Folio. Part I: 34 pp., of English text, 42 pp., of Arabic text / Part II: 105 colour plates, end paper colour plates, buckram, title printed in Arabic and English on front cover, limited and numbered edition of 2400 copies, Touch Editions, London, 2001.

Synopsis

A BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED LIMITED edition in which the author discusses details based on the illustrations, the majority of which are printed here for the first time.
“The early history of the Arabic script and the development of Qur’anic calligraphy is by no means completely understood, and much remains to be explored and elucidated. The first European to study some of the early Qur’anic fragments was Jacob Adler (1756-1834), who catalogued the Qur’anic material in the Royal Danish Library, and ascribed the name “Kufic” to a few early examples he found there. The term “Kufic” has remained applied to early Qur’anic scripts ever since, and, although it is now known to be totally inaccurate, it has proved impossible to jettison”. (Chapter one).
This work consists of the following:
1- An introduction which is a survey of the subject and scholarship by Muslim and Western historians until today.
2- A historical background.
3- Qur’an production in the Islamic world.
4- Early copies of Qur’an to the end of the Umayyad period.
5- Development of Kufic Qur’ans-Abbasid, new style.
6- Qur’ans in Naskh, Muhaqqaq and Rayhan scripts from Iraq, Syria, and Iran 11th -12th centuries.
7- Yaqut and his pupils: 14th century developments.
8 – Summary,
9- Bibliography and notes