Guide to Research in Islamic Art and Architecture

World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. Ed. by G. J. Roper. 4 vols. London, 1992-94. (RFA 79.41.1)

Annotated guide to Islamic manuscript collections and their published catalogs, arranged by country.

Pedersen, Johannes. The Arabic Book. Transl. G. French; ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Princeton, NJ, 1984. (FA 9033.3.3)

The Book in the Islamic World: The Written Word and Communication in the Middle East. Ed. by George N. Atiyeh. Albany, 1995. (WID-LC Z8.M63 B66 1995)

Bosch, Gulnar, John Carswell, Guy Petherbridge. Islamic Bindings & Bookmaking. Chicago, 1981. (FA 9660.3).

Scheper, Karin. The Technique of Islamic Bookbinding: Methods, Materials and Regional Varieties. Leiden, 2015. (WID-LC Z270.I74 S34 2015).

Raby, Julian, and Zeren Tanindi. Turkish Bookbinding in the 15th Century: The Foundation of an Ottoman Court Style. London, 1993. (FA9661.3 F)

al-Mu‘izz ibn Badis. Mediaeval Arabic Bookmaking and Its Relation to Early Chemistry and Pharmacology. Transl. M. Levey. Philadelphia, 1962. (Widener LSoc 4685.100 n.s. 52, pt. 4)

Terminology for the Conservation and Description of Islamic Manuscripts, compiled by Paul Hepworth and Karin Scheper..

The Islamic Painted Page – a database of references for Persian paintings, Ottoman paintings, Arab paintings and Mughal paintings. This site enables you to locate printed reproductions, commentaries and weblinks for thousands of Islamic paintings, including illuminated "carpet" pages, decorated Quran pages, and book bindings from over 230 collections all over the world.

Hillenbrand, Robert. Studies in the Islamic Arts of the Book. London, 2012. (FAL-LC ND3241 .H534 2012)

Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts. Ed. Anna Contadini. Leiden, 2010. (FAL-LC ND2955 .A73 2010)    

Ettinghausen, Richard. Arab Painting. Geneva & New York, 1977. (FA 3316.1.2)

Grabar, Oleg. The Illustrations of the Maqamat. Chicago, 1984. (FA 4499.123)          

Ḥarīrī, 1054-1122. Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī. Facs. ed. London, 2003. 2 vols. (XFA 4499.247.1 Folio)

Full facsimile of the famous Maqāmāt manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale (Paris).

The Arts of the Book in Central Asia, 14th-16th Centuries. Ed. Basil Gray, Oleg Akimushkin et al. London & Paris, 1979. (FA 3403.17.5)

Grabar, Oleg. Mostly Miniatures: An Introduction to Persian Painting. Princeton, N.J., 2000. (FA 3523.27)

Sims, Eleanor. Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources. New Haven, Ct., 2002. (FA 3523.33)

 Adel T. Adamova & Manijeh Bayani. Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture (London, 2015). (FAL-LC ND3241 .A343 2015)

And, Metin. Turkish Miniature Painting. 4th ed. Istanbul, 1987. (FA 3504.460.26.2)

Âli, Mustafa bin Ahmed. Menakıb-i Hünerveran. Muṣṭafá Alī's Epic Deeds of Artists: A Critical Edition of the Earliest Ottoman Text about the Calligraphers and Painters of the Islamic World. Ed., transl., and commented by Esra Akın. Leiden, 2011. (WID-LC N7172 .A45 2011)

Ahmad ibn Mir Munshi. Calligraphers and Painters: A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, Son of Mir-Munshi, circa A.H. 1015/A.D. 1606. transl. by V.Minorsky. Washington, 1959. (Fine Arts Library Fogg 67W27nfo v.3 no.2)

Huart, Clement. Les Calligraphes et les miniaturistes de l'Orient musulman. Paris, 1908.
(FA 9095.1)

Based on Mirza Habib Isfahani's biographical dictionary of calligraphers, Khaṭṭ va khaṭṭāṭān.

Titley, Norah. Miniatures from Persian Manuscripts: A Catalogue and Subject Index of Paintings from Persia, India and Turkey in the British Library and the British Museum. London, 1977. (Fine Arts Library Fogg 56L84bo)

A guide to one of the world's major collections; the subject indexes in this and the following catalogues of illuminated Persian manuscripts are invaluable for iconographic research.

