Yåusuf al-öSöhirbåinåi's Kitåab hazz al-quhåuf bi-öSöharh qasåid Abåi öSöhåadåufVol. 1: Arabic text - v. 1 : Arabic Text

This work is well-known in the Arabic literature of the Ottoman period and owes its importance to a number of factors.

The first is the unique view that the author, Yusuf al-Shirbini, provides of the life of the Egyptian peasant of the 17th century, in terms of his food, dress, social customs and everyday speech-albeit, this view is on occasion both subjective and biased, perhaps as a result of the humorous intent of the book.

The book's second claim to importance lies in the many-sided picture that it draws of the intellectual world of the writer's time and milieu, including the contradictions that he perceived in cultural and educational conditions.

This volume contains a critical edition of the Arabic text of "Hazz al-Quhuf".

The footnotes to the text are reserved for the critical apparatus and this introduction is devoted to textual issues.

A fuller account of al-Shirbini's life, background, and concerns, as well as comments on the content rather than the form of the work, will be included in the introduction and footnotes to the English translation.