Colophon to an anonymous compendium of medicine (Or 9007, f. 134r).

 

The British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership (the ‘Qatar Project’) is a collaborative digitisation and cataloguing project, the primary output of which is the Qatar Digital Library (https://www.qdl.qa/en). This fully bilingual (Arabic/English) online resource makes available a wealth of historical documentation relating to the Gulf region, as well as Arabic manuscripts on scientific topics and short articles relating to the contents and contexts of these archives and manuscripts.

Phase Three of the Qatar Project began in January 2019 with the addition of a new member of the manuscript team. We could little have imagined how much our working practices would be upended by the impact of the Covid pandemic, which struck a little over a year later.

 

Page from Anwār Khulāṣat al-ḥisāb by ʻIṣmat Allāh ibn Aʻẓam al-Sahāranfūrī (IO Islamic 1582, f. 13r).

 

Covid impacts

At the best of times, the progression of a single manuscript, from the moment it is retrieved from the basement shelves, through all the stages of conservation assessment, cataloguing, digitisation, image quality control, editorial checks, translation of the catalogue record, and the final integration of images, catalogue text, and metadata ultimately culminating in upload to the site, can take up to a year. The impact of Covid increased these timescales even further.

 

Diagram of four of the seven ‘degrees’ (بحور), a type of modal structure, from Kitāb al-inʿām bi-maʿrifat al-anghām by Shams al-Dīn al-Ṣaydāwī (Or 13019, f. 12r).

 

Working remotely necessitated various modifications to our workflow, primarily in swapping the order in which cataloguing and imaging take place, so that cataloguing teams could remotely access images captured by the digitisation team. In the confusion of spring 2020, these altered ways of working took a while to get in place, and while they facilitated continued cataloguing, they also depended on imaging colleagues being physically on site. Requirements for social distancing within the enclosed environment of the imaging studio also drastically reduced the amount of work the imaging team could achieve. Furthermore, no new manuscripts were able to enter the workflow without undergoing conservation assessment- another job that cannot be done from home! We are very thankful to the imaging and conservation teams, as well as all other colleagues who opted to come on site when permitted, for facilitating progress of the many subsequent stages within the Qatar Project’s workflow. 

 

Diagram accompanying Chapter Nine: Construction of ‘the Spiral' (al-ḥalzūn), from Mukhtaṣar fī ṣanʿat baʿḍ al-ālāt al-raṣadīyah wa-al-ʿamal bihā by al-Birjandī (IO Islamic 4419, f. ‎43v).

 

We were able to gradually return to the offices in autumn 2020. Manuscript curators were eagerly anticipating the joys of getting out their light sheets and tape measures and inhaling the smell of aged paper.

 

Part of contents list from al-Mukhtār min kutub al-ikhtiyārāt al-falakīyah by Yaḥyá ibn Jarīr al-Takrītī (Or 5709, f. 6r). 

 

Despite all these challenges, the Qatar Project as a whole was able to celebrate the upload of the two millionth image to the Qatar Digital Library towards the end of Phase Three, which wrapped up in June 2022.

 

Summary of locations the author journeyed to during his mission in Spain, from Natījat al-ijtihād fī al-muhādanah wa-al-jihād by Aḥmad ibn al-Mahdī al-Ghazzāl (Add MS 9596, f. 1v).

 

Phase 3 Arabic scientific manuscripts

In the third phase of the Qatar Project the manuscript team continued to catalogue and digitise classic texts, including many volumes dating to the 13^th-15^th centuries CE. These included copies of Rasāʼil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity), Jāmiʻ li-quwá [or, li-mufradāt] al-adwīyah wa-al-aghdhīyah, a handbook of medical materials by the Andalusian botanist Ibn al-Bayṭār (d. 1248), Chief Herbalist to the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil (reg. 1218-38), and Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān, an extensive zoological encyclopaedia by Muḥammad ibn Mūsá al-Damīrī (d. 1405).

 

Representation of the Kaʻbah and directions of prayer towards it, from a copy of Kharīdat al-ʻajāʼib wa-farīdat al-gharāʼib by Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar Ibn al-Wardī (IO Islamic 1734, f. 59r).

 

We also continued to make available manuscripts exemplifying the robust and lasting commentary tradition on the exact and medical sciences in Arabic, such as mathematical teaching handbooks designed to clarify abstract theory for the benefit of students, and a copy of al-Jurjānī’s Sharḥ al-tadhkirat al-naṣīrīyah fī ʻilm al-hayʼah, a commentary on Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī's treatise on Ptolemy's Almagest.

