Russian Poet and Harari Booklore. I

Abstract

The St. Petersburg Kunstkamera Museum houses a unique collection representing the tangible elements and technical features of the Harar manuscript tradition. The city played a key role in the spread of Islam not only in northeastern Ethiopia, but also in the Horn of Africa as a whole. The collection is the result of an expedition to the Muslim areas of Abyssinia organized by the Museum in 1913. The expedition was led by Nikolai Gumilyov (1886—1921), one of the most famous Russian poets of the 20th century, a tireless traveller and a brave cavalry officer. In 2008 and 2010 new expeditions of the Museum passed along the routes of Gumilyov. This article is the first part of a series devoted to the study of his collection.