Ilana Tahan receiving her Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to scholarship in 2009. All rights reserved

 

It saddens us deeply to inform you that Ilana Tahan passed away peacefully on Saturday 6 July 2024.

 

Ilana Tahan joined the British Library as the Curator of Hebrew Collections in 1989. She soon began to collaborate with colleagues across the UK on organizing and systematizing Hebrew librarianship and curation. In 2004, the British Library published her book Memorial volumes to Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust: a bibliography of British Library holdings. Ilana was part of the curatorial team behind the Library's flagship exhibition Sacred in 2007, working alongside Colin Baker, Kathleen Doyle, Vrej Nersessian, and Scot McKendrick. In 2008, she published her guide to the British Library's Hebrew collection, Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Word and Image. In 2009, she was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her scholarship and work in making the collection more accessible. 

 

Ilana became the Lead Curator for Hebrew and Christian Orient Collections in 2012, overseeing the Library's holdings of Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Jewish-language, and Syriac manuscripts and printed books. In this role, she was exceptionally active in reaching out to communities and scholars. She published many articles and chapters on the Hebrew collections and undertook dozens of public workshops and presentations to bring the manuscripts closer to audiences. Her work on the Samaritan manuscripts in particular prompted the Samaritan Community to award her the Samaritan Medal. 

 

Ilana with colleagues Dr. Colin Baker, then Head of Middle East and Central Asia, and Dr. Michael Erdman, then Turkish and Turkic Curator, at a show and tell for doctoral students in 2018. All rights reserved

 

Most recently, Ilana curated the very successful exhibition Hebrew Manuscripts – Journey of the Written Word. She worked tirelessly on this project, collaborating with several colleagues at the Library and keeping a close dialogue with academics and religious figures in the Jewish community. Due to the pandemic, the exhibition was open in St Pancras only for a very short period of time, but Ilana was able to find alternative ways to promote the items in the exhibition. She contributed to the development of a virtual tour of the display, which now stands out as a wonderful legacy of her work on the project, and promoted the exhibition online through high profile events, public lectures and private views. In October 2023, the exhibition traveled to the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, enabling visitors to experience some of the best known Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library’s collection. 

 

The exhibition coincided with the end of one of our major documentation, conservation and digitization projects – the Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project. The first phase of the project, supported by the Polonsky Foundation and many other supporters, including the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, was carried out between 2013 and 2016, with a second phase completed in 2020 - and supported by the National Library of Israel - which Ilana led to a successful completion. Thanks to this remarkable project the whole collection of Hebrew manuscripts at the British Library is now available to researchers and the wider public.

 

Throughout her career Ilana was fully committed to her work at the Library and passionate about promoting and making accessible the Hebrew collections to specialists and wider audiences. To this end, she published and lectured extensively, and took a very active role on social media channels. She regularly posted blogs on the Asian and African Studies blog, and offered an engaging series of threads on the AAS and Hebrew Manuscripts Twitter/X accounts. 

 

Ilana explaining the intricate decoration and composition of a Hebrew manuscript at a 2019 Show and Tell. All rights reserved

 

Ilana was a much respected and esteemed colleague, and on several occasions she received recognition and appreciation for her expertise and her many achievements. She will be remembered for her expert knowledge, dedication and sustained commitment in the field, but also for being such a kind and generous person.

 

Ilana leaves behind her husband, son, daughter, and two grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them and with all those whom Ilana touched and inspired over her long and impactful career. Together, we celebrate Ilana’s profound and lasting legacy on Hebrew and Jewish Studies scholarship in the United Kingdom and around the world. 

 

The Asian and African Collections Department

 

Dr. Luisa Elena Mengoni, 

Head, Asian and African Collections

 

Dr. Michael Erdman

Head, Middle East and Central Asia

 

The British Library has been digitising Thai manuscripts for over fifteen years, initiated with a five-year pilot project (2008-2012) which marked the first digitisation of manuscripts from Southeast Asia in the Library. The project was funded by the Royal Thai Government on the auspicious occasion of the 80th Birthday Anniversary of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, and resulted in the digitisation of over 8,500 folios from 59 Thai manuscripts and the Chakrabongse Archive of Royal Letters. Since completion of the pilot project, 65 more manuscripts and manuscript furniture from the Thai, Lao and Cambodian collections have been digitised thanks to funding from the Henry Ginsburg Legacy.

Illustrations of the Temiya Jātaka (left) and Mahājanaka Jātaka (right) with Pali text in Khmer script written in gold ink in between. Central Thailand, dated 1894. British Library, Or 16101, f. 3

Jātaka illustrations from manuscripts digitised in these projects were on display in the exhibition “Narrating Rebirth” at Pridi Banomyong Library, Thammasat University Bangkok, from 1 June - 1 July 2024. Curated by Dr Paul McBain (Head of Thai Studies at Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University) and Jana Igunma (Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian, British Library), the exhibition was organised on occasion of the 2nd PBIC International Conference on the Jātaka Tradition of Thailand, which took place at Pridi Banomyong International College on 1 June 2024 .

The exhibition poster for 'Narrating Rebirth', 1 June - 1 July 2024

Illustrations from the Jātaka, or Birth Tales of the Buddha, are important for the understanding of Buddhism and the manuscript tradition in Thailand. For the research of artistic representations of scenes from these Birth Tales, specifically from the last ten Jātaka (also known as Mahānipāta Jātaka / มหานิบาตชาดก, or Dasajāti Jātaka / ทศชาติชาดก), illustrated folding books dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries are of particular significance. Often commissioned by a patron to make merit – either on behalf of a deceased relative or for themselves with the hope to attain a better rebirth in the future – these manuscripts usually contain extracts in Pali language from the seven books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, sometimes with short extracts from the Vinaya Piṭaka and/or Sutta Piṭaka. Although they do not usually contain text from the Jātaka tales, one can often find multiple illustrations of the finest quality depicting scenes from the last ten Jātaka on the first few folios of a manuscript, and sometimes also as chapter separators.

Printed and mounted illustration from the Nārada Jātaka. Central Thailand, late 18th century. British Library, Or 14255, f. 8

The exhibition space of the Pridi Banomyong Library was the perfect setting for such a display, guaranteeing excellent exposure to students, researchers and members of the public alike. With four underground levels, this is the only underground library in Thailand, and it is praised for having one of the country’s most comprehensive collections of textbooks, journals, newspapers and archival resources related to the political history of Thailand. Pridi Banomyong was a professor and Thai politician, who, as leader of the civilian faction of the Khana Ratsadon, was part of the coup that brought an end to the absolute monarchy in Thailand in 1932. He founded Thammasat University as an open university in 1934.

Exhibition space at the entrance of Pridi Banomyong Library, Thammasat University, with a portrait of Pridi Banomyong (left).

Preparations for the exhibition started in October 2023 with the selection of Jātaka illustrations from digitised Thai manuscripts, followed by the compilation of captions and explanatory texts by the co-curators. The aim was to show Jātaka illustrations from different periods of time, to highlight painting styles and painting materials, as well as individual tastes of the painters who always remained anonymous. It was decided to display half of the illustrations as stand-alone artworks, and the other half with text passages that appear alongside these illustrations, all mounted and true to their size in the original manuscripts.