 

Map of Iraq, showing the courses of the Tigris and Euphrates and their outlets at the Gulf, from Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik, by Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Iṣṭakhrī (Or 5305, f. 23r).

 

Many treatises included in Phase Three illustrate the richness of enquiry into more technical subjects, such as geography and travelogues, psychology, military science, agriculture, cookery, and music. One notable early manuscript is a fragment of a miscellany produced around 1000 in a Christian monastic context, of which a larger portion is held by the Bibiloteca Ambrosiana in Milan.  

 

Beginning of a section entitled ‘Knowing the exaltation and fall of the Planets’, from a fragment of an astrological text (Or 8857, f. 2v).

 

Besides cataloguing, the team produced blog posts and articles that provide further context to some of the manuscripts digitised in Phase Three (and before), and address their textual content, scribal and ownership histories, and later provenance stories. Links to these articles can be found in relevant sections of the attached downloadable list which summarises the output of Phase Three. (Download QDL Phase 3 Listing of Arabic Scientific Manuscripts)

 

Illustration of a bow and arrow, from al-Wāḍiḥ fī al-ramy wa-al-nushshāb by ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarī (Or 3134, f. 32r).

 

Ranging in scale from voluminous tomes and illustrated or illuminated presentation copies, through to intimate, palm-sized notebooks probably never intended for circulation; from manuals of practical instruction to works of theoretical systematisation; and written between ca 1000 CE and the late 19th century, this group of 87 volumes illustrates some of the immense diversity and longevity of scientific scholarship in the Arabic language. The impact of Covid on the world during this period demonstrated ever more clearly the value of digitisation projects accompanied by enhanced cataloguing and translation, which support and encourage global research into the Arabic manuscript field, as so many others.

 

Page from the contents list of Kitāb al-ishārāt fī ʻilm al-ʻibārāt by Khalīl ibn Shāhīn al-Ẓāhirī (Add MS 9690, f. 6r).

 

Jenny Norton-Wright, Arabic Scientific Manuscripts Curator

 

Asian and African Studies blog post summaries of manuscripts digitised by the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership during the first two phases

First 40 (Phase 1)

Second 40 (Phase 1)

Next 125 (Phase 2)

Download QDL Phase 3 Listing of Arabic Scientific Manuscripts

 

Illuminated opening of Kitāb al-ṭabīkh by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Karīm al-Baghdādī (Or 5099, f. 2v).

 

Diagram of the planetary spheres, from a copy of Rasāʼil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ (Or 8254, f. 196r).

In 2020, The British Library acquired The Square = al-Maydān (2015, edition of 40) by the Egyptian book artist Islam Aly. In this artist’s book, he takes inspiration Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focal point of Egypt’s 2011 revolution. A map is laser-engraved onto the wooden covers and the painted fore-edges of the book, which is bound in traditional Coptic and Ethiopian styles with linen thread. The slogan “الشعب يريد إسقاط” (“The people want to bring down the regime”) appears in Kufic script laser-cut into the quires of the book in an ascending sequence of words reflecting the polyphonic echoes of protest chants. It culminates with the statement “الشعب أسقط النظام” (“The People have brought down the regime”) together with the time and date of the fall of Hosni Mubarak and his regime.

 

Islam Aly, The Square (2014). (ORB.30/8948). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Islam Aly is both an artist and art educator lecturing at Helwan University's College of Art Education in Cairo, Egypt. He developed his passion for artists’ books at the University of Iowa where he earned an MFA in Book Arts and a PhD in Art Education. Aly’s artistic practice merges historical and traditional forms of bookmaking and binding with more experimental and digital techniques such as laser cutting. As he explains: “The traditions and history of bookbinding inspire my artistic practice, and I am constantly exploring new ways to incorporate these techniques into contemporary book forms and ideas… Ultimately, my goal as a book artist is to push the boundaries of contemporary book art while remaining true to the rich legacy and traditions of the book form.” 

