notes

    Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques

    Finding aids

    Zone des sources complémentaires

    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

    Related units of description

    Hodgson's translation of the manuscript was published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1837, pp.115-129.

    The Society's collections also hold publications by Hodgson on North Africa and Berber languages.

    Descriptions associées

    Zone des notes

    Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)

    Mots-clés

    Mots-clés - Lieux

    Mots-clés - Genre

    Zone du contrôle de la description

    Identifiant de la description

    gb891-sc54

    Identifiant du service d'archives

    Rules and/or conventions used

    Statut

    Niveau de détail

    Dates of creation revision deletion

    Langue(s)

      Écriture(s)

        Sources

        Archivist's note

        This volume was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2023.

        Accession area