Posters for the announcement of the exhibition and the conference were designed and disseminated widely on social media and by email. Chutiman Chuenjai, a freelance Exhibition Designer and User Experience Designer took charge of the exhibition design, selection of textile backings for the panels on which the art prints were mounted, liaising with the printer who produced the art prints with mounts, and setting up the exhibition and guidance on lighting.

Setting up the exhibition on 31 May 2024 with guidance from the exhibition designer Chutiman Chuenjai (center).

The exhibition designer also constructed a supporting structure for a partial replica of a Thai folding book (Or 16552) from which three folds were selected to give an impression of what the actual manuscript looks like. This particular manuscript was chosen because it contains exquisite illustrations of the key episodes in the Vessantara Jātaka, which is the most popular Birth Tale in Thailand. Displayed were scenes of Prince Vessantara’s mother in her previous heavenly existence, Vessantara making the gift of his elephant, Vessantara and his family taking leave from his mother before going into exile, Vessantara making the gift of his horses, the Brahmin Jujaka requesting Vessantara’s children, and Jujaka taking Vessantara’s children away. Standing at the centre of the exhibition, this partial replica, true to the colours and size of the original manuscript, was a highlight and attracted much interest from people passing by even before the exhibition opened.

Partial replica depicting scenes from the Vessantara Jātaka. Central Thailand, 19th century. British Library, Or 16552

A detailed introductory panel in English and Thai, bi-lingual captions with QR codes linking to the full Jātaka texts online, and a printed exhibition booklet were compiled by the two co-curators. During the conference "The Jātaka Tradition of Thailand" on 1 June, the exhibition “Narrating Rebirth” was officially opened in the presence of Dr Ornthicha Duangratana (Assistant Dean for Research and International Affairs) and the co-curators Dr Paul McBain and Jana Igunma. The opening ceremony was attended by the conference participants and exhibition visitors. It closed its doors four weeks later on 1 July 2024 after receiving many positive comments and photo impressions on social media.

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

The opening text of Volume 1 of Ibn Bishr's 'Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 2v)

A chance request from a colleague one day had me search our catalogues and Arabic subject guide for histories of the Arabian Peninsula. While I was initially looking for works on Bahrain and the Arabian (or Persian) Gulf, I ended up stumbling upon Or 7718, described as a history of Najd, Baghdad and Basra under the title ‘Unwān al-majd fī ta’rīkh najd (عنوان المجد في تأريخ نجد). The manuscript, when I consulted it, was beautiful if simple in its decoration. Sadly, it didn’t fit the brief, but something about its colour palette and its organization intrigued me. The resulting search about its contents has convinced me that it was well worth the fascination.

‘Unwān al-majd fī ta’rīkh najd was written by al-Shaykh ‘Uthmān bin ‘Abd Allāh bin Bishr (الشيخ عثمان بن عبد الله بن بشر), also known as Ibn Bishr, in 1251 AH (1835 CE; volume 1) and 1270 AH (1854 CE; volume 2). The work is a history (as written on the package) of the Najd (central Saudi Arabia) with elements of the history of Baghdad and Basra. Why these two cities? Because Ibn Bishr’s work is actually two in one: both a history of the Najd region and a life story of Muḥammad ibn Abd al-Wahhāb (محمد ابن عبد الوهاب), the founder of Wahhabism who teamed up with Muḥammad bin Sa‘ūd (محمد بن سعود) in 1744 to unify the states of the Arabian Peninsula. Bin Sa‘ūd was the founder of the first Saudi State, also known as the Emirate of Dir’iyah, based around Dir’iyah, contemporary Saudi Arabia, and established in 1727. The author starts his history in 850 AH (1445-46 CE) and ends in 1270 AH (1853-54 CE), allowing for both the early history of the region and a comprehensive overview of ‘Abd al-Wahhāb’s activities to come across. Over the course of the work, Ibn Bishr recounts ‘Abd al-Wahhāb journeys through the Najd to Basra and Baghdad, where he studies and takes action against what he perceives to be incorrect Islamic practices, before returning to Najd. Much of what we see in Volume 2 takes the form of a chronicle and is therefore crucial to understanding the formation, establishment and territorial expansion of what would eventually become Saudi Arabia.  

(Left) The colophon of Volume 1, including the additional note on the original composition of the text (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 160r); (Right) The colophon of Volume 2 including a supplication to God. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 258r).

Ibn Bishr completed his text in 1853-54 CE. Dating Or 7718, however, is on the tricky side, as the copyist evidently wished to preserve as much of the source text they were using while still creating a unified and standalone work. The first part of the ‘Unwān (ff 2v-160r) ends with a colophon that identifies the author as being ‘al-faqīr ilá raḥmat rabbihi al-muqtadir ‘Uthmān bin ‘Abd Allāh bin ‘Uthmān bin [A]ḥmad bin Bishr al-Najdī al-Ḥanbalī’ (الفقير الى رحمة ربه المقتدر عثمان بن عبد الله بن عثمان بن حمد بن بشر النجدي الحنبلي), effectively identifying Ibn Bishr as both from Najd and a follower of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence. The main text goes on to state that the manuscript was copied on a Friday in the middle of the month of Rajab in the year 1270 AH, which we know to be the date of completion of the second volume of the work. A brief addendum to the side of the text reads “he said that he had completed it [the volume] in Rajab of the year 1251 AH.” The date of Sha‘bān 1270 AH is found on f 258r, the colophon of the second volume of the work. 

(Left) A folio of Volume 2 showing text crossed out with a reader's addendum. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 255v); (Right) A folio of Volume 2 with a gap in the body of the text. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 181v).

The note on f 160r about the date of the first work being 1251 AH is in a different hand from the main text and matches a number of annotations throughout the codex. I suppose that these additions to the text imply that it was copied after 1270 AH from an earlier complete version against which corrections could be made. Indeed, there is an odd gap in the text on f 181r where the copyist appears to have stopped mid-sentence before starting on a new section of text a few centimetres below. For a tabyīḍah or fair copy of the text, as the copyist is wont to call it in the colophons, there seem to be an awful lot of mistakes or gaps. 

(Left) The title of the text with Bin 'aybān's tarjamah and a note on the identity of the copyist. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 2r); (Right) An ownership note and a shakier attempt at copying out the tarjamah. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 1v)

Corrections, or perhaps emendations, to the main body of the work aren’t the only textual additions we find. Four notable inscriptions at the front of the volume provide additional information about the history of the manuscript. One of them (f 1v) is obviously a learner practicing copying out the text on f 2r. Just above this is a brief ownership inscription stating the volume belongs to "‘Alī Abū Niyān wakīluhu Nāṣr bin ‘Abd ‘anna[hu] (or ‘Abdān?) min ahl al-Riyāḍ," (علي أبو نيان وكيله ناصر بن عبد ان من اهل الرياض) placing the work in Riyadh, capital of contemporary Saudi Arabia, at some point in the late 19^th century CE. It must have made its way from there to Cairo, where it was acquired by Maurice Naaman and eventually sold to the British Museum in 1912, at some point in the late 19^th or early 20^th centuries. 

