Middle Eastern Special Collections A Temporarily Lost Persian Epic Lost and found: a rare illustrated edition of the Persian Book of Kings surfaced again, thanks to a trainee in the conservation department. Arnoud Vrolijk • 30-05-2013
Middle Eastern Special Collections Noah's Ark in a Christian Arabic Manuscript The story of Noah's Ark from the Bible is retold in this Arabic manuscript from the early nineteenth century Arnoud Vrolijk • 23-11-2012
Middle Eastern Special Collections The Quran of an 'Achehnese Priest Killed in Action' In March 1873 the Dutch colonial army stormed the Great Mosque of Kota Radja (Banda Aceh) and took this richly illuminated Quran as spoils. Arnoud Vrolijk • 01-06-2012
Middle Eastern Special Collections A sheer endless peregrination: a Greek Orthodox creed printed in Amsterdam Orthódoxos Homología tēs katholikēs kai apostolikēs Ekklēsías tēs anatolikēs Arnoud Vrolijk • 16-12-2011
Middle Eastern Special Collections The Quran explained to Turkish readers Old Anatolian Turkish translation from the 16th century as a source for linguistic research. Arnoud Vrolijk • 04-04-2011
Middle Eastern Special Collections Greek Learning in the Arab world. The Materia Medica of Dioscorides In the ninth century the language of culture in the Middle East was no longer Greek but Arabic. In Baghdad, a certain Stephanus translated the Materia Medica into Arabic. Arnoud Vrolijk • 05-11-2010
Middle Eastern Special Collections The Jerusalem Talmud: a gem from the Leiden Hebrew collections The Talmud is the great repository of the Jewish rabbinic tradition. The only surviving manuscripts that Daniel Bomberg used for the editio princeps (Venice 1523-1524) are kept in Leiden. Arnoud Vrolijk • 26-02-2010
Middle Eastern Special Collections André du Ryer, L’Alcoran de Mahomet (Amsterdam, 1734) The less neurotic approach to Islam in the Age of Enlightenment is reflected in the title page illustration of Du Ryer's Quran translation published by Pierre Mortier. Arnoud Vrolijk • 13-01-2010
Middle Eastern Special Collections Tales from the Arab tribes, C.G. Campbell Out of interest, but possibly also to kill the time, a British army officer in Iraq set down the folktales of the local Shia tribes. Arnoud Vrolijk • 24-12-2009
