Elias John Wilkinson Gibb (1857–1901) was a Scottish orientalist

Oriental studies

Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...

.

Gibb was born 3 June 1857 in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, 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

Ottoman poetry

The poetry of the Ottoman Empire, or Ottoman Divan poetry, is fairly little known outside of modern Turkey, which forms the heartland of what was once the Ottoman Empire...

 is especially noteworthy.

He died 5 December 1901 from scarlet fever

Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...

 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...

. His library was acquired by Cambridge University, the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, and the British embassy at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. 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 authors mother.

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 hg. von Edward G. 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