Before making that trip, however, another Saudi Shaykh, ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘aybān (عبد العزيز بن عيبان), wrote a tarjamah or brief biography of Ibn Bishr on f 2r, just before the start of the actual text and below the title written by the copyist. Bin ‘aybān is himself mentioned in the text of the ‘Unwān, in an episode from 27 Rabī' al-Thānī 1265 AH (17 June 1849 CE) when Imām Fayṣal (Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Sa'ūd) orders him to remain at Riyadh with his son, 'Abd al-Allāh bin Fayṣal Āl Sa'ūd, whom Fayṣal has just appointed his successor. Although I haven't found 'aybān died, this note is like not from long after the manuscript was copied. Just above his tarjamah is a brief note that "I say it clearly and openly: what you see here from beginning to end was written by Muḥammad bin ‘Umar al-Fākhrī (محمد بن عمر الفاخري)." This undoubtedly refers to the famed Saudi historian and contemporary of Ibn Bishr of the same name who lived between 1188 and 1277 AH (1772/73-1860/61 CE). We therefore have a definite range of some six years within which the manuscript could have been copied, provided that the person who wrote this note was truthful. 

The title page for Volume 2 of the work showcasing the red and yellow inks used for decoration throughout. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 161r)

The British Library’s copy of ‘Unwān al-majd fī ta’rīkh najd is remarkable for more than just its content and the individuals attached to it. A quick look through the volume shows even and exceptionally legible naskh. The handwriting is clearly practiced and smooth with similarities to other Najdi hands. The fluidity of the text highlights al-Fākhrī’s mastery of the copyist’s practice, especially when compared to the shakier letters of al-‘aybān’s text. More impressive is the use of colour in the manuscript. The main text is copied in black with section headings and important words highlighted in a light red, almost orange, quite distinct from the deep, bold red of manuscripts from Anatolia and Syria. Even more striking is the use of a dark yellow in titles and important words and phrases. Red and yellow are employed in alternation, sometimes in odd and even lines like those for the title of the work and the sections; or even within phrases, as in the title of the work in the colophon of the first part. A similar, but not identical, alternating use of light red and yellow is found in another one of the Library’s manuscripts, Sabā'ik al-laḥīn (سبائك اللحين) by Ḥumayd bin Muḥammad bin Ruzayq (حميد بن محمد بن رزيق) (Or 6563), sourced from Oman in 1903. Indeed, a colleague (thanks, Jenny Norton-Wright!) remarked that the colours remind her of Omani manuscripts that she's seen. The use of lighter shades of yellow and red can also be seen in the collection of Zaydī manuscripts from Yemen at the University of Leiden (thank you for this tip, Dr. Annabel Gallop!). A closer match might be the collection of Minhāj al-sunnah al-nabawiyah fī naqḍ kalām al-shī‘ah wa’l-qadariyah by Ibn Taymiyyah held at the King Fahad National Library in Riyadh. These were copied later than Or 7718 and by two different scribes, neither of whom was al-Fākhrī.

Or 7718 has not been the subject of any studies in English or other Western European languages, at least not that I’ve been able to find. It has, however, elicited a fair amount of excitement among Saudi scholars and X users, starting in 2018 when an article that mentioned the work appeared in the Saudi newspaper al-Iqtiṣādiyah. Excitement peaked again after images of the manuscript were posted by Dr. Muḥammad bin Turkī al-Turkī, a scholar of fiqh and ḥadīth at King Saud University in 2021, and again in 2023 by another Saudi account dedicated to resources on Saudi history. For Saudi readers, the British Library manuscript forms an interesting counterpart to a work held in Riyadh, housed in the King ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Library. This copy has formed the basis of multiple edited volumes of the text published in Arabic, including a 2002 edition edited by ‘Abd Allāh bin Muḥammad al-Munīf. 

The text has also been an important source for Anglophone scholars of Wahhabism and the history of the Arabian Peninsula, although they have tended to cite the printed versions and only mention the British Library manuscript: George Rentz and his The Birth of the Islamic Reform Movement in Saudi Arabia; former University of Jordan and McGill University professor Ahmad M. Abu Hakima, who referred to it in his History of Eastern Arabia, 1750-1800; Michael Cook, whose 1992 paper ‘On the Origins of Wahhabism’ compares multiple sources of ‘Abd al-Wahhāb’s life and inspiration; Cole M. Bunzel, for his Wahhabism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement; UCLA Middle East, South Asia and Islamic Studies Librarian Sohaib Baig’s 2020 doctoral dissertation ‘Indian Hanafis in an Ocean of Hadith’; Bilal Tahir’s 2020 introduction to Wahhabi history, ‘Wahhabism and the Rise of the Saudis: The Persecuted Become the Persecutors’; Jörg Matthias Determann in his Historiography in Saudi Arabia; and, most recently, Shahajada M. Musa for his Masters thesis ‘The Emergence of a Scholar from a Garrison Society’ at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Perhaps the enthusiasm in KSA will lead more Anglophone scholars to take a closer look at Or 7718 as an object study in and of itself, beyond the content of the text. 

Section of a folio from Volume 2 showing additional information added by a reader about the identities of two individuals mentioned in the text and the nature of a particular run-in with enemies. (Ibn Bishr, Unwān al-majd fī ta'rīkh najd. 1850s. Saudi Arabia. Or 7718, f 177v)

There is clearly much more to be done to understand this remarkable example of Najdi cultural heritage in the British Library’s Arabic manuscript holdings. While there can be no doubt that Ibn Bishr’s text is of great value to understanding the early history of Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia, the additional information found through the work appears to be no less valuable in tracking out the country’s intellectual history. 

Dr. Michael Erdman, Head, Middle East and Central Asia

Sources and Further Reading

Abu Hakima, Ahmad M. 1965. History of Eastern Arabia 1750-1800: The Rise and Development of Bahrain and Kuwait (Beirut: Khayats).

Abu Hakima, Ahmad M. 1988. History of Eastern Arabia 1750-1800: The Rise and Development of Bahrain, Kuwait and Wahhabi Saudi Arabia (London: Probsthains).

Bunzel, Cole M. 2023. Wahhabism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

Cook, Michael. 1992. ‘On the Origins of Wahhabism’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2(2): 191-202.

Determann, Jörg Matthias. 2021. Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State in the Middle East (London: IB Tauris).

Ibn Bishr, ‘Uthmān bin ‘Abd Allāh. 1983. ‘unwān al-majd fī ta’rīkh najd, eds. Āl al-shaykh, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin ‘Abd al-Laṭīf bin ‘Abd Allāh and Al-Shithrī, Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz (Riyāḍ: Dār al-Ḥabīb).

Rentz, George S. 2005. The Birth of the Islamic Reform Movement in Saudi Arabia (London: The London Centre of Arab Studies).

