Andre Du Ryer and Oriental Studies in Seventeenth-century France
Seventeenth-century Orientalist and Diplomat

Andre Du Ryer was an influential seventeenth-century orientalist and diplomat. This title assesses Du Ryer's contribution to Turkish and Persian studies, his influential translation of the "Quran", and his manuscript collection.

Andre Du Ryer was French vice-consul in Egypt from 1623 to 1626, and both as adviser and interpreter to the French ambassador in Istanbul and ambassador extraordinary of the sultan to France in the early 1630s, he assembled a fine collection of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic manuscripts most of which are now in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. After reconstructing his diplomatic career and his life after his return to France in 1633, the authors assess Du Ryer's contribution to Turkish and Persian studies, his translation of the Quran both in France and in the countries where it was translated (England, Holland, and Germany), and his manuscript collection. Du Ryer is presented in the historical context of French diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire and in the context both of contemporary European orientalism and of the development of French literature in the reign of Louis XIII and the minority of Louis XIV. He emerges as an important and influential figure whose significance has never previously been appreciated.

Preface
Introduction
1. Between Marcigny and Cairo
2. The Turkish Language
3. A Champion of Persian Literature
4. Translator of the Quran
Appendix One: Correspondence, appointments, safeconducts and attestations
Appendix Two: Du Ryer's prefaces and dedicatory epistles
Appendix Three: Du Ryer's reports and addresses
Appendix Four: Du Ryer's manuscript collection
Bibliography
Index