Robinson, B.W. Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue. London, 1980. (Fine Arts Library Fogg 57 M26j)

The Chester Beatty Library: A Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts and Miniatures. 3 vols. Dublin, 1959-1962. (Fine Arts Fogg 48 D81c 1959 Folio)

Blochet, Edgar. Les peintures des manuscrits orientaux de la Bibliothèque nationale. Paris, 1914-1920. (FA 3524.601.25 Folio)

Blochet, Edgar. Les enluminures des manuscrits orientaux - turcs, arabes, persans - de la Bibliothèque nationale. Paris, 1926. (FA 1125.36 Folio)

Musée du Louvre. Les miniatures persanes. Ed. Ivan Stchoukine. Paris, 1932. (Fine Arts Fogg 60 P23lao 1932)  

Duda, Dorothea. Islamische Handschriften I: Persische Handschriften. Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Bd. 4. Vienna, 1983. 2 vols. (FA3297.3.3 (4))

Reenen, Daan van. "The Bildverbot: A New Survey." Der Islam, 67 (1990), pp. 27-77. (Widener Asia 9.1) also available online.

Examines the sources in the Qur'an and Hadith for the prohibition of images.

Isa, Ahmad Muhammad. Painting in Islam: Between Prohibition and Aversion. Istanbul, 1996. (FA 372.255)

Gruber, Christiane. The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in islamic Texts and Images. Bloomington, 2018.

Berlekamp, Persis. Wonder, Image, and Cosmos in Medieval Islam. New Haven, 2011. (FAL-LC ND2955 .B47 2011)

Folsach, Kjeld von, and Joachim Meyer. The Human Figure in Islamic Art: Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners. Copenhagen, 2017. (FAL-LC N7570 .F6513 2017)

Roxburgh, David. Prefacing the Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-century Iran. Leiden, 2001. (FA 514.601.10)

Roxburgh, David. The Persian Album, 1400-1600: From Dispersal to Collection.
New Haven, 2005. (FAL-LC N7283 .R68 2005)

Wright, Elaine. Muraqqa’: Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Alexandria, Va., 2008. (FAL-LC ND3247.W75 2008)

Phillip, Filiz Çakır. Enchanted Lines: Drawings from the Aga Khan Museum Collection. Toronto, 2014. (FAL-LC NC321.P55 2014)

Safadi, Yasin Hamid. Islamic Calligraphy. London, 1978. (FA 9076.17)

A clear and concise, illustrated introduction to the subject.

Schimmel, Annemarie. Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. New York, 1984. (FA 9076.61)           

Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World. Ed. by Mohammad Gharipour and İrvin Cemil Schick. Edinburgh, 2013. (FAL-LC NK 3636.5.A2 C36 2013)

Schick, İrvin Cemil. "The Iconicity of Islamic Calligraphy in Turkey." Res 53-54 (2008): 211-224. (FA 18.130); also online.

Schick, İrvin Cemil. Hat Sanatı Nedir Ne Değildir? (Islamic Calligraphy: What It Is and What It Is Not).
Ottoman History Podcast, Oct. 7, 2012.

Blair, Sheila. Islamic Calligraphy.  Edinburgh, 2006. (FAL-LC NK3636.5.A2 B53 2006)

McWilliams, Mary, & David Roxburgh. Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600-1900. Houston, 2007. (FAL-LC NK 3636.5.A2 M39 2007)

James, David. The Master Scribes: Qurans of the 10th to 14th Centuries AD.London, 1992. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 2. (Fine Arts AM 345.114.1 (2)F)

James, David. Qur'ans of the Mamluks. New York, 1988. (FA 3318.17)

James, David. After Timur: Qurans of the 15th and 16th Centuries. New York, 1992. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 3.) (Fine Arts AM 345.114.1 (3)F)

Bayani, Manijeh, Anna Contadini, Tim Stanley. The Decorated Word: Qurans of the 17th to 19th Centuries. London, 1999. (Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 4/1.) (Fine Arts AM 345.114.1 (4)F)

Safwat, Nabil F. The Art of the Pen: Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries. London, 1996. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 5.) (Fine Arts AM345.114.1 (5)F)

Derman, M. Uğur. Eternal Letters from the Abdul Rahman Al Owais Collection of Islamic Calligraphy, Sharjah. Transl. by Irvin Cemil Schick. Sharjah, 2009. (FAL-LC NK 3636.5 D47 2009)

See also: Museums and Collections, Persian Art, Turkish and Ottoman Art, Islamic Art of India & South Asia,