8vo. ix, 195 pp., frontispiece, 9 microfilms in rear pocket, hard back binding, title gilt on spine & upper cover, appendix, notes, biblio, index, copy in mint condition, The University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Synopsis

The book deals with eleven thirteenth and fourteenth century illustrated manuscripts of one of the most idiosyncratic masterpieces of Arabic literature, the Maqamat of al-Hariri. Grabar first introduces the manuscripts themselves in their own peculiarities, then reviews the scholarly activities that have already been devoted to each manuscript. He finally analyses, story by story, how the various books illustrate the text, by distinguishing the characteristics of the visual language in the Maqamat, representations of heroes, types of buildings, ways of expressing emotions or activities that seem to be consistent within all or most of the manuscripts. [Introduction].