It has been known for several decades now that one of the Arabic books to have been frequently illustrated in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was the Maqamat of Hariri. Ten manuscripts of this work with illustrations have been known for some time, though only one of them has ever been published in almost its entirety. 1 In the fall of 1960, Dr Richard Ettinghausen was fortunate in discovering in Istanbul a thirteenth-century manuscript of the Maqamat with an extensive cycle of illustrations and, with rare generosity, has provided me with his photographs and with the authorization to publish them, even though many of the remarks found below are based on his observations and careful notations made on the spot and elaborated in later correspondence. A complete publication with an exhaustive analysis of all the problems raised by this manuscript can be made only within the framework of the publication of all known manuscripts of Hariri’s bestseller. For such a work the documentation has been gathered at the University of Michigan and it is my hope that it will soon be possible to present it in a completed form. It was felt that, in the meantime, it would be essential to present to the interested public this new document and to raise a few of the problems it poses. In the framework of a periodical it is not possible to illustrate all the comparative material to which allusion will be made, but by giving precise folio or page references it is hoped that our comparisons will be of some value.
I agree to the terms outlined below:
You agree to upload and assign Mosqpedia Database the rights to use the content worldwide and in perpetuity across all current and future media platforms. Mosqpedia Database may edit, copy, adapt and translate your contribution.
The content will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Deed – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International – Creative Commons
All data will be stored in line with data protection regulations.