An Introduction to Arabic Manuscripts

This week-long workshop will be taught by leading authorities in the historical, philological and material study of Arabic manuscripts.

Co-organized by Princeton and UCLA, which house the two largest repositories of Islamicate manuscripts in North America, the workshop will equip emerging scholars with the basic tools to conduct research using original handwritten texts in Arabic script. The deadline to apply as a full participant has passed but you can register as an observer via the links in the schedule below.

Over the course of four days, participants will learn the basics of codicology, palaeography, and manuscript production and circulation, and receive exposure to an expansive vision of current debates in Arabic manuscript research. Topics include:

• anatomy of the codex
• text blocks, colophons, audition notes, owners' notes, readers’ notes
• supports, inks, bindings
• scribes and other craftspeople
• scripts, canonical and informal; strategies for decipherment
• technical terminology
• transmission practices and patterns
• digital collections; contemporary ethics and best practices

Organizers: Marina Rustow (Princeton) and Luke Yarbrough (UCLA)

Sponsors: UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies; UCLA Islamic Studies; UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures; UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Manuscript, Rare Book and Archive Studies Initiative at Princeton; Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University; Firestone Library, Princeton University; UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library

Schedule

Click here to access the recordings of this workshop.