| Home | Inventories | Courses | Reference | Pre-prints | E-publics | In the news |

Course in Islamic paleography

by Prof. Jan Just Witkam, University of Leiden, The Netherlands

In this educational site specimens of Arabic, Malay and Persian manuscripts are given, together with a short bibliographical description, and the transcription of a modest portion of the text. With the help of this transcribed text the student of paleography can become accustomed to the particular hand. The student’s task is to transcribe the portion of the manuscript following the portion which has been transcribed already. The student is also requested to make a list of those reading signs used by the copyist, which are uncommon in printed texts.
The present course has been offered now for several years to students of Leiden University. Students from outside Leiden University are welcome to use the course to increase their skills in transcribing manuscripts.
The number of specimens is continually being expanded. Specimens in other languages than Arabic, Malay and Persian will be added in due course.

A number of model books by calligraphy masters is included here as well.

Feed-back is appreciated.