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Primary sourceBook1855

Voyages d'Ibn Battuta, Index Volume (Defrémery and Sanguinetti edition, 1855)

Ibn Battuta · 1855

The index volume of a 19th-century bilingual Arabic-French edition of Ibn Battuta's travel account.

Index to a major 19th-century bilingual edition that brought Ibn Battuta's account to French and Arabic readers.

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Title page of a French book reading 'COLLECTION D'OUVRAGES ORIENTAUX PUBLIÉE PAR LA SOCIÉTÉ ASIATIQUE.' in bold black serif capitals on a white page, with a 'Digitized by Google' watermark in the lower right corner.
Traduction des Voyages d'Ibn Battuta, trans. Defrémery and Sanguinetti, Index volume, 1855.

About this source

What it is

This is the alphabetical index volume of a four-volume bilingual Arabic-French translation of Ibn Battuta's travel account, published in 1855 by the Société Asiatique and edited by Defrémery and Sanguinetti.

Why it matters

This 19th-century French scholarly edition made Ibn Battuta's writings available to European readers in both the original Arabic and French translation, helping spread knowledge of his travels through the Muslim world to a wider academic audience.

Look closer

  • Why might scholars in 1855 France have been interested in translating a 14th-century Arabic travel account?
  • What is the purpose of an index volume, and what does it tell us about how the book was meant to be used?
  • How might translation choices by Defrémery and Sanguinetti have shaped how Europeans understood Ibn Battuta?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ibn Battuta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Scanned manuscript page in Arabic calligraphy on aged cream paper. The top has a line of black script with a decorative heading, and a red-ink title block in larger calligraphy reading the opening of the work. Below are about two dozen lines of brown-ink handwritten text in dense Arabic script, with a marginal note at the bottom left.Book

Primary source

The Rihla

Ibn Battuta · 1354-1356

Two facing pages of a handwritten Arabic manuscript on aged paper. The right page is written in dark ink in neat, flowing script; the left page is faded and more worn, with lines of script partly obscured. The pages show the text of the travel account.Book

Primary source

Manuscript of the Rihla by Ibn Juzayy

Ibn Juzayy · 14th century

Ruins of a stone fort on a dry, hazy hillside under a pale sky. Massive sloping stone walls with crenellated battlements stand on the left, and a long arched stone gallery with a flat roof runs across the right. Scrubby bushes and dry earth surround the site, with a distant city skyline on the horizon.Artifact

Secondary source

Tughlaqabad Fort

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq · 1321

Photograph of an open handwritten Arabic manuscript with dense black ink script on cream pages, with some red-ink headings visible. The left page is in focus and the right page is angled and partly blurred.Book

Secondary source

Manuscript copy of the Rihla (1484)

Ibn Juzayy · 1484

Eight vertical panels of the Catalan Atlas side by side, showing an illuminated medieval world map with colored seas, decorated landmasses, compass roses, flags, rulers on thrones, and figures and animals.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas

Cresques Abraham · c. 1375

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