Elias John Wilkinson Gibb (3 June 1857 - 5 December 1901) was a Scottish orientalist.

Gibb was born 3 June 1857 in Glasgow, at 25 Newton Place, to Elias John Gibb and Jane Gilman. He was educated by Collier and matriculated from Glasgow University in 1873. Gibb acquired a knowledge of Arabic and Persian languages, and became especially interested in Turkish language and literature. Gibb married and moved to London in 1899. He made a few visits to Europe, but never visited the regions that he studied. He did, however, come to be viewed as a sympathetic and talented orientalist, with an excellent library, and was acquainted with Muslim poets and scholars. His series of volumes on Ottoman poetry is especially noteworthy. ^[1]

He died 5 December 1901, aged 44 at his residence in London from scarlet fever, ^[2] and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. His library was acquired by Cambridge University, the British Museum, and the British embassy at Constantinople. ^[1] His name is commemorated in the long running " Gibb Memorial Series" of publications, primarily devoted to the translation of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic texts, funded by the trust established by Jane Gibb (d. 1904), the author's mother. ^[3]

Works

• The History of the Forty Vezirs or the story of the forty morns and eves (Contes turcs [Qyrq wezīr ḥikājesi). Written in Turkish by Sheykh-Zāda [Šaiḫzāda]. Done into English by E(lias) J(ohn) W(ilkinson) Gibb / Šaiḫzāda. London 1886
• Ottoman poems. Translated into English in The original forms. With introduction, biographical notices, and notes. London, Glasgow 1882
• A history of Ottoman poetry. 6 Bde. London 1900-1909 (Nachdruck London 1958-67, Vol. 2-6 edited by Edward Granville Browne
• Ottoman Literature; The Poets and Poetry of Turkey, Translated from the Arabic with Introduction and Biographical Notes by E. J. W. Gibb, with Arabian, Persian, and Hebrew Poems, and a Special Introduction by Theodore P. Ion, New York 1901

References

• Gibb Memorial Trust

External links

• Works by or about Elias John Wilkinson Gibb at Wikisource

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