Sā‘ātī, Yaḥyá Maḥmūd. 1414/1993. Waṣfīyat al-makhṭūṭāt fī’l-mamlakah al-‘arabīyah al-sa‘ūdīyah ilá ‘ām 1403h (al-Riyāḍ: Maktabat al-Malik Fahd al-waṭanīyah).

Henry Alabaster (1836-84) started his career as an interpreter for Thai in the British consular service in Bangkok where he was in close contact with King Mongkut (Rama IV). He helped to organise the solar eclipse observation event in August 1868 that was attended by various foreign government officials, including British and French. Shortly after the King died from malaria a few weeks after this event, Alabaster had to return to the UK. Thanks to his language skills and his in-depth knowledge of Thai literature he was employed by Reinhold Rost, librarian of the India Office Library, to catalogue seventeen Thai manuscripts that had been sitting in the IOL collection unexamined for two or more decades. Alabaster returned to Bangkok in 1872 to become King Chulalongkorn’s (Rama V) adviser. In the first part of this blog post, four legal manuscripts from Alabaster’s “Catalogue of Siamese manuscripts”, first section, were introduced. Now we will look at the remaining thirteen manuscripts.

Henry Alabaster standing next to King Mongkut on occasion of the solar eclipse observation event at Wa Kor observatory in southern Thailand, on 18 August 1868 (detail on the right). Photo source: ณ หว้ากอ : อดีต ปัจจุบัน อนาคต [Na Wākō̜ : ʿadīt patčhuban ʿanākhot], Bangkok 2018. British Library YP.2023.b.318 (front cover)

The handwritten catalogue has three sections: 1) Royal edicts and books of laws; 2) Miscellaneous; and 3) Novels and dramas.

In the second section, there are only three records for literary works.

The first item (MSS Siamese 5) is described as “Suphasit. Elegant sayings or Poverbs” (สุภาษิต), written with white chalk pencil on black paper in folding book format, 56 fols. He explained that this work contains 222 secular and Buddhist proverbs, commonly known as “Suphasit Thai”, which were also mentioned in Pallegoix’s “Grammatica linguae Thai” (Bangkok, 1850). Alabaster did not explicitly say that this manuscript may be related to Pallegoix in terms of provenance, but Pallegoix may have had access to this or a similar manuscript after he became vicar apostolic of Eastern Siam in 1838.

The second record (MSS Siamese 6) is for a black paper folding book, 60 fols., containing a text with the title “Kratai kap Phë. The Hare and the Goat. A fable” (กระต่ายกับแพะ), with unrelated drawings of naga (serpents) and floral designs. Alabaster included a summary of the story and established 1811 as the year of creation thanks to a note in this manuscript saying that the scribe saw a comet for eleven nights (this must have been the Great Comet of 1811).

A small unfinished drawing in a black folding book containing the story “Kratai kap Phë. The Hare and the Goat. A fable”, dated 1811. British Library, MSS Siamese 6, f. 59

Next follows a description of another black folding book (MSS Siamese 7), 56 fols., containing two texts written with white ink: “Phra Samutha Khlong Wuta Chindamani Chan – Prosody (an extract)” (จินดามณี) and “Kaiya Nakhon, the City of the Body, a Buddhist Allegory” (กายนคร). Chindamani, or Jewels of Thought, is one of the most important literary treasures in Thai language going back to the 17th century. The other is a Thai version of a Pali text (kāya nagara) dealing with contemplation of the human body, which is one of the fundamental four meditations (satipatthāna) in Theravada Buddhism. Alabaster noted the inconsistent use of accents (tone marks) which may point towards a creation date around 1800 or earlier.

Extract from the “Chindamani” written in white ink in a black paper folding book. British Library, MSS Siamese 7, f. 14

The third section of Alabaster’s catalogue on “Novels and Dramas” is the most extensive part, containing descriptions of ten manuscripts:

- MSS Siamese 8 “Hoi Sang vol. 1. The Adventures of Prince Hoi Sang. His escape from the city of the genies and his marriage with Princess Ruchana” (หอยสังข์), black paper folding book, 56 fols., no date. Prince Hoi Sang is born in a conch shell, similar to the hero of the story of Sang Sinchai.
- MSS Siamese 9 “I-hnao vol. 4. A Drama founded on Malayan or Javanese legends” (อิเหนา), black paper folding book, 56 fols., no date. Alabaster gives a summary of the text which is a popular Thai version of the Javanese Panji tales.
- MSS Siamese 10 “Phra Unarut vol. 5. The fight of King Unarut with the Genie King whose daughter has eloped with him” (พระอุณรุท), black paper folding book, 56 fols., no date. Alabaster notes that this is a Thai version of the story of King Anirut (Aniruddha) and Queen Usa.
- MSS Siamese 11 “Dara Suriwong vol. 1. The loves of Prince Dara and the Princess with the fragrant hair” (ดารา สุริวงศ์), black paper folding book, 66 fols., no date. Story of a prince who finds a casket containing a lock of fragrant hair and his search for the hair’s owner who turns out to be the daughter of the King of Benares.
- MSS Siamese 12 “Suwannahong vol. 13. Prince Suwannahong and his angel wives” (สุวรรณหงส์), black paper folding book, 56 fols., no date. Alabaster provides a summary of the story of the prince and his three jealous wives.
- MSS Siamese 13 “Samut Niyai Phra Si Muang vol. 1. The Story of Prince Si Muang and the wonderful Hong Bird” (พระศรีเมือง), white paper folding book, 82 fols., no date. Story of a prince who possesses a talking bird (hamsa) that leads him to study with a hermit, who then seeks a wife for the prince.
- MSS Siamese 14 “Thao Sawatthi Racha vol. 1. The King of Sravasti and his white elephant” (ท้าวสาวัตถีราชา), white paper folding book, 56 fols., contains a later added date, 1817, “which is probably the time at which it passed into foreign hands”. Story of the King of Sawatthi, whose twin sons were born while he spent many years in the jungle to look for his escaped white elephant.
- MSS Siamese 15 “Thepha Lin Thong vols. 1 and 2. The Adventures of Prince Thepha Lin Thong” (เทพลินทอง), white paper folding book, 76 fols., no date. Alabaster notes that it was “written by some foreigner, probably a Portuguese in romanized Siamese”.
- MSS Siamese 16 “Another volume of the same work” (MSS Siamese 15), white paper folding book, 58 fols., no date. “Written in ink in Siamese character, the form of the letters slightly differing from the forms now in vogue. Mentioned by Pallegoix in his list of Siamese Books as ‘King Lin Thong’”. Alabaster gives a detailed two-page summary of this story.
- MSS Siamese 17/a-b “Sang Sin Chai vols. III and V. The story of Prince Sang Sinchai, possessor of the magic shell, the magic bow, and the magic sword” (สังข์ศิลป์ชัย), black paper folding books, 44 fols. (a) and 42 fols. (b), date not stated. Alabaster provides a very short summary of the story and mentions that “The first, second and fourth volumes have got separated and are now in the British Museum numbered 12261, 12262a; and 12264 of the Additional manuscripts”. What he refers to are three manuscripts acquired for the British Museum in January 1842 from Thomas Rodd, a London bookseller, as part of the collection of Scotsman Sir John MacGregor Murray (1745-1822) who served in the British establishment in Bengal from 1770 to 1797 and brought back a vast collection of Persian, Arakanese, Pali-Burmese and few Thai manuscripts. It is certain that MSS Siamese 17/a-b, and possibly other manuscripts described in Alabaster’s catalogue, were originally part of Murray’s collection – especially the legal texts in section 1 since Murray had a particular interest in such.

