The Book of Charlatans

Jamal al-Din 'Abd al-Rahim al-Jawbari (Author) Jamal al-Din 'Abd al-Rahim al-Jawbari (fl. early seventh/thirteenth century) was born in the Ghouta region near Damascus. He was the author of three texts, of which only The Book of Charlatans survives. S. A. Chakraborty (Foreword by) S. A. Chakraborty is a speculative fiction writer from New York City. Her debut, The City of Brass, was short-listed for the Locus, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. Humphrey Davies (Translator) Humphrey Davies is an award-winning translator of some twenty-five works of modern Arabic literature, among them Alaa Al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building, five novels by Elias Khoury, including Gate of the Sun, and Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq's Leg over Leg. He has also made a critical edition, translation, and lexicon of the Ottoman-period Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shaduf Expounded by Yusuf al-Shirbini, as well as editions and translations of al-Tunisi's In Darfur and al-Sanhuri's Risible Rhymes from the same era. In addition, he has compiled with Madiha Doss an anthology in Arabic entitled Al-'ammiyyah al-misriyyah al-maktubah: mukhtarat min 1400 ila 2009 (Egyptian Colloquial Writing: selections from 1400 to 2009) and co-authored, with Lesley Lababidi, A Field Guide to the Street Names of Central Cairo. He read Arabic at the University of Cambridge, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and previous to undertaking his first translation in 2003, worked for social development and research organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Sudan. He is affiliated with the American University in Cairo.

A mesmerising account of...quacks and tricksters. * The Spectator * Provides us with an unusual glimpse into the street life of medieval Islamic societies rarely captured in more elevated Arabic literary sources. * New York Review of Books * As insightful and entertaining in the 21st century as it was when it was first written... Offers a unique window into the lives of everyday and marginalized people in the Middle East, Northern Africa and West Asia. * AramcoWorld *