 

For over a decade, Aly has developed a substantial body of work using the artist’s book to explore diverse subjects, including politics, migration, ecology, language, literature, heritage, religion and the production of knowledge, as well as the form, structure and nature of the book itself. Aly explains: “Through my work, I use book art to reflect on our contemporary time and explore the intersections between past and present. Books have a rich legacy in approaching social justice issues and giving voice to marginalized groups, and I strive to create books that promote empathy and belonging.” Through novel constructions that push the boundaries of the book, Aly experiments with space and the performance of reading. In their study of book arts and sacred texts, S. Brent Plate notes that Aly’s work connects “books with larger forces of space, culture, and identity… book space and geographical space coincide; the book becomes a landscape, an embodied world that connects with the bodies of the audience.”

 

Islam Aly binding Fantastic Fauna (2017). © Islam Aly.

 

Aly has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo shows and at art book fairs in Egypt, the United Kingdom, Japan, Sharjah and North America. His artist’s books are included in prominent museum and library collections worldwide, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Harvard Fine Arts Library, among others. 

 

Thanks to Art Fund’s generous support through the New Collecting Award programme, the British Library has added eight more of Aly’s artist’s books to its collection. Reflecting on this new acquisition, Aly writes: "I am profoundly honored to have my work included as part of the ‘Collecting Arab Visual Cultures (1960 to Today)’ project at The British Library. This inclusion represents a significant milestone in my artistic journey, affirming the importance of the narratives I seek to convey through my book art. My artist’s books are deeply rooted in the rich and diverse heritage of Arab culture and Islamic art, and being part of The British Library collection allows me to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about history, identity, and expression. It is an immense privilege to have my artist’s books recognized alongside other esteemed artists who have shaped and continue to shape the landscape of Arabic visual arts I am excited and humbled to share my perspective and to be part of this vibrant and dynamic narrative."

 

This blog provides an overview of this recent acquisition.

 

Marginalia 1 and Sequence 1

 

In these two works, Aly uses the artist’s book to explore the Arabic language, textuality and transmission of knowledge. Sequence 1 (2013, edition of 20) focuses on the Arabic letter ض (ḍ). With this letter’s distinctive emphatic /d/ sound, early Arab grammarians referred to Arabic as “lughat al-Ḍād” (“the language of the ḍād”) because the sound was believed to be unique to the language. This book features 40 different forms of letter in various calligraphic styles, laser-cut into handmade flax paper pages and bound with engraved wooden boards and linen thread in a Greek-style binding.

 

Islam Aly, Sequence 1 (2013). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Marginalia 1 (2013, edition of 20) is inspired by handwritten commentaries and glosses often found in the margins of Arabic and Islamic books and manuscripts. These marginalia typically have varied shapes and layouts that contrast with the more formalised mise-en-page. Aly laser-cuts marginalia into the quires of the book which are attached to plexiglass covers sewn together using a two needle Coptic link stitch with sewed the end bands. Aly explains: “Commentaries played an important role in the transmission and transformation of knowledge. I wanted to show the beauty of their calligraphy on the handmade flax paper.”

 

Islam Aly, Marginalia 1 (2013). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Fantastic Fauna and Inception

 

In these two books, Aly draws inspiration from literature and Islamic art. Fantastic Fauna = Ḥaywānāt rāʼiʻah (2017, edition of 40) is made from laser-cut mold-made Johannot paper and laser-engraved wooden boards, featuring Coptic binding with leather straps connecting to five miniature books. This bilingual book in English and Arabic draws on the tradition of using animal characteristics to caricature humans, inspired by the collection of fables Kalilah wa-Dimnah by Ibn al-Muqaffaʻ (died 759) and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The animal characters symbolise aspects of social inequality and oppression, with imagery taken from medieval Islamic artworks depicting both imaginary and real animals. The main book’s text is hidden within the attached miniature books, encouraging the reader to explore connections between images and words, and between animal and human characteristics. The book culminates in a quote from Orwell: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

 

Islam Aly, Fantastic Fauna (2017). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Inception = Bidāyah (2019, edition of 30) is made from laser-cut Fabriano paper and tracing paper, plexiglass mirror, and laser-engraved wooden boards, featuring a Coptic binding with leather wrappings connected to seven miniature accordion books. This bilingual book in English and Arabic is inspired by the stories and journeys of refugees. Based on the twelfth-century Persian poem Manṭiq al-Ṭayr (The Conference of the Birds) written by the Sufi poet Farīd al-Dīn al-ʻAṭṭār (c. 1145-1221) the book parallels the refugee's quest for self-discovery with the birds' search for their perfect king, guided by the hoopoe. The poem, which culminates in the birds’ realisation that their king is within themselves, is adapted from Afkham Darbandi's English translation and Badīʿ Muḥammad Jumʿah’s Arabic translation. It features images of birds taken from medieval Islamic artworks and Arabic calligraphy by Abdul Karim and Sabri.

