There have many fiction and non-fiction books written. I will give a list of what I can. I hope to hear from others with suggestions!
S.C.A. Publications
These are available through the S.C.A. Stock Clerk. I have some and highly recommend them.
- Compleat Anachronist # 0051- The Islamic World
- Compleat Anachronist #0054- The Mongols
- Compleat Anachronist #0070- The World’s Oldest Dance: Origins of Bellydancing
- Compleat Anachronist #0110- An S.C.A. Guide to Jewish Personas
- Compleat Anachronist #0119- Persian Court: Costume and Dance in the 16th Century.
There are also the quarterly magazine Tournaments Illuminated. However, only issues from # 131 up are available. Please look through the Index.
Period Publications
Everyone knows Marco Polo & what he did to spreading knowledge of the Middle and Far East in his travels. However, there have also been other but lesser known travelers such as Ibn Battuta, the Persian explorer & geographer Ahmad Ibn Rustah and the Jewish adventurer Benjamin of Tudela. Out of all these authors only Benjamin of Tudela is available online at the Gutenberg Project or as a large pdf document here. I have been given a link to this site (Thank-you Pearl!) which has links to some of the translations of Ibn Battuta.
I have also found out about Guillaume Postel, who wrote many books about religion, Qabbalah, linguistics and a book called De la République des Turcs (Of the Republic of the Turks) available here in Google Books. He is considered one of the very first Orientalists. I couldn’t find an English translation- it is all in 16th century french!
I have also found Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, whose book is translated in english in Google Books here.
Jean Chardin, while out of period, never the less wrote A Journey To Persia, considered one of the finest works on Persia.
A book written in late period Ottoman empire by Evliya Celebi, called The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, but be aware that any book available through Google Books may have pages left out.
Jean de Thévenot was out of period (1633-1667) but he wrote a book called “Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant”, which can be read or downloaded from Gallica Bibliotheque Numerique but it is in French.
There was an English traveler, by the name of Peter Mundy, who wrote a book about his travels which can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.
An Italian traveler named Pietro della Valle, whose letters back to his friend made a sort of diary of his travels. His letters can be read here.
The Eclipse of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate, written in the Islamic 4th century is available to read and download on the Internet Archive. Translated by D.S. Margoliouth.
Online Publications
I have found Scribd (an online publication collective) a very good source of documents, which also include many SCAdians. I have put a few on the garb page but here are some more-
- This is one is about props for Middle Eastern Dance.
- A pamphlet about a project to save oral and intangible human heritage.
- About the history of the dance.
- A page of links from Cornell University Library covering Medieval History of the Middle East.
- The Medieval Sourcebook:Islam.
- The Internet Jewish History Sourcebook.
- Here is an article on Scribd about how to create a belly dancing persona in the SCA. Written by Arwen Cochran.
- The book “A Trade Like Any Other” by Karin van Nieuwkerk is available on Google Books.
More Online Books through Google Books
Indigo in the Arab World by Jenny Balfour-Paul.
Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Arab Dress:a short history by Yedida Kalfon Stillman.
The Age of the Beloveds by Walter G Andrews and Mehmet Kalpakli.
Poems of Arab Andalus translation & introduction by Cola Franzen.
Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hebrew Poems by Bernard Lewis.
A History of Persia by Percy Molesworth Sykes.
Literary History of Persia by Edward Granville Browne.
A History of Egypt by Afaf Lutfi Sayyid-Marsot.
A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages by Stanley Lane-Poole.
A Short History of the Fatimid Khalifate by De Lacy O’Leary.
Exploring an Islamic Empire by Paul Ernest Walker.
Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War by Malcolm Cameron Lyons, David Edward Pritchett Jackson.
Mongols and Mamluks by Reuven Amitai-Preiss.
The Jews of Arab Lands by Norman A. Stillman.
Conquerors and Chromiclers of Early Medieval Spain by Kenneth Baxter Wolf.
Islamic Spain: 1250 to 1500 by L. P. Harvey.
Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam by Delia Cortese, Simonetta Calderini.
A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period by Jamil M. Abun-Nasr.
Worlds of Music by Jeff Todd Titon, Linda Fujie, David Locke, David P. McAllester, Anne K. Rasmussen, David B. B. Reck.
Music in the World of Islam by Amnon Shiloah.
Jewish Musical Traditions by Amnon Shiloah.
Serce Limani by Dr. George F. Bass, PhD, Berta Lledo, Sheila Matthews, Robert H. Brill.
Serce Limani Vol2 by George Fletcher Bass.
Mamluk Metalwork Fittings by Luitgard E. M. Mols.
Islamic Art & Literature by Oleg Grabar, Cynthia Robinson.
Ceramics by Philip S. Rawson.
Ceramics of the Islamic World by Geza Fehervari, Géza Fehérvári.
Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art by Eva Baer.
Islamic Calligraphy by Annemarie Schimmel.
How many miles to Babylon? by Anne Wolf.
Women and the Fatimids in the world of Islam by Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini.
History of the war of the Sicilian vespers, Volume 1 by Michele Amari.
Two thousand years of Jewish life in Morocco by Haïm Zafrani.
The history of Persia: from the most early period to the present time by Sir John Malcolm. Available for download.
Arab painting: text and image in illustrated Arabic manuscripts by Anna Contadini.
Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: a historical encyclopedia by Michael Dumper, Bruce E. Stanley.
Vibrant Andalusia: the spice of life in southern Spain by Ana Ruiz.
The Ottoman lady: a social history from 1718 to 1918 by Fanny Davis.
Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern women in the early Modern Era by Madeline C. Zilfi.
The concubine, the princess, and the teacher: voices from the Ottoman harem by Douglas Scott Brookes.
Arabic poetry: a primer for students by Arthur John Arberry.
The Pocket Rumi by Kabir Helminski and Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi.
The Masnavi I Ma’navi of Rumi: Complete by Maulana Jalalu-’d-din Muhammad Rumi.
Annals of the caliphs’ kitchens: Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq’s tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook by al-Muẓaffar ibn Naṣr Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq and Nawal Nasrallah.
Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia by Josef W. Meri.
Rumi: words of paradise by Raficq Abdulla.
Writing the Feminine: Women in Arab Sources- edited by Randi Deguilhem & Manuela Marin.
The Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early Modern Era- edited by Madeline C. Zilfi.
The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt (Volume 2) by Alfred Joshua Butler.
Percussion Instruments and Their History by James Blades.
