Introduction: Scholarly Personae in the History of Orientalism, 1870-1930

Introduction In 1884, the Lebanese philologist Ibrahim al-Yaziji (1847–1906) filed a harsh complaint about Arabic studies in Europe when he reproached the then just-deceased Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy (1820–1883) for never having visited the Middle East. How could Dozy or any of his colleagues in Europe claim Arabic expertise without ever having heard the language spoken on the street or sought the opportunity to meet and learn from native speakers? Al-Yaziji dissociated himself from generations of European Arabists when he concluded: