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The Resource The book smugglers of Timbuktu : the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures, Charlie English

The book smugglers of Timbuktu : the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures, Charlie English

Creator
Author
Summary
Two tales of a city: The historical race to reach one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend. To Westerners, the name "Timbuktu" long conjured a tantalising paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for "discovery" tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way too. A medieval centre of learning, it was home to tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
400 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Note
Also published as: The storied city : the quest for Timbuktu and the fantastic mission to save its past. New York : Riverhead Books, 2017
Contents
  • Prologue: Enterprise and genius
  • Occupation
  • A seeker of manuscripts
  • A wide but extended blank
  • Hell is not far away
  • The fourth traveler
  • Al-Qaeda to the rescue
  • Frogs and rosbifs
  • Ismael's list
  • Destruction
  • The armchair explorer
  • The headless horseman
  • The pope of Timbuktu
  • Secret agents
  • Liberation
  • Lives of the scholars
  • The terrible twosome
  • King Leopold's paperweight
  • Auto-da-fé
  • Chronicle of the seeker
  • An Indiana Jones moment in real life!
  • Manuscript fever
  • The myth factory
  • Epilogue
Isbn
9780008184902
Instance
Label
The book smugglers of Timbuktu : the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures
Title
The book smugglers of Timbuktu
Title remainder
the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures
Statement of responsibility
Charlie English
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Two tales of a city: The historical race to reach one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend. To Westerners, the name "Timbuktu" long conjured a tantalising paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for "discovery" tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way too. A medieval centre of learning, it was home to tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable
Related
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
APLS
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
English, Charlie
Dewey number
966.23
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
  • portraits
  • plates
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Islamic learning and scholarship
  • Cultural property
  • Manuscripts, Arabic
  • Libraries
  • Tombouctou (Mali)
  • Tombouctou (Mali)
  • Tombouctou (Mali)
  • Mali
Target audience
adult
Label
The book smugglers of Timbuktu : the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures, Charlie English
Instantiates
Publication
Note
Also published as: The storied city : the quest for Timbuktu and the fantastic mission to save its past. New York : Riverhead Books, 2017
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • cartographic image
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • cri
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Prologue: Enterprise and genius -- Occupation -- A seeker of manuscripts -- A wide but extended blank -- Hell is not far away -- The fourth traveler -- Al-Qaeda to the rescue -- Frogs and rosbifs -- Ismael's list -- Destruction -- The armchair explorer -- The headless horseman -- The pope of Timbuktu -- Secret agents -- Liberation -- Lives of the scholars -- The terrible twosome -- King Leopold's paperweight -- Auto-da-fé -- Chronicle of the seeker -- An Indiana Jones moment in real life! -- Manuscript fever -- The myth factory -- Epilogue
Control code
000059859628
Dimensions
24 cm.
Extent
400 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780008184902
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps, portraits
System control number
(OCoLC)984358701
Label
The book smugglers of Timbuktu : the quest for this storied city and the race to save its treasures, Charlie English
Publication
Note
Also published as: The storied city : the quest for Timbuktu and the fantastic mission to save its past. New York : Riverhead Books, 2017
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • cartographic image
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • cri
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Prologue: Enterprise and genius -- Occupation -- A seeker of manuscripts -- A wide but extended blank -- Hell is not far away -- The fourth traveler -- Al-Qaeda to the rescue -- Frogs and rosbifs -- Ismael's list -- Destruction -- The armchair explorer -- The headless horseman -- The pope of Timbuktu -- Secret agents -- Liberation -- Lives of the scholars -- The terrible twosome -- King Leopold's paperweight -- Auto-da-fé -- Chronicle of the seeker -- An Indiana Jones moment in real life! -- Manuscript fever -- The myth factory -- Epilogue
Control code
000059859628
Dimensions
24 cm.
Extent
400 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780008184902
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps, portraits
System control number
(OCoLC)984358701

Subject

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