A History of the Encyclopaedia of Islam

by Peri Bearman

The first two editions of the Encyclopaedia of Islam remain the leading resources in the field of Arabic and Islamic Studies. In this volume, Peri Bearman--the only scholar who was both an in-house editor at Brill, the publishing house that for over a century produced the Encyclopaedia, and also a member of the editorial board--has produced a masterful and detailed account of how it went from being a mere idea to a monument of scholarship. We read about the challenges and pitfalls of conceptualizing, commissioning, vetting, editing, translating, copyediting, proofing, and delivering of articles, about the many personalities involved, and about the conflicts and concessions that had to be made. With unparalleled access to documents, in particular editorial correspondence, Bearman recounts the engaging story of one of the world's greatest collaborative works in any discipline.

344 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2018