Voice of Arabic Network
Search

Charles Rieu

شارل ريو

Notable figure 1820–1902 · Source: Najib al-Aqiqi, al-Mustashriqun, 3rd ed. (Cairo: Dar al-Maʿarif, 1964), vol. 2, p. 490; Yahya Murad, Muʿjam asmaʾ al-mustashriqin, p. 645 · Second source: Deutsche Biographie (GND 117532789): Rieu, Charles (1820–1902)

From Switzerland; worked in the United Kingdom

Field: Manuscript cataloguing

Affiliation

Professor of Arabic, Cambridge; cataloguer of Arabic MSS

Biography

Born in Geneva and educated there, he studied Arabic under Freytag at Bonn and took his doctorate there in 1843 with a thesis on Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri and his poetry. He joined the British Museum in 1847 and became Keeper of its Oriental Manuscripts in 1867. He completed the second part of its catalogue of Arabic manuscripts, begun by Cureton (1846–1871), and wrote its Supplement alone, describing 1,290 manuscripts (1894). From 1894 until his death he held the Sir Thomas Adams's Chair of Arabic at Cambridge.