Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers.

• Author: Bloom, Jonathan M.
• Position: Handbuch der Orientalistik/Handbook of Oriental Studies, section 1, vol. 98 - Book review

Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers. By ADAM GACEK. Handbuch der Orientalistik/Handbook of Oriental Studies, section 1, vol. 98. Leiden: BRILL, 2009. Pp. xviii + 338, figs. $179.

Adam Gacek's Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers (AMVR) is his third contribution to the venerable Handbuch der Orientalistik/Handbook of Oriental Studies (HdO) series. His first, The Arabic Manuscript Tradition: A Glossary of Technical Terms and Bibliography (AMT, HdO 58, 2001), comprised a list of Arabic terms concerning manuscripts in Arabic script and definitions, along with a bibliography of relevant books and articles. His second, a supplement to the first (AMTS, HdO 95, 2008), greatly expanded both the terms and the bibliography, reflecting greatly increased interest in and scholarship about handwritten books in Arabic script in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The present volume, designed for researchers and students who have been mystified or intimidated by the arcane aspects of studying handwritten books in Arabic scripts, is a compilation of the author's extensive knowledge and an enormous literature on the subject. The bulk of the book, comprising the first three hundred pages, contains the "major alphabetical sequence" of over two hundred essays, ranging in length from a single paragraph to several pages, dealing with subjects from "Abbasid bookhand" to "Zigzag paper." Longer essays deal with such subjects as "Calligraphy and penmanship," "Dates and dating," "Manuscript age," "Quire," and "Qur'an (Koran)," and some of these have been adapted from the author's contributions to other reference works. The entries, generously illustrated with colored charts, diagrams, and photographs, are thoroughly cross-referenced with additional headings ("Abjad [abjadiyah] [right arrow] Arabic alpha-numerical notation") and arrows ([right arrow]) within the text that point to essays on related subjects. Brief bibliographical indications in the entries refer to a fourteen-page list of works cited, which is followed by five appendices (of, respectively, abbreviations found in Arabic manuscripts, Arabic letterforms, Qur'anic suras, a bibliographic guide, and a guide to describing the manuscript), and three charts (Muslim-Christian calendar, major historical periods, and major Muslim dynasties).

Full of fascinating information, the book is a treasure-trove of obscure facts gained from the author's three decades of studying Arabic manuscripts at...