The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans of the 8th to 10th Centuries AD (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, VOL I)

The Khalili Collection contains the largest and most comprehensive range of Qur'anic material in private hands. This, the first of four volumes devoted to the subject, covers the three major styles of Qur'anic calligraphy that came into existence before AD 1000. The catalogue contains 98 items which are described and illustrated in colour. Included among these are a significant number of complete manuscripts, some with their original bindings; two folios from the famous 9th-century Qur'an which was written in gold on blue parchment; and two quires from a 10th-century Qur'an, the only copy known to have been produced in Sicily. The introduction includes a survey of the codicology and illumination of early Qur'ans, and discusses problems of classification and dating. The author's system of classifying early Qur'anic scripts is set out in five tables, and the calligraphic styles themselves are discussed in three essays (Hijazi script; Early Abbasid scripts, and the New Style).