Where manuscripts die and printed books are born: Liminal spaces in Middle Eastern manuscript libraries

Most Arabic manuscripts that have been produced over the last 1,400 years have perished. Apart from those lost to fires, floods, and wars, most died quiet deaths in manuscript libraries.

In this lecture, Ahmed El Shamsy (University of Chicago) explores what happened to old Arabic manuscripts in premodern manuscript libraries. He discusses the storage and recycling of manuscript fragments and traces the rebirth that some of them experienced in new manuscripts and printed books.

The event will be moderated by Eirik Hovden (UiB).