The Book of Charlatans

Humphrey Davies, S. A. Chakraborty, Jamal al-Din ?Abd al-Ra?im al-Jawbari, Humphrey Davies

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781479813247
• eBook ISBN: 9781479813223
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: Literature

Uncovering the professional secrets of con artists and swindlers in the medieval Middle East. "A mesmerising account of . . . quacks and tricksters." — The Spectator
 
The Book of Charlatans is a comprehensive guide to trickery and scams as practiced in the thirteenth century in the cities of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Egypt. Al-Jawbar? was well versed in the practices he describes and may have been a reformed charlatan himself. Divided into thirty chapters, the book reveals the secrets of everyone from "Those Who Claim to be Prophets" to "Those Who Claim to Have Leprosy" and "Those Who Dye Horses."
 
The material is informed in part by the author's own experience with alchemy, astrology, and geomancy, and in part by his extensive research. The work is unique in its systematic, detailed, and inclusive approach to a subject that is by nature arcane and that has relevance not only for social history but also for the history of science. Covering everything from invisible writing to doctoring gemstones and quack medicine,  The Book of Charlatans opens a fascinating window into a subculture of beggars' guilds and professional con artists in the medieval Arab world.
 
An English-only edition.
 
"Provides us with an unusual glimpse into the street life of medieval Islamic societies rarely captured in more elevated Arabic literary sources." — The New York Review of Books
 
" The Book of Charlatans is an amusing evocation of the seamy side of the medieval Levant, full of worthy descendants of the 1001 Nights." — Asian Review of Books

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• Chapter 1: Exposé of the Tricks of Fake Prophets
• Chapter 2: Exposé of the Tricks of Fake Shaykhs and Illusionists among the Dervishes, the Shaykhs, and “the Righteous”
• Chapter 3: Exposé of the Tricks of Fire-and-Brimstone Preachers
• Chapter 4: Exposé of the Tricks of Monks
• Chapter 5: Exposé of the Tricks of Jews and Others
• Chapter 6: Exposé of the Tricks of the Banū Sāsān
• Chapter 7: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Work Solomon’s Ant
• Chapter 8: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Practice War and Bear Arms
• Chapter 9: Exposé of the Tricks of the People of the Kāf, That Is, Alchemy
• Chapter 10: Exposé of the Tricks of Apothecaries
• Chapter 11: Exposé of the Tricks of the People of the Mīm (Who Are Treasure Hunters Who Pretend to Have Access to Hoards of Wealth and Buried Treasure)
• Chapter 12: Exposé of the Tricks of Astrologers Who Ply Their Trade on the Highway
• Chapter 13: Exposé of the Tricks of Spirit Conjurors
• Chapter 14: Exposé of the Tricks of the Doctors Who Practice on the Highways
• Chapter 15: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Extract Worms from Teeth
• Chapter 16: Exposé of the Tricks of Eye Doctors Who Use Metal Instruments
• Chapter 17: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Dye Horses
• Chapter 18: Exposé of Their Tricks; Example: Those Who Dye Humans
• Chapter 19: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Manipulate Fire and Can Block Its Heat
• Chapter 20: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Concoct Artificial Foodstuffs
• Chapter 21: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Work Knockout Drugs and Stupefacients
• Chapter 22: Exposé of the Tricks of Notaries, That Is, of the People Who Draw Up Contracts
• Chapter 23: Exposé of the Tricks of Prestidigitators
• Chapter 24: Exposé of Jewelers and Their Fake Products
• Chapter 25: Exposé of the Tricks of Money Changers, of Scams They Pull and Scams Pulled on Them
• Chapter 26: Exposé of the Tricks of Those Who Creep Up on Beardless Boys at Music and Chanting Performances and Weddings and on Journeys and So On
• Chapter 27: Exposé of the Tricks of “the Masters of the Crafts”
• Chapter 28: Exposé of the Tricks of Sneak Thieves (Thieves Who Enter Houses Unlawfully)
• Chapter 29: Exposé of the Tricks of the Thieves Who Enter Houses by Making Holes in Walls and Committing Murder
• Chapter 30: Exposé of the Tricks of Women, and of Their Cunning, Craftiness, and Duplicity
• Notes
• Glossary of People, Places, and Little-Known Simples
• Bibliography
• Further Reading
• Index
• About the Translator
• About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• The Library of Arabic Literature