An Urdu lithograph-printed tafasir

Khan, Muhammad Qutb al-Din / Muhammad 'Abd al-Qadir. Jami' al-Tafasir [Qur'an and Commentary].

€ 3,500.00

A large Urdu lithograph-printed commentary on the Qur'an, mimicking the manuscript tradition of the Islamic 'tafasir', or Qur'an commentary. The Arabic text is presented in the largest and finest lettering, with interlinear Urdu and Persian translations, and the Urdu commentary itself printed entirely in the margins. This work is quite scarce, with only one copy listed in institutions on OCLC.

The book is printed in a large, fine format, with an elaborate lithographed title-page, and two floral-bordered opening 'unwan decorations to the opening pages. Like the overall format of the work, this imitates the much older manuscript tradition, a specialty of Urdu lithographic printing. While not as swift as typesetting, lithographs copied handwritten text, allowing for the beautiful calligraphy expected of a Qur'an.