The creation of a Chaghatay collection by Martin Hartmann. By Aysima Mirsultan
Channel: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Date: 2022-09-05

Intentionally or unintentionally: the creation of a Chaghatay collection by Martin Hartmann.

From the end of the 19th century, East Turkestan aroused the interest of orientalists. Most of the population of East Turkistan are Uyghurs, a Turkic-Speaking ethnic group. East Turkistan, the homeland of the Uyghurs, is a multi-ethnic region with a multiplicity of cultural and religious traditions. In the second half of the 19th century, many orientalists were traveling there to research the undiscovered language and culture of this part of the Silk Road. From winter 1902 to spring 1903, the German orientalist and chairman of the Turfan Committee, Martin Hartmann, traveled to East Turkistan and stayed in Kashgar and Jarkand. There, Hartmann tried not only to collect folk songs (Dastans), but also numerous manuscripts and printed matters. In 1905, the Berlin state library of Berlin acquired his entire collection. Based on the available materials, this paper will illuminate his collecting methods, collecting criteria and his motivation for acquiring the manuscripts and printed matter. My analysis will focus on whether he went there on purpose to seek and collect the specific manuscripts. It will also touch upon the book market in East Turkistan at that time and its relationship to the local intellectuals.

Dr. Aysima Mirsultan  (PhD. in Turkology and Central Asian Studies, Georg-August University, Göttingen) is a librarian in the East Asia Department of the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) and a specialist in Chagatai language and manuscripts.