“The importance of these prints derives not only from the fact that they are early witnesses to the use of printing in the Middle East, or their textual and artistic content, but also from their rarity.” - Mark Muehlhaeusler, "Eight Arabic Block Prints from the Collection of...

When the name of Western Americana, Rare Books, and University Archives was changed to “Special Collections” in 1971, it reflected a major shift in the holdings. In addition to the growing emphasis of rare books, Special Collections Director, Everett Cooley, was also made responsible of...

"They who sow courtesy reap friendship, and they who plant kindness gather love." -- St Basil the Great Commentaries St. Gregory (325?- & St. Basil (329-379) 9th c. AH/15th c. CE This manuscript, written on polished laid paper, is an Arabic translation from a Greek or Coptic original of...

‘kabīkaj, kabīkaj, kabīkaj, yā kabīkaj iḥfaẓ al-waraq’ اختصار مختصر المقاصد الحسنة زرقاني، محمد بن عبد الباقي 1168 [1754] Ms Or. 12.48 An abridgement of Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Bāqīal-Zurqānī’s Mukhtaṣar, itself an abridgement of al-Sakhāwī’s al-Maqāṣid al-ḥasanah, a collection of ḥadīth; the present work is anonymous, but al-Jabartī (in ʻAjāʼib al-āthār,...