One opening of the Romanised version of “Thepha Lin Thong” written in black ink in a white paper folding book. British Library, MSS Siamese 15, f.9

After completion of his “Catalogue of Siamese manuscripts”, Alabaster was determined to return to Bangkok. He rejected offers of posts in Cayenne and Saigon, and by April 1872 was deemed to have resigned from the British consular service. The reason was that he had been invited back to Siam by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to work in the King’s service. In May 1872 he was on a ship back to Bangkok, and on 15 November 1872 Alabaster wrote in a letter to MP Charles W Dilke that the Siamese government had recognised his position and that he was helping to facilitate the conclusion of the Chiang Mai Treaty (British Library, Add MS 43885, p. 247).

In the years until his untimely death in 1884 due to a sudden illness, Henry Alabaster made significant contributions to the modernisation of Thailand. In an announcement of his death in the Straits Times Weekly, 10 September 1884, his achievements were highlighted as follows:
“This gentleman who has been in the country for almost thirty years, was known and highly esteemed by everybody. He might, indeed, claim to have been for a long time the most prominent foreign personage in Bangkok, on account of his great influence as well as for the high offices he held for many years. He was His Majesty’s librarian, the director of the Royal Museum, the Royal Surveyor, the Administrator of Royal Parks and Gardens, the Superintendent of Roads and Bridges, and the First Official Interpreter of the King. In this delicate position especially he knew well how to command the full confidence and the highest esteem of the Sovereign, who often applied to him for advice …”

Watercolour sketch of Wa Kor observatory by Palacia Alabaster, 1868. The National Archives, TNA, FO 69/46. Photo courtesy of Padej Kumlertsakul.

Especially for the future of the Thai library sector, Henry Alabaster played a crucial role as the King’s librarian who took the lead in cataloguing the royal collection of manuscripts and books. He instructed his Thai assistants in Western standards of cataloguing and classification, which he had learned from Reinhold Rost in order to create the “Catalogue of Siamese Manuscripts” for the India Office Library.

Alabaster left behind two families: three children by his English wife, Palacia; and two by his Thai wife, Perm. In a handwritten condolence letter  to Mrs Alabaster, King Chulalongkorn informed her, in English, that the funeral was to be conducted with all the honours of the First Class Phya, and a monument of European style would be erected at the place of Alabaster’s burial. Nearly three decades later, when King Vajiravudh (Rama Vl) introduced the use of surnames in 1913, Alabaster’s Thai family was given the name ‘Savetsila’, a literal translation of the word ‘alabaster’.

Henry Alabaster’s memorial inscription at the Protestant Cemetery in Bangkok reads:
“To Henry Alabaster, formerly of H.B.M.’s Consular Service, afterwards in that of His Majesty the King of Siam by whom this monument was erected in recognition of faithful service.
Born A.D.1836 - Died A.D.1884.
A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.”

Henry Alabaster’s memorial erected by King Chulalongkorn (left) and bust (right) at the Protestant Cemetery in Bangkok, just a short distance from his grave, 2024. Photos courtesy of Jason Rolan.

Jana Igunma, Henry Ginsburg Curator for Thai, Lao and Cambodian

References and further reading
Igunma, Jana: Reunited at last: a classical Thai verse novel from Ayutthaya (published 25 April 2022)
Alabaster, Henry. Henry Alabaster of Siam: correspondence 1857-1884 and career. [Great Britain]: Alabaster Society, 2009.
Alabaster, John S. Henry Alabaster of Siam 1836-1884: serving two masters. [Great Britain]: Alabaster Society, 2012.
Correspondence of Henry Alabaster and Palacia Alabaster (accessed 14 May 2023)

In 2022, I was awarded Art Fund’s New Collecting Award to support a two-year research-based collecting project.

Aiming to support curators and their professional development, the New Collecting Awards provide individuals with funding to research and buy works that will grow their museums’ collections in new directions or deepen existing holdings. The programme responds to the need for ongoing collections development in museums, underpinned by curatorial experience, vision and ambition.

My project, ‘Collecting Arab Visual Cultures (1960 to Today),’ has aimed to enhance the British Library’s collections of modern and contemporary visual culture from the Arab world. Taking a research-based collecting approach and through network-building in the Middle East and North Africa, the project has acquired book-objects in diverse formats, such as artists’ books, photobooks, zines, comics and graphic novels, children’s books and print ephemera. Produced by established as well as new and emerging artists and creatives in the region and diaspora communities, this material conveys urgent local and universal issues. These new acquisitions contribute to diversifying and globalising UK museum and library collections. As part of the project, I have received the generous expert guidance and mentorship of Dr Zeina Maasri, Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Bristol.

Since 2022, over 200 new items for the British Library’s collections for the British Library’s collections. This blog post isn’t intended to give an exhaustive list of acquisitions (since they will all be discoverable in due course in the British Library’s catalogue), rather it aims to provides a window into some of these new acquisitions.

 

Artists’ Books

Artists around the world use the form of the book as a mode of artistic expression, often collaborating with writers, poets and other artists. As part of the project, we have added to the collection a number of artists’ books and other artist-led publications by creative practitioners from the Arab world, often produced in small print runs or limited editions. For example, Abdallah Benanteur (1931-2017) was one of Algeria’s leading painters and printmakers who produced over 1300 artist’s books over the course of his career. Previously, the British Library did not hold any of his artist’s books in its collection. However, through the project we have acquired three.

 

Abdallah Benanteur and Henri Kréa, Désespoir des causes, exigences pratiques: poème (Paris : L'Astrolabe, 1964), ORB.30/9463, ©Abdallah Benanteur and Henri Kréa; Abdallah Benanteur and Monique Boucher, Abdallah Benanteur: gravures (Paris : Galerie Herbinet, 1964), ORB.30/9464, ©Abdallah Benanteur and Monique Boucher (presented by the Art Fund)

Zines

Zines are often small-circulation, self-published works, including original and appropriate texts and images, often produced using DIY methods by individuals or collectives. The British Library has been actively collecting zines from the United Kingdom, yet our collection of zines from the Arab world has been relatively undeveloped. This project has allowed the Library to grow its collection of zines from the Arab world, helping it to better-reflect the publishing landscape of the region.

 

Haven for Artists, ManbouZine = Manbūẓīn (Beirut : Haven for Artists, 2022-23), ©Haven for Artists (presented by the Art Fund)

 

Photobooks and Photozines

Photobooks and photozines are books and zines in which photographic images make a significant contribution to the overall content of publication. Often documenting and bearing witness to historic events, communities, subcultures or narrating the author’s lived experience, they have been published in the Arab world and diaspora communities since the 1960s and are a growing form of publication today.

