John Andrew Boyle

John Andrew Boyle (10 March 1916 – 19 November 1978), was a British historian, an accomplished linguist, and Oriental scholar.

Life and career

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John was born at Worcester Park, Surrey, England, on 10 March 1916. His father, Andrew Boyle, was the first editor of Everyman's Encyclopaedia (1913–1914), he revised Roget's Thesaurus, and he translated Spinoza's Ethics[1] into English and excerpts of The Pickwick Papers into Portuguese for a Brazilian paper.[2]

In 1933, John won a scholarship to Birmingham University where he graduated with first-class honours in German in 1936.[3] He later pursued the studies of Oriental languages at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen.[4]

In 1941 he became a sapper[2] (a soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties). In 1942 he was assigned to the Foreign Office where he remained until 1950.

"In 1945 he married a colleague, Margaret Elizabeth Dunbar, who gave him three daughters, a life of great domestic happiness, and constant support in his work".[2]

He completed his doctoral dissertation under the guidance of Vladimir Minorsky. Boyle received his doctorate in 1947.[5]

He later became a professor of Persian at Manchester University.[6]

He produced a Persian dictionary and a grammar book of modern Persian.

He was the only European ever to receive the Iranian order of Sepas.

He died of heart failure on November 19, 1978, at the age of 62.[7]

Bibliography

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Boyle was the author, translator, or editor of the following works:[8]

Books

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  • Boyle, John Andrew (1949). A Practical Dictionary of the Persian Language. London: Luzac and Company. ISBN 9780875570570. Persian words are romanized in this dictionary.
  • 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini (1958). Boyle, John Andrew (ed.). Tarikh-i Jahangushay [The History of the World-Conqueror]. Translated by John Andrew Boyle. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674404009. Juvaini stopped working on the original Persian-language text in 1260, leaving it in a disorganized and incomplete state. Mirza Muhammad Qazvini completed the best text and published it in 1937. The 1958 edition (Boyle's English translation) is in two volumes. A book review of the 1958 edition was published by The American Historical Review.[9] A revised edition of the Boyle translation was published in 1997.
  • Boyle, John Andrew (1966). Grammar of Modern Persian. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447006927. (Porta linguarum orientalium; N.S., 9). A review of this book was published in a journal in 1967.[10]
  • Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlallāh (1971). The Successors of Genghis Khan (PDF). Translated by John Andrew Boyle. New York City: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231033516. Foreword by Ehsan Yarshater; Preface by John Andrew Boyle. This is a transla­tion of Volume 2 of Rashīd's Jami' al-Tawarikh ("Compendium of Chronicles").
  • Farīd al-Dīn ʻAṭṭār (1976). The 'Ilāhī-nāma [Book of God]. UNESCO collection of representative works: Persian heritage series; [no. 29]. Translated by John Andrew Boyle. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719006635. Foreword by Annemarie Schimmel. The 'Ilāhī-nāma is a 12th century Persian poem. An incompletely edited version is publicly accessible, here:
  • Boyle, John Andrew (1977). The Mongol world empire, 1206-1370 (snippet view). Volume 58 of Variorum reprints (illustrated, reprint ed.). London: Variorum Collected Studies. ISBN 9780860780021. OCLC 03891719. Preface by Owen Lattimore.

Journal articles

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- - - - - - - -

- "The significance of the Jami'al-Tawarikh as a source on Mongol history", Iran-Shinasi 2:1 (1970), 1-8. Makes some comparisons with the Yuan Shih.

- "Mongolia before Genghis Khan: the native tradition", Journal of the Anglo-Mongolian Society 2:1 (1975), 60-69.

- "The last barbarian invaders: the impact of the Mongol conquest upon East and West," Memoirs and Proceedings 112 (1969-70), 5-19.

- "The burial place of the Great Khan Ogedei," in 11th PIAC (1970), 45-50.

- "Sites and localities connected with the history of the Mongol empire," in Olon Ulsyn, v. 1 (1972), 75-79.

- "The seasonal residences of the Great Khan Ogedei, Central Asiatic Journal 16 (1972), 125-131. Also in 12th PIAC (1974), 145-151.

- "Kirakos of Ganjak on the Mongols", Central Asiatic Journal 8 (1963), 199-214

- "The summer and winter camping grounds of the Kereit", Central Asiatic Journal 17 (1973), 108-110.

References

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  1. ^ de Spinoza, Benedictus (1910). Spinoza's Ethics and "De Intellectus Emendatione". Translated by Andrew Boyle. With an Introduction by George Santayana. See also the Preview of this book. On the 4th page (unnumbered) of said Preview, witness these words: "Spinoza's Ethics and 'De Intellectus Emendatione' Translated by A. Boyle with Introduction by Professor G. Santayana"
  2. ^ a b c Beckingham, C. F. (1979). "Obituary of Professor J. A. Boyle". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2). Cambridge University Press: 184–186.
  3. ^ Melville, Charles P. (2023). "BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN ANTHONY BOYLE entitled 'J. A. Boyle (1916–78) Trustee (1971–78)'". Edinburgh University Press. This is chapter 21 of the book A Short History of the Gibb Memorial Trust and its Trustees. Webpage contains preview.
  4. ^ "BOYLE, JOHN ANDREW – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  5. ^ Avery, Peter William; Mansfield, Peter John; Grimwood-Jones, Diana (1979). "Obituary of Professor John Andrew Boyle". British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin. 6 (1).
  6. ^ Elwell-Sutton, L. P. (1 January 1979). "Obituary: John Andrew Boyle". Folklore. 90 (1): 105–106. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1979.9716129. John Andrew Boyle was born in 1916 into a family of Scottish origin to whom cosmopolitan interests were almost second nature (his grandmother was Spanish, and his father, a well-known bibliophile and bookseller, was at one time ...
  7. ^ "Obituary of Dr. John A. Boyle" (PDF). Hamdard Islamicus. 2 (2). Pakistan: 116. 1979. Obituary is on 4th page of the PDF file.
  8. ^ "Boyle, John Andrew - People and organisations - Trove". Trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  9. ^ Young, T. Cuyler (1 January 1959). "Book review of The History of the World-Conqueror". The American Historical Review. 64 (2): 350–351. Public page displays a small preview.
  10. ^ Windfuhr, Gernot Ludwig (October 1967). "Book review of 'Grammar of Modern Persian' by John Andrew Boyle". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 87 (4). American Oriental Society: 627–630. doi:10.2307/597622. Public page displays a small preview.
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