ABSTRACT
Al-Qalqashandi composed this comprehensive administrative encyclopedia for the clerks of the Egyptian Mamluk diwans. In Classical Arabic, the katib was a secretary whose functions included writing official correspondence and administrative documents of all kinds. A katib was thus an employee in administrative services, whose rank ranged from a mere “book-keeper” to a “chief clerk or a Secretary of State, directly responsible to the sovereign or his vizier”. Translation clearly occupied an important and permanent position within the diwan, given an independent filing system whereby translated texts are archived, attached to their originals, following well-established protocols. Translation was an institutionalized and well-regulated profession in the departments of the Mamluk state, as also indicated by other documents from the same period, which was undoubtedly due to the wide range, and often complexity, of the Mamluks’ international relations.