For example, I don't recognize me in the shadows (2020) by the Yemeni documentary photographer and storyteller Thana Faroq explores her own journey leaving war-torn Yemen and seeking asylum in the Netherlands. In the photozine Marrākush fawqa skīt būrd [Marrakech on a skateboard] (2022), the Moroccan photographer Yassine Sallame documents the skateboarding scene in Morocco. While in Cacti = Ṣubār (2023), which sits somewhere between a photobook, photozine and artist’s book in its form, Rasha Al Jundi and Michael Jabareen create a visual protest against the silencing of Palestinian voices in Germany.

(Left) Yassine Sallame, Marrākush fawqa skīt būrd (Paris: Á la Maison, 2022), ORB.30/9525, ©Yassine Sallame (presented by the Art Fund); (Middle) Rasha Al Jundi and Michael Jabareen, Cacti  = Ṣubār (Ramallah, Berlin : 2023), ©Rasha Al Jundi and Michael Jabareen (presented by the Art Fund); (Right) Thana Faroq, I don't recognize me in the shadows ([Eindhoven] : Lecturis, 2020), ©Thana Farooq (presented by the Art Fund).

                                               

Comics and graphic novels

The British Library’s Arabic section has been actively collecting comics and graphic novels from the Arab world since 2015 and this was the subject of an exhibition, Comics and Cartoon Art From The Arab World, which was held in 2017 as part of the Shubbak Festival. The New Collecting Award project has allowed the Library to further develop this area of the collection through acquiring recently published comics and graphic novels, as well as filling gaps in the collection of previously published materials.

 

(Left) Mazen Kerbaj, Une partie de scrable (Beirut: La Cd-thèque, 2003), ORB.30/9529, ©Mazen Kerbaj (presented by the Art Fund); (Right) Comic strip by Mloukhiyyé Al Fil in Samandal's Cutes: Collected Queer and Trans Comics (Berlin : Distanz, 2023), ©Mloukhiyyé Al Fil (presented by the Art Fund)

 

Children’s books

The British Library has not traditionally collected children’s books in Arabic. However, an exception to this has been made for the purpose of this project because children’s books are often sites of exciting and innovative collaboration between writers and artists, particularly since the 1960s in the Arab world. For example, the publishing house Dār al-Fatá al-ʻArabī, founded in Beirut in 1974 through the Palestine Liberation Organization, brought together prominent writers, artists and designers to produce children’s books combining striking visuals with radical politics. Today, the award-winning independent Lebanese publisher, Dar Onboz, founded in Beirut in 2006 by Nadine Touma and Sivine Ariss, works with artists, writers and designers to produce children’s books which can often been seen as art objects in their own right.

 

(Left) Joan Baz, Count to 10 with: I went looking for Palestine but I found (Beirut: Dar Onboz, 2014), ©Joan Baz (presented by the Art Fund); (Right) Ḥasan Sharīf, al-Fallāḥ wa-al-tanīn, illustrated by Nazir Nabaa (Beirut: Dār al-Fatá al-ʻArabī, 1977), ©Ḥasan Sharīf (presented by the Art Fund).

 

Print ephemera

Beyond the book, other more ephemeral print-objects, such as posters and pamphlets have been acquired through the project. These have been collected both for their informational and documentary value as well as for their visual and artistic value. For example, a poster produced by the Plastic Arts Section of the Palestine Liberation Organization documents the Art for Palestine exhibition held at the Beirut Arab University between 21 March and 5 April 1978 and includes visuals by the Moroccan artist Mohammed Melehi. A pamphlet documents a 1985 exhibition in Kuwait by the Jordanian sculptor, artist and activist Mona Saudi who was the former head of the PLO’s Plastic Arts Section. While a curious set of ‘cinderella stamps’—labels that resembles postage stamps not issued for postal purposes—issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine documents the organisation’s visual politics in early 1970s.

(Left) Mona Saudi (Kuwait: National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters, 1985), ©National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters of the State of Kuwait (presented by the Art Fund); (Middle) Plastic Arts Section, Art for Palestine (Beirut: PLO, 1978), ©Palestine Liberation Organization (presented by the Art Fund); (Right) PFLP, Sheet of ‘cinderella stamps’ (1970?), ©Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (presented by the Art Fund)

 

Daniel Lowe, Arabic Curator

The Collecting Arab Visual Cultures Project was supported by the Art Fund.

Further reading

Lena Bopp, ‘Dar Onboz' cases full of exquisite Arabic picture books’, Qantara.de, https://qantara.de/en/article/beirut-publisher-nadine-touma-dar-onboz-cases-full-exquisite-arabic-picture-books [accessed 13/05/2024]

Hassan Khan, Mohieddin Ellabbad and Nawal Traboulsi, ‘Revolution for Kids: Dar El Fata El Arabi, recollected’, Bidoun, https://www.bidoun.org/articles/revolution-for-kids [accessed 13/05/2024]

Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti (eds.), Past disquiet: artists, international solidarity and museums in exile (Warsaw: Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2018)

Zeina Maasri, Cosmopolitan radicalism: the visual politics of Beirut's global sixties (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020)

Maha Maamoun and Ala Younis (eds.), How to maneuver: shapeshifting texts and other publishing tactics (Abu Dhabi : Warehouse421, 2021)

Venetia Porter, Artists making books: poetry to politics (London: British Museum, 2023)

At the end of April 2024, Burkhard Quessel retired from the British Library, 27 years after his appointment as Curator for Tibetan collections in 1997. 

During a visit to the British Library on 19 May 2017 by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (left), Burkhard Quessel (second from left) shows His Holiness a Tibetan manuscript. Second from the right is Kristian Jensen, Head of Collections, while on the right is Chime Rinpoche, a predecessor of Burkhard as Curator for Tibetan at the British Library. Photograph by the British Library (from Karmapa Facebook).  

As well as developing and improving access to the Tibetan collections, one of Burkhard’s major contributions was his work on the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), in order to create consistent standards and guidelines for the description of manuscripts and archival records. He spearheaded the introduction of TEI for the cataloguing of content in Tibetan and other Asian languages at the British Library, and supported colleagues and teams using TEI, most notably for the Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project and the International Dunhuang Progamme, and enabled the Library to contribute metadata on Persian manuscripts to Fihrist. Burkhard’s contribution was critical in setting up access strategies for the Sanskrit collection and for Tibetan materials in the Stein and related collections, as well as for the cataloguing of Tibetan materials in the Endangered Archives Programme, such as the printed Sutra shown below. 

འཕགས་པ་ཏོག་གཟུངས་བཞུགས་སོ།. Sutra, in Tibetan, xylograph in red and black ink; before 1857. Collection of Noyon Hutuktu Danzan Ravjaa Museum, Mongolia. EAP031/1/14.  

