Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy.

• Author: Druart, Therese-Anne
• Position: Review

Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy. By HANS DAIBER, Two volumes. Handbuch der Orientalistik: Abteilung 1, der Nahe und Mittlere Osten, vol. 43. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. lv + 974; 548. HFI 756, $444.

In this monumental work Professor Daiber offers a list of "all hitherto known publications in western and non-western languages in the field of Islamic philosophy from the 15th century until the present, including Greek and Syriac sources of Islamic philosophy, its impact on Jewish and medieval Latin scholasticism and its repercussions in modern European and Islamic thought" (vol. I, p. vii). Not surprisingly this ambitious program required intense labor for nearly twenty-five years. It also led to well-founded reflections on the historiography of Islamic philosophy, which can be found in vol. I, pp. xi-xxxiii.

The bibliography itself is subdivided into a first volume that lists articles and books in the alphabetical order of their authors, be they Medieval or not, and under each author in alphabetical order of titles. Each item is numbered. Fortunately, Daiber did not limit himself to the usual bibliographical information but often added useful notes about various versions and reprints--whether their pagination is identical to that of the original, as to their quality, some important reviews, etc. For instance, concerning Averroes' Epitome of the Metaphysics, no. 4495, on the 1919 Quiros edition and Spanish translation, he indicates the recent reprint (Seville, 1998) and a review of the original by Nallino. The following item, no. 4496, which lists [subset]Uthman Amin's 1958 Cairo edition, despite its being called "Talkhis" instead of the expected "Djawami[subset]," indicates that it is the best edition, and briefly refers to the other, older editions as well as to the terminological problems attending the naming of Averroes' various types of commentaries. The purist may complain that in no. 4495 Daiber did not add that the Quiros reprint is a facsimile but he does include a presentation by Josep Puig Montada--pp. (ix.-xxxiv)--that updates information about the various editions and manuscripts.

As the introduction (vol. I, pp. vii-ix) is most brief and does not say much about principles of classification, it takes some time to discover that one needs to look up "Ibn Sina" for the Arabic editions but "Avicenna" for the editions of the medieval Latin translations. Collective works are listed under their titles and at times there are...