TY - BOOK ID - 78707886 TI - The rise of the Arabic book PY - 2020 SN - 9780674987814 0674987810 PB - Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press DB - UniCat KW - Manuscripts. Epigraphy. Paleography KW - History of civilization KW - History of Asia KW - History of Africa KW - anno 800-1199 KW - anno 1200-1499 KW - Arab states KW - #breakthecanon UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78707886 AB - During the thirteenth century, Europe's largest library owned fewer than 2,000 volumes. Libraries in the Arab world at the time had exponentially larger collections. Five libraries in Baghdad alone held between 200,000 and 1,000,000 books each, including multiple copies of standard works so that their many patrons could enjoy simultaneous access. How did the Arabic codex become so popular during the Middle Ages, even as the well-established form languished in Europe? Beatrice Gruendler's The Rise of the Arabic Book answers this question through in-depth stories of bookmakers and book collectors, stationers and librarians, scholars and poets of the ninth century. The history of the book has been written with an outsize focus on Europe. The role books played in shaping the great literary cultures of the world beyond the West has been less known-until now. An internationally renowned expert in classical Arabic literature, Gruendler corrects this oversight and takes us into the rich literary milieu of early Arabic letters. ER -