Another example of Burkhard’s collegial and collaborative work was his involvement in the Jainpedia project led by the Institute of Jainology in the early 2000s, which resulted in the digitisation of a substantial number of the Library’s Jain manuscripts, the publication of the Catalogue of the Jain manuscripts of the British Library (3 vols., 2006), and a display in the Treasures Gallery. Burkhard also played a major role in the online publishing of A Descriptive Catalogue of the Hodgson Collection in the British Library, London, which was launched in 2011. Most recent achievements include Burkhard's contribution to the AHRC-funded project Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Book Culture, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with the Mongolian Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) at Cambridge University, and the follow-up project Tibetan Book Evolution and Technology (2013-2015) funded by an Inter-European Marie Curie Fellowship.

Writing exercise in Tibetan, ca. 17th-19th c. Acquired by Aurel Stein 1913-1916 from the Etsin-gol delta, south of Soko-Nor. British Library, IOL Tib M 223

Burkhard was one of the curators who helped to shape a major exhibition on Buddhism which took place at the British Library from 25 October 2019 to 23 February 2020. As the curator responsible for Tibetan materials, he selected over a dozen objects of Tibetan origin from the Library's collection, carried out research and compiled exhibition labels. With his expertise and in-depth knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism he contributed to the development of a storyline for the exhibition and ensured that objects were handled and displayed with due respect. Shown below is a photograph of one of the exhibition cases with a Tibetan Thangka painting of Padmasambhava, founder of Samye monastery, mounted on the wall, with the caption written for the exhibition by Burkhard.

 

'Padmasambhava, the ‘Lotus-Born’, is one of the most popular teacher figures in Tibet. He was a master famous for his occult powers. When local demonic forces obstructed the foundation of the first Tibetan monastery in Samye in the 8th century, the king invited him from India to put the demons and deities of Tibet into the service of Buddhism. He is seated on a lotus at the centre of this painting with his two principal consorts on the left and right. Samye is still an active monastery and pilgrimage site in Tibet today. 

Thangka painting, India, 1788–1805. British Library, Add.Or.3048, from the collection of Sir Gore Ousely.'

[Exhibition caption by Burkhard Quessel, Buddhism exhibition, British Library, 2019.]

Burkhard knew the Tibetan collections in the British Library intimately, including where to find Tibetan manuscript material hidden in many different parts of the library. Presented below is Burkhard’s description of one such treasure, an account of Tibet by the Panchen Lama of 1775:

‘In 1774 George Bogle (1746-1781) was sent on a diplomatic mission to Tibet by the British Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings. During the five months he spent in Tashilhunpo at the court of the 3rd Panchen dPal Idan ye shes (1738-1780), he formed a strong relationship with the Panchen Lama or ‘Tashi Lama’ as he was referred to by the British.

Bogle records that during an audience with the Panchen Lama in January 1775, the Lama ‘told me that he would order his people to write down ever particular regarding the laws and customs of the country that I wished to know. I thanked him and told him that I would first give him an account of Europe which from the great curiosity and novelty of the subject would be agreeable to him’ (Mss Eur 226/49). Bogle’s account of Europe for the Tashi Lama was translated into Tibetan and presented to the Panchen on a later occasion.

A copy of the English draft is contained in Mss Eur 226/65 and was published in A. Lamb, Bhutan and Tibet, The Travels of George Bogle and Alexander Hamilton 1774-1777 (Hertingfordbury, 2002). Bogle’s journal mentions that the Lama also kept his promise and provided him with a similar written account on Tibet which is illustrated here. The section shown deals with the early royal history of Tibet.’

[Burkhard Quessel, ‘Account of Tibet by the Panchen Lama’, in: A Cabinet of Oriental Curiosities: an album for Graham Shaw from his colleagues, ed. Annabel Teh Gallop. London: British Library, 2006; no. 19.]

The early royal history of Tibet, from an account of Tibet by the Panchen Lama, written in Tibetan cursive script, presented to George Bogle, 1775. British Library, MSS Eur 226/66.

 

Burkhard Quessel, receiving a farewell gift from his colleagues on his retirement, 26 April 2024.

Contributed by colleagues in Asian and African Collections and Endangered Archives Programme

During the past few months we have all been struggling to maintain some kind of service as a result of last year’s cyber-attack, but our Loans Department, especially, has been working overtime to fulfil our exhibition commitments. A major landmark for us in Asian and African Collections was the opening on December 17th of Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

'Dining with the Sultan' at LACMA. Photo credit, Morgan Wadsworth-Boyle

Dining with the Sultan is the first exhibition to present Islamic art in the context of its associated culinary and gastronomic traditions and includes some 250 works of art related to the sourcing, preparation, serving, and consumption of food, from 30 public and private collections worldwide.

Asian and African Studies contributed altogether five manuscripts to the exhibition which date from the late 13th to the 16th centuries, representing culinary traditions from Ottoman Turkey across to Mughal India.

Ibn Butlan’s Almanac of Health

Title page of Ibn Butlan’s Taqwīm al-ṣiḥḥah (Almanac of Health). Syria or Iraq, dated Jumada II, 610 (Oct/Nov 1213). BL Or 1347, f. 1r. Public domain

Food and diet played an essential role in medieval Islam. Pharmacological treatises such as the Taqwīm al-ṣiḥḥah by Ibn Butlan (d.ca. 1068), a Christian physician and theologian of Baghdad, listed foods and drinks essential for a healthy life in addition to prescribing exercise and leisure activities. This elaborately decorated manuscript was a presentation copy for Saladin’s son, al-Malik al-Zahir (d. 1216), King of Aleppo. The title page shown here gives the title and author in the upper frame and the dedication to the patron in the lower frame.

Assemblies of al-Hariri 

Revellers drinking. Syria, 13th–14th century. BL Add Ms 22114, f. 30r. Public domain 

The Maqāmāt (Assemblies) of al-Hariri of Basra (1054-1122) are a collection of 50 tales describing the adventures of the fictional character Abu Zayd. This copy, from Syria, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century, and is illustrated with 84 vivid paintings depicting Abu Zayd on his travels. Here revellers are seen drinking in a tavern setting, entertained by musicians. In the background colourful ceramic storage jars are displayed alongside glass flasks, beakers and a bowl of fruit, giving some idea of how vessels such as these were used in 13th century Syria. 

A Baghdad Cookery Book 

The opening of Kitāb al-ṭabīkh (Book of Dishes) by Muhammad ibn al-Karim. Ottoman Turkey, 15th or 16th century. BL Or 5099, f. 2v. Public domain

The Kitāb al-ṭabīkh is a manual on cookery composed by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Karīm, known as the Scribe of Baghdad (al-Kātib al-Baghdādī) in 623/1226. The text contains 160 recipes organised into ten chapters, each concerned with different gastronomic and culinary categories such as sour, plain, fried and dry dishes, oven-cooked dishes, fish, pickles, puddings, sweets, and dough-based sweet dishes. This copy was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-46; 1451-81) and the fine illumination and calligraphy testify to its importance as a status symbol rather than a day-to-day manual.

