Coran ottoman [القرآن الكريم]

Complete illuminated Ottoman Qur'an manuscript, 1889, 8° (13,2x18,8cm), 612 p., bound.

Complete Ottoman manuscript of the Qur'an, 612 pages written on parchment paper in black, margins ruled in black and red (8,1x13,2cm) enhanced in gilt, text entirely in naskh script on 15 lines per page with gilt and polychrome florets between verses, flanked by large illuminated floral motifs in the margins of certain leaves, finely gilt sura headings.
Customary for Qur'ans, this copy opens with an elaborately and finely hand-illuminated double-page frontispiece in gilt and deep blue. The rest of the lithographed text is hand colored in gilt and red.
The colophon indicates the copy as the work of Mustafa Nazif Kadırgalı Efendi dated 1889.
Superb Islamic full brown roan binding with a flap (mikleb), elaborately stamped in gilt with geometric motifs and an elaborate central radiant design, gilt flap spine with a palmette frieze, some leather missing to corners and rubbed edges. 2 browned pages, some foxing and soiling to margins.
Between traditional manuscript Qur'ans and printed Qur'ans, there was a brief period when lithography was used to finely imitate handwriting. In 1866, Osman Zeki Bey, an Ottoman calligrapher, opened his Matbaa-i-Osmaniye printing house in Istanbul, becoming the first publisher authorized to print Qur'ans.
A very fine copy of this Ottoman Qur'an produced at the end of the 19th century, the result of a fruitful collaboration between print and calligraphy.