Typology of Anecdotes During 8th to 10th Century AD (Plus Introducing Two Manuscripts)

Researchers believe Resāla-ye Delgošā by Ubaid Zakani as the first literary book specifically dedicated to anecdotes. The second most famous book is Lataʼif al-tavaʼif by ʻAlī ibn Ḥusayn Kāshifī Ṣafī who is known as the inventor of classification based on social castes. As literary theorists often emphasize, no literary work is formed suddenly and works of every kind progress gradually under influence of the previous ones. The key question is whether the works by Ubaid Zakani and Ali Safi were sudden and with no support. This paper presents a record of anecdotes books and tries to show missing circles in the process of compilation of such books from the 8th to 10th century AD. We conclude that there were some minor books on anecdotes before Ubaid, which are not available today. We may safely claim that writing essays on anecdotes was a tradition common before Ubaid period and this will not undermine the value of his work. The same tradition continued after Ubaid and authors invented their own style. We can point to Majma al-Latayef and Majma-al-Navader as examples of two books on anecdotes compiled before Lataʼif al-tavaʼif by ʻAlī ibn Ḥusayn Kāshifī Ṣafī.