Dr Mira Xenia focuses on a miniature Qur’an executed in golden ink and housed in a metal locket, now held in the Heritage Collections of the University of Edinburgh. This Qur’an may look like a manuscript, but it is an early printed book. It reproduces a handwritten, 17th-century Ottoman copy of the Qur’an through the modern technology of photolithography. This diminutive printed Qur’an was sold across the globe at the beginning of the 20th century, with copies circulating in the Arab world, Iran, South Asia, and Indonesia. Moreover, Muslim soldiers who fought in World War I carried these small copies of Islam's holy book on their bodies as these were believed to bear apotropaic qualities. While treasured in the Islamic world, this talk shows that these miniature Qur'ans were printed by David Bryce around 1900 CE in Glasgow-- that is, in close proximity to Edinburgh, where the copy presented here is kept today.

This video was made in collaboration with Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online

Further information on this manuscript and high resolution images can be found in its online catalogue entry:  RB.S.4656