India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza 'India Book'

Leiden: Brill, 2008. First edition. Thick octavo. xxix, (1), 918pp. Including 15 color plates and 3 maps at rear. Index and 22 page bibliography. Lime green buckram lettered in white. Further illustrated with a Lebdi genealogical table. A fine, as new copy.

The India trade in Oriental spices, pharmaceutical, dyeing and other materials was the backbone of medieval economy, especially in the Islamic world. A unique source of documentation is now available in 11th-12th century Geniza letters, written in Judeo-Arabic (Middle Arabic in Hebrew characters), by participants in this activity. The documents are presented in translation with an introduction and notes. They deal with economic history and material, social, and spiritual civilization. Besides illuminating the activities of the Jewish traders of the Indian Ocean and their families in the territories from the Far East to southern Arabia and Egypt, the letters contain valuable information on Jewish and Islamic culture, relations between Jews and Arabs, Mediterranean culture, and Judeo-Arabic. (Publisher)

Contents: Contents: Chapter One Letters and Documents on the India Trade in Medieval Times -- A Preview -- Chapter Two Dramatis Personae -- A. Joseph b. David Lebdi and his Family -- B. Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan-Japheth and his Family -- B1. Maḥrūz b. Jacob -- C. Abraham Ben Yijū and his Family -- C1. The Ibn al-Amshāṭī Family -- Chapter Three Select Studies on Shipping and Travel -- A. Nākhudās--Shipowners and Captains -- B. Dangers in Travel and in Shipping Goods by Land and Sea -- SECTION TWO: THE DOCUMENTS -- Chapter One Joseph B. David Lebdi and his Family -- A. Lawsuit of Jekuthiel al-Ḥakīm vs. Joseph Lebdi -- B. Lawsuit of Ibn Sughmār vs. Joseph Lebdi -- C. Additional Geniza Papers on Joseph Lebdi -- D. The Lebdi Family -- Chapter Two Maḍmūn B. Ḥasan-Japheth, Prince of Yemenite Jewry, and his Family -- A. Ḥasan b. Bundār, his Brothers Abraham and Isaac, and Elder Son Bundār II -- B. Business Letters Sent by Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan to India -- C. Letters and Memoranda Sent by Maḍmūn to Egypt (Cairo-Fustat) -- D. Internal Yemenite Affairs -- E. Hebrew Poems by Abraham Ben Yijū in Honor of Maḍmūn -- F. Joseph b. Abraham b. Bundār, Maḍmūn's Cousin -- G. Khalaf b. Isaac b. Bundār, Maḍmūn's Cousin -- H. Maḥrūz b. Jacob son of Maḍmūn's Paternal Aunt -- I. Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan's Descendents -- J. Shipwrecked Merchants, Whose Estates were Cared for by Maḍmūn I and his Successors -- Chapter Three Abraham Ben Yijū and his Family -- A. Letters sent to Ben Yijū by Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan (See II, 13-31) -- B. Letters sent to Ben Yijū by Joseph b. Abraham -- C. Letters sent to Ben Yijū by Khalaf b. Isaac -- D. Documents Related to Abraham Ben Yijū During his Stay in India and Yemen -- E. Correspondence after Leaving India and while Returning 'Home'.(OCLC)

Volume 31 in the Brill series "Etudes sur la Judaisme Medieval." (EJM).