 

Islam Aly, Inception (2019). © Islam Aly. (Support by Art Fund)

 

Astral Projections (2022) and The Tapestry of Dreamweaver (2023)

 

Talismans and amulets are a recurring theme in Islam Aly’s artist’s books. Astral Projections (2022, edition of 30 variants + 5 proofs) and The Tapestry of the Dreamweaver (2023, edition of 30 variants + 5 proofs) are inspired by talismanic shirts, astrology and the world of dreams. Astral Projections is an accordion book made from cyanotype and laser-cut pages featuring talismanic shirts and constellations, with intricate cyanotype illustrations which make use of religious texts, sacred invocations, symbols, magic squares, and seal impressions. Pushing the boundaries of what can be considered a book, The Tapestry of Dreamweaver is a 99 cm x 84 cm talismanic shirt enclosed in a cloth-covered box, crafted from cyanotypes on fabric, paper, and maps sewn onto cotton cloth. It explores dreams and talismanic symbolism, featuring cyanotype prints with sacred texts, invocations, symbols, magic squares, and seal impressions, intertwining the tangible symbols of protection and power with the ethereal blue hues of cyanotype.

 

Islam Aly, Astral Projections (2022). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

 

 

Islam Aly, The Tapestry of the Dreamweaver (2023). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Mare Nostrum (2022) and Kinship (2024)

 

The title Mare Nostrum = al-Mutawassiṭ (2022) (2022, edition of 50 + 5 proofs) is a play on words with Latin term (meaning ‘Our sea’), used by the Romans to refer to the Mediterranean Sea, and L’Operazione Mare Nostrum, a year-long naval and air operation by the Italian government to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean and arrest traffickers. The book addresses perilous Mediterranean migration, which, according to the Missing Migrants Project, has resulted in more the disappearance of 67,078 migrants missing at sea since 2014 at the time of writing this blog. The book consists of leather wrappings connected to brass cut pieces, silk-screened book cloth, inkjet printed text, handmade paper, linen thread, book board, museum board, and laser-cut Canson paper, with Coptic binding and five brass boats in a compartment. The book includes images of boats and quotes from migrants who survived the perilous Mediterranean crossing, drawn from interviews and video clips. Images of boats are inspired by predynastic Egyptian pottery, symbolizing a journey from life to afterlife, paralleling the migrant’s quest for freedom and stability. The book's colours reflect the Mediterranean Sea, alternating from light to dark blue. Viewers can interact with the book by moving brass boats within laser-cut circles, simulating the migrants’ journey.

 

Islam Aly, Mare Nostrum (2022). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

In Kinship (2024, edition of 40 + 5 proofs), Aly explores the relationship between colonial and colonised artifacts, emphasising the importance of repatriation for safeguarding cultural heritage. Enclosed in a large box with a plexiglass top, the book features Coptic binding, ebony covers, laser-cut Canson paper, linen thread, book board, museum board, laser-etched plexiglass, Japanese metallic gold paper, and various woods. Like a miniature museum display, the project consists of three compartments. The first compartment houses nested boxes culminating in a golden-covered box with an ebony-covered book containing quotes from The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, a work dating back to the Middle Kingdom (2040-1750 BCE) that depicts a peasant's plea to the Chief Steward of the crown after being robbed, addressing themes of social and divine justice, alongside hieroglyphic symbols representing concepts like renewal, protection and eternity. The second includes slides with quotes on repatriation and a colonial map of Africa. The third compartment features ten hieroglyphic symbols cut into wood, symbolising the absence of amulets found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Kinship engages viewers in reflecting on artefacts’ historical contexts and the ethical considerations of repatriation, fostering a deeper understanding of these cultural implications.

 

Islam Aly, Kinship (2024). © Islam Aly. (Supported by Art Fund)

 

Daniel Lowe, Curator of Arabic Collections

 

Supported by Art Fund

Further reading

Aly, Islam. Using Historical Bindings in Producing Contemporary Artists' Books. MA thesis, University of Iowa, 2013.

 

Aly, Islam. Historical book structures and artists' books as a teaching tool. PhD thesis, University of Iowa, 2016.

