Islamicate Manuscript Culture: Hands-on Workshop

An Introduction to Islamicate Manuscript Culture: Exploring Evidence for History

Space is limited, so please register by Thursday, March 2.

In this intensive workshop, we will explore codicological methods for investigating evidence for the history of particular Islamicate manuscripts — tracing their production and reception contexts through such elements as writing material and structure; script and layout; paratexts, signatures, and other annotations; marks of ownership; and any later material interventions such as repairs and restorations.

Participants will engage with these concepts through guided descriptive exercises working with a selection of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts from the collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book library, including the Birnbaum Collection, newly acquired from the estate of the late NMC Professor Eleazar Birnbaum.

Evyn Kropf is a librarian and curator of Islamic manuscripts at the University of Michigan Library. As a specialist of Islamic codicology and Arabic manuscript culture, her particular interests include writing material (especially paper), structural repairs, reading and collecting practices of the Ottoman era as well as the significance of pictograms and other visual content for Sufi knowledge transmission.