Sheila Blair, Jonathan Bloom (Editors)
By the Pen and What They Write: Writing in Islamic Art and Culture.
Yale University Press, 2017. 9780300228243 xi/305 pages.
Large-format volume, measuring approximately 9.5" x 12", is bound in red cloth, with stamped black lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are new. Lavishly illustrated. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
Proceedings of the Fifth Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art, November 9-11, 2013, Palermo, Sicily.
"Considered by Muslims as the only true art, calligraphy has played a prominent role in Islamic culture since the time of the prophet Muhammad. Exploring this central role of the written word in Islam and how writing practices have evolved and adapted in different historical contexts, this book provides an overview of the enormous impact that writing in Arabic script has had on the visual arts of the Islamic world. Approaching the topic from a number of different perspectives, the essays in this volume include discussions on the relationship between orality and the written word; the materiality of the written word, ranging from the type of paper on which books were written to monumental inscriptions in stone and brick; and the development of Arabic typography and the printed book. Generously illustrated, "By the Pen and What They Write" is an engaging look at how writing has remained a foundational component of Islamic art throughout fourteen centuries."