 

Aly, Islam. “Islam Aly.” Islam Aly, Accessed 12 Jul. 2024, www.islamaly.com. 

 

Lowe, Daniel. "Art Fund New Collecting Award: Collecting Arab Visual Cultures (1960 to Today)." Asian and African Studies Blog, British Library, 24 Jun. 2024, https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2024/06/art-fund-nca.html.

 

Plate, S. Brent. “What the Book Arts Can Teach Us About Sacred Texts: The Aesthetic Dimension of Scripture”. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, vol. 8, no. 1-2, Aug. 2017, pp. 5-25.

Ilana Tahan receiving her Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to scholarship in 2009. All rights reserved

 

It saddens us deeply to inform you that Ilana Tahan passed away peacefully on Saturday 6 July 2024.

 

Ilana Tahan joined the British Library as the Curator of Hebrew Collections in 1989. She soon began to collaborate with colleagues across the UK on organizing and systematizing Hebrew librarianship and curation. In 2004, the British Library published her book Memorial volumes to Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust: a bibliography of British Library holdings. Ilana was part of the curatorial team behind the Library's flagship exhibition Sacred in 2007, working alongside Colin Baker, Kathleen Doyle, Vrej Nersessian, and Scot McKendrick. In 2008, she published her guide to the British Library's Hebrew collection, Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Word and Image. In 2009, she was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her scholarship and work in making the collection more accessible. 

 

Ilana became the Lead Curator for Hebrew and Christian Orient Collections in 2012, overseeing the Library's holdings of Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Jewish-language, and Syriac manuscripts and printed books. In this role, she was exceptionally active in reaching out to communities and scholars. She published many articles and chapters on the Hebrew collections and undertook dozens of public workshops and presentations to bring the manuscripts closer to audiences. Her work on the Samaritan manuscripts in particular prompted the Samaritan Community to award her the Samaritan Medal. 

 

Ilana with colleagues Dr. Colin Baker, then Head of Middle East and Central Asia, and Dr. Michael Erdman, then Turkish and Turkic Curator, at a show and tell for doctoral students in 2018. All rights reserved

 

Most recently, Ilana curated the very successful exhibition Hebrew Manuscripts – Journey of the Written Word. She worked tirelessly on this project, collaborating with several colleagues at the Library and keeping a close dialogue with academics and religious figures in the Jewish community. Due to the pandemic, the exhibition was open in St Pancras only for a very short period of time, but Ilana was able to find alternative ways to promote the items in the exhibition. She contributed to the development of a virtual tour of the display, which now stands out as a wonderful legacy of her work on the project, and promoted the exhibition online through high profile events, public lectures and private views. In October 2023, the exhibition traveled to the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, enabling visitors to experience some of the best known Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library’s collection. 

 

The exhibition coincided with the end of one of our major documentation, conservation and digitization projects – the Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project. The first phase of the project, supported by the Polonsky Foundation and many other supporters, including the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, was carried out between 2013 and 2016, with a second phase completed in 2020 - and supported by the National Library of Israel - which Ilana led to a successful completion. Thanks to this remarkable project the whole collection of Hebrew manuscripts at the British Library is now available to researchers and the wider public.

 

Throughout her career Ilana was fully committed to her work at the Library and passionate about promoting and making accessible the Hebrew collections to specialists and wider audiences. To this end, she published and lectured extensively, and took a very active role on social media channels. She regularly posted blogs on the Asian and African Studies blog, and offered an engaging series of threads on the AAS and Hebrew Manuscripts Twitter/X accounts. 

 

Ilana explaining the intricate decoration and composition of a Hebrew manuscript at a 2019 Show and Tell. All rights reserved

 

Ilana was a much respected and esteemed colleague, and on several occasions she received recognition and appreciation for her expertise and her many achievements. She will be remembered for her expert knowledge, dedication and sustained commitment in the field, but also for being such a kind and generous person.

 

Ilana leaves behind her husband, son, daughter, and two grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them and with all those whom Ilana touched and inspired over her long and impactful career. Together, we celebrate Ilana’s profound and lasting legacy on Hebrew and Jewish Studies scholarship in the United Kingdom and around the world. 

 

The Asian and African Collections Department

 

Dr. Luisa Elena Mengoni, 

Head, Asian and African Collections

 

Dr. Michael Erdman

Head, Middle East and Central Asia