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Abstract

When studying history, it is important to identify written sources and determine their specific characteristics. This is because each work differs in its purpose and in the unique way it presents events, reflecting them in a manner characteristic of the author.

This thesis uses the example of the work Dili Garaib (The Heart of Rarities), written in 1831–1832 in Khorezm, to examine how codicological information about manuscripts can serve as a basis for forming a general idea of the time when the book was created and the socio-political situation of the corresponding era. The author of Dili Garaib, Khudayberdi ibn Kushmuhammad, was known not only as a scholar but also as a translator of works written in Arabic and Persian into the Turkic language. This manuscript, written in a harmonious combination of scientific and artistic styles, has survived in five copies. Four of them are kept at the Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences. Another copy is in the personal library of N. Palvanov (1965–2020), a specialist in the history of Khorezm and candidate of historical sciences (265 sheets).

The complete and final version of Dili Garaib (inv. no. 1335) is an autograph, as it was written by the author himself, Khudayberdi ibn Kushmukhammad. The manuscript consists of 266 pages. In the introductory part (pp. 1b–5a), according to established tradition, the Khiva Khan Allakulikhan (1825–1842) is glorified. The manuscript has come down to us in its complete and finished form.

No. 853/I – this list of works was copied by an unknown scribe at the end of the 19th century. Pages 171b–207b of the manuscript are missing; in its preserved form, it consists of 172 pages. In this copy, was replaced with Sayid Muhammadamin (1846–1855).

No. 8484 – this list of works by Dili Garaib consists of four sheets. Only one chapter of the work was transcribed in 1941 by the literary scholar and historian Hasanmurad Laffasi (1905–1945).

In conclusion, it should be noted that the codicological data of the sources, in particular, the time of creation or rewriting of the manuscripts, the changes or abbreviations made, make it possible to recreate a kind of historical picture, conditioned by the requirements of the era or the customer. Also, based on this information, it is possible to trace the dynamics of the transformation of the manuscript throughout its transmission to the present day.