8vo. xix, 155 pp., 21 colour plates, 16 b/w plates, cloth in d/w, biblio, appendices, index, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005.

Synopsis

The catalogue covers 26 Oriental manuscripts (41 treatises) currently at St John’s College, Oxford, reflecting the varying ways in which Europeans have sought to make themselves familiar with the cultures of the East. Acquired during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries most are Arabic or Persian, but there are also Syriac, Hebrew, Turkish, Ethiopic and Gujarati items. The volume is also lavishly illustrated with 37 examples of calligraphy, diagrams and illuminations. The catalogue provides a detailed description of every item within each manuscript.