Crafts and Craftsmen of the Middle East reveals inner glimpses into the lives of craftsmen working both within and outside the guild system in the modern and contemporary Mediterranean world. From the late sixteenth-century Ottoman Empire to traditional style crafts in twentieth-century Turkey and Egypt, the book surveys a multitude of traditions. It begins in 1582 when Istanbul artisans paraded in front of Sultan Murad III, then moves through to eighteenth and nineteenth-century struggles and accommodation between different groups of artisans and craftsmen in Istanbul, Salonica, Veria, Cairo and Damascus, looking at various situations within the Muslim, Jewish and Christian working communities. The volume concludes with studies on contemporary Cairo as well as in the small Anatolian town of Safranbolu. Crafts and Craftsmen of the Middle East is essential reading for all those interested in the history of the culture and society of artisans, craftsmen and workers in the Islamic Mediterranean lands._x000D_ _x000D_ The list of contributors include: Suraiya Faroqhi, Gisela Prohazka-Eisl, Eleni Gara, Eunjeong Yi, Salih Aynural, Minna Rozen, Pascale Ghazaleh Randi Deguilhem, Claudia Kickinger Heidemarie Doganalp-Votzi and John Chalcraft.