Nizami’s Khamsah (Five Poems)

Two leaves repositioned as a frontispiece to Nizami’s Khamsah (Five poems) copied in Herat around 846/1442. BL Add Ms 25900, f. 4r (left) and Add Ms 25900, f. 3v (right). Public domain

The Khamsah of the 12th century poet Nizami remains one of the best-loved of Persian poetical works. These two paintings together form an illustrated frontispiece for a deluxe volume copied in Herat around 846/1442 but with paintings from several different sources added later. The left-hand side (f. 4r) shows preparations for a feast and probably dates from the 1490s. Cooking cauldrons are depicted alongside a gold pestle and mortar while above a sheep is being slaughtered. The right-hand illustration has been identified[1] as a misplaced folio from the story of Khusraw and Shirin showing an out of doors entertainment with wine served from Chinese porcelain and other flasks.

Courtly Feasting in the Sultanate of Malwa  

Sultan Ghiyas al-Din supervising female cooks. From the Niʻmatnāmah (Book of Delicacies). India Mandu, ca. 1490s-1500. BL IO Islamic 149 f. 115v. Public domain

Following the sack of Delhi by Timur in 1398, the province of Malwa, in present-day Madhya Pradesh, became an independent state under the Ghurid ruler Dilawar Khan. He was succeeded in 1436 by Mahmud Shah I, founder of the Khalji dynasty, with its capital city Mandu, renamed Shadiyabad (City of Joy). It was here that the Niʻmatnāmah (Book of Delicacies)[2] and also the multilingual dictionary Miftāḥ al-Fuz̤alā (Key of the Learned) were composed under the patronage of the colourful Ghiyas al-Din Shah (r. 1469–1500) who was reputed to have established a court consisting of 15,000 women who included teachers, musicians, and persons of all professions and trades. The illustration above accompanies recipes for halva and paluda (often called faluda). 

Roasting on a spit from the multi-lingual illustrated dictionary Miftāḥ al-fuz̤alā by Muhammad ibn Muhammad Daʼud Shadiyabadi. Mandu, ca. 1490. BL Or 3299, f. 218r. Public domain

Babur is entertained by his cousin Badiʻ al-Zaman at Herat 

A party at Badiʻ al-Zaman Mirza's. From the Persian translation of the Vaqiʻāt-i Bāburī, or Bāburnāmah, by the Mughal statesman Mirza ʻAbd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan (1556-1627). Artist, Tiriya. Lahore, ca. 1590-93. BL Or 3714, f. 260v. Public domain

The Mughal emperor Babur’s autobiography was written originally in Chagatai but was translated into Persian at the request of his grandson Akbar by ʻAbd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan. The British Library manuscript is one of four imperial copies. Completed between 1590 and 1594, it contains 143 illustrations, mostly by named artists, combining historical events with descriptions of the flora and fauna of India.  

The present scene describes a feast by invitation of Babur’s cousin Badiʻ al-Zaman. In agreement with the text, it illustrates the occasion when Babur was served up a whole roast goose and was at a complete loss as to what to do. When asked if he didn’t care for it, he explained that he had never carved such a creature before — so his host kindly did it for him! Although the painting describes a historical event which took place when Babur visited Herat in 1506-7, the details are set clearly in the time of Akbar almost 100 years later. 

Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting is open at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) until August 4, 2024 before travelling to the Detroit Institute of Arts where it will be on view from September 22, 2024 until January 5, 2025. A catalogue of the same title is available, edited by the exhibition curator Linda Komaroff with contributions from 22 experts. 

Ursula Sims-Williams, Lead Curator Persian, Asian and African Collections
CC-BY

Further reading

Linda Komarov, ed. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023).
al-Katib al-Baghdadi, Kitāb al-ṭabīkh, translated by Charles Perry, A Baghdad Cookery Book (Blackawton: Prospect Books, 2005).
Barbara Brend, Treasures of Herat: Two Manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library (London: Ginko, 2022).
Niʻmatnāmah, translated by Norah M. Titley, The Niʻmatnāma Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu: The Sultan’s Book of Delight (London and New York: Routledge, 2005)  
Vivek Gupta, “Images for Instruction: A Multilingual Illustrated Dictionary in Fifteenth-Century Sultanate India”, Muqarnas, 38 (2022), pp. 77-112.
Babur, Vaqiʻāt-i Baburī, translated, edited, and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston, The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor (Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art; New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

--------------

[1] Barbara Brend, Treasures of Herat, pp. 58-61.
[2] See also Ursula Sims-Williams, pp. 94-96 in the exhibition Catalogue.

The International Dunhuang Programme (IDP) has launched a new website, where you can view over 150,000 Central and Eastern Asian collection items and explore the history and cultures of the Silk Roads through new and expanded learning resources. The launch also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the IDP.

What is the IDP?

The IDP partnership was established in 1994 as the International Dunhuang Project, with the aim of improving access to materials from the Central and Eastern Silk Roads and promoting a better understanding of one of the world’s most important trade networks of the ancient world. With the Secretariat based here at the Library, the IDP was the first of its kind in this area of research.

What you can access

Over its 30 years, this pioneering international collaboration has made the metadata and images of over 35 collaborating institutions around the world accessible on a digital platform and database.

The Programme also promotes a more in-depth understanding of the Silk Roads through learning resources that explore relevant themes such as Buddhism along the Silk Roads, Chinese astronomy, and ancient bookbinding techniques. Watch a lecture on Mapping the Sky in Ancient China, discover the process of conserving and digitising fragile items or read about collection highlights on the blog.

IDP partner institutions also organise projects to preserve and increase access to these materials, such as the Lotus Sutra Manuscripts Digitisation Project and the ‘New Shelfmark’ Digitisation Project.

A composite photograph of Cave 16, with the entrance to Cave 17 in the right corner (image from Sir Aurel Stein’s Serindia). Photo 392/56(82). Public domain

The website’s newly improved image viewer, depicting the Diamond Sutra. Or.8210/P.2. Public domain

What’s new on the website 

Described as ‘big progress in the field of digital archiving’ (Digital Orientalist), the new IDP website has enhanced many features used by experienced researchers and the general public alike, making it a beacon for new standards in user access and interoperability.

We’re most excited about the new search engine which offers improved accuracy and relevance of keyword search results, as well as the choice between two image viewers, both with the ability to deep zoom into high quality images of collection items.

Read the IDPs latest blog post for a thorough overview of the key features that have been introduced.

But you don’t have to be an expert to learn about the Silk Roads. As well as the collection images themselves, anyone can explore and enjoy our new content, including recorded lectures, learning resources and articles on various topics, with more to be released in the months ahead.

What’s next?

Over the past two years, the IDP website team has worked closely with developers Surface Impression and Knowledge Integration, through the generous support of The Polonsky Foundation. We will continue to roll out new features and tools that support further research with these materials.

Please note that not all content is currently available online, and the IDP will continue to upload metadata, images, and learning modules in the coming months. You can follow the IDP’s account on X for updates as new resources become available.

Elspeth Williams and Anastasia Pineschi, International Dunhuang Programme
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