The Islamic World

Abstract

Abstract Because of the sanctity of the revelation and the desire to record it faithfully, writing and books have always played an extraordinarily important role in the Islamic world. Islamic culture has spanned a millennium and a half, from the early seventh century to the present day, and exists around the globe from southern Spain and North Africa to Indonesia and beyond. Following a brief introduction to the principles of Arabic script, this chapter surveys this vast production in four broad chronological blocks: Qur’an manuscripts from the first centuries of Islam; the transition from parchment to paper in medieval times; deluxe books with illustrations produced from the late thirteenth century to the early seventeenth; and other forms and formats typical of more recent times including albums, loose-leaf Qur’an manuscripts from Africa, printing, and artists’ books. The purpose is to investigate books from the Islamic lands not only as written texts but also as physical objects that shed light on important social and intellectual questions such as the change from the oral to the written, rates of literacy, identification of readership, the roles of illustration and illumination, collecting, preservation, and libraries.