The History of the Book in the Middle East

Dr Geoffrey Roper is an editorial and bibliographical consultant. He was formerly head of the Islamic Bibliography Unit at Cambridge University Library, Editor of Index Islamicus and the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, and Associate Editor of the Oxford Companion to the Book.

Contents: Introduction; Part I General and Introductory: Islamic book history: parameters of a discipline, Michael W. Albin; ’Of making many books there is no end’: the classical Muslim view, Franz Rosenthal. Part II Manuscripts: The script and book craft in the Hebrew medieval codex, Malachai Beit-Arié; Between the lines: realities of scribal life in the 16th century, Cornell H. Fleischer; Early Islamic bookbindings and their Coptic relations, Theodore C. Petersen; The human element between text and reader: the ijaza in Arabic manuscripts, Jan Just Witkam; Technical practices and recommendations recorded by classical and post-classical Arabic scholars concerning the copying and correction of manuscripts, Adam Gacek; The copyists’ working pace: some remarks towards a reflexion on the economy of the book in the Islamic world, François Déroche. Part III Introduction of Printing: From the manuscript age to the age of printed books, Muhsin Mahdi; A virgin deserving Paradise or a whore deserving poison: manuscript tradition and printed books in Ottoman Turkish society, Orlin Sabev (Orhan Salih); Mass producing houri’s moles: or aesthetics and choice of technology in early Muslim book printing, Ian Proudfoot; Medieval Arabic tarsh: a forgotten chapter in the history of printing, Richard W. Bulliet; Islamic reformist discourse in the Tulip period (1718-30): Ibrahim Müteferriqa and his arguments for printing, Stefan Reichmuth; The beginnings of Hebrew printing in Egypt, Diana Rowland-Smith. Part IV Printing Development and Print Culture: Hebrew printing houses in the Ottoman empire, Yaron Ben Na’eh; Arab booksellers and bookshops in the age of printing, 1850-1914, Ami Ayalon; On the question of lithography, Brinkley Messick; Rich men, poor men: Ottoman printers and booksellers making fortune or seeking survival (18th-19th centuries), Orlin Sabev (Orhan Salih); Functional perspectives on technology: the case of the printing press in the Ottoman empire, J.S. Szy