Historiography of the Catherine’s Qur’ans: in Orientalist Literature of the 18th – 20th Centuries

The article is devoted to the study of the Catherine’s Qur’ans in Russian and foreign historiography of the 18 th –20 th centuries. The sources for the study were Oriental, reference and academic literature, represented by the works of I. D. Michaelis (1717–1791), J. von Hammer-Purgstall (1774–1856), I. G. Georgi (1729–1802), Ch. Ph. von Schnurrer (1742–1822), J.-Ch. Brunet (1780–1867), F. A. Ebert (1791–1834), L.-M. Langlés (1763–1824), L. Wachler (1767–1838), F. Rehm (1792–1847), G. Weil (1808–1889), J.Th. Zenker (1811–1884), S. de Sacy (1758–1838), L.-P.-E.-A. Sedillot (1808–1875), J. A. Muehleisen (1817–1881), T. Nöldeke (1836–1930), and-G.-T. Gresse (1814–1885), B. A. Dorn (1805–1881), A. E. Krymsky (1871–1942), I. Y. Krachkovsky (1883–1951) and others. This study is based on a chronological principle. Based on a comparative analysis, the author identifies reviews, research, and expert assessments of the St. Petersburg editions of the Qur’ans. This approach allows for a retrospective examination of the development of the Catherine’s Qur’ans as a research object, demonstrating the depth and aspects of their study in Western and Russian Oriental Studies. In his conclusions, the author notes that the St. Petersburg editions of the Qur’an serve as a central component in the interests of Western and Russian Orientalists as a scientific source. Additionally, the editions themselves have a multidisciplinary scope of study and a wide readership. Also, being a bibliographic rarity and a work of high publishing art, the involvement in which is determined by the role of the Russian mullah and calligrapher ‘Usman Ismail, the St. Petersburg editions of the Qur’an contain a double value. The fi rst value gives them the quality of a religious (Muslim) book monument, and the second value is special cultural artefact.