UK British Library Publishes Qur’an Manuscripts
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British Library curator and Arabic manuscripts expert Colin F Baker explores the importance of the Qur’an in Islamic society in this new illustrated publication. Tying in with major exhibition, Sacred, the book is published by the British Library on 26 April 2007.
While the significance of the written word reverberates through both Judaism and Christianity, nowhere does the physicality of scripture matter as much as it does in the Islamic world. Proof of the devotion the Qur’an inspires can be gleaned by examining the sumptuously produced illuminated manuscripts reproduced in this volume.
In this new publication, Colin Baker explores the central place of the Qur’an in Islamic society, but also focuses on the manuscripts as physical objects, taking a look at the celebrated calligraphy and the masterful artists who developed it. Numerous colour images display the breadth of illumination styles and production materials used. This book is a concise overview of the long history of these manuscripts from across the wide Islamic world, from the eighth to the end of the nineteenth century, and from Spain to South East Asia.
The British Library’s new exhibition Sacred opens on 27 April 2007. This groundbreaking exhibition brings together some of the world’s most important and beautiful religious texts for the first time. Exquisite and rare examples of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts from the Library’s collections will be presented alongside treasures on loan from other institutions in a unique and compelling modern context. Sacred marks the first time that sacred texts from these three faiths will have been displayed and explored together, side by side, in a major UK exhibition.
Two further books, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture by Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle and Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Script and Image by Ilana Tahan, are published by the British Library in April and May, respectively. Also available from 16 April 2007 is the exhibition catalogue, Sacred: Books of the Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, edited by John Reeve. |
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