Collectivity, continuity and diversity in the materiality of manuscripts at Jerrahi Lodge in Istanbul

Official URL: https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/hup4/mc/index

This study explores the approximately five-hundred-book collection of the Research Foundation of Turkish Mystical Music and Folklore (TTMFAV) -formerly Jerrahi Sufi Lodge- situated in today’s Karagümrük, İstanbul. The lodge was established in 1703 with the support of Sultan Ahmed III after the name of Sheikh Nuraddîn al-Jerrâhî (d.1721), the founder of the Jerrahiyye branch of the Khalwati-Ramadani order. Although the lodge complex lacked a library building and experienced some serious fires, a collection of manuscripts has formed until today substantially through donations by the sheiks and dervishes. Among these books, a serious bulk is the anthologies of hymns and poetry alongside the books of devotions and invocations as a reflection of this community’s interests and ceremonial practices. In addition, the Qurans, catechisms, almanacs, the miscellanies of pharmacy and personal notebooks are also remarkable that have never been subjected to any academic research yet. This study especially focuses on the material aspects of the books in Jerrahi Lodge with a holistic approach around the concepts of ‘collectivity,’ ‘continuity,’ and ‘diversity.’ Apart from the textual content, it explores the material aspects of the books such as bindings, manuscript notes (waqf, ownership, colophon, reader notes), textual arrangements and embellishments. This study argues research on this materiality would illuminate the intellectual mindset, literary tastes, reading, and ceremonial practices of the Jerrahi community. With the support of archival documents, diasporic collections (such as Muzaffer Ozak’s collection at Ankara University), interviews with the current members, material research of the lodge complex, and participant observations of the ceremonies, this study aims to discuss the lodge’s manuscript collection in its architectural, historical, and mystical context.