Organizing the fourth/tenth century : Knowledge, information, tools

This paper outlines the rationale behind this Special Issue, problematizing the concept of fourth/tenth-century “Arab encyclopaedism” and advancing new frameworks and points of focus for the analysis of a wide range of activities so far examined under this rubric. In particular, we suggest that, in accordance with the conclusions of several contributors to this volume, greater attention should be paid to developments in the Arabic book that were designed to make texts navigable, such as division into topical chapters, hierarchical chapter-structures and tables of contents. These would more helpfully be understood as part of a longer history whereby books became more easily accessible, and thus useable, for the independent reader. As other contributors stress, it is also more profitable to examine the local, institutional and political circumstances that produced certain kinds of organization, inventory and classification.