Qur'an, Koran

Per Joel Gordon, Dept. of History, UIUC, 1997 "This item is currently in the Rare Book Room. It is, as listed, a hand-copied text (copied, according to a note on the final page, by one Muhammad 'Akif, not "Aktf" as listed). I see no evidence for either the 18th century or Ottoman listing. The leather cover and paper pages are bug-eaten, particularly the latter pages; the binding is weak at best. The first two pages (pl is Fathiha/Opening) have some ornamentation, primarily blue/red inked orders with some rudimentary floral motif at the top. The remaining pages are bordered only in gold; gold dots mark verse (aya) endings and colored rosettes mark standard clusters of verse (as in the other sheets in the collection). The beginnings of suras are marked by a gold band; sura titles do not appear, but occasionally it appreas some spill-over text has been written in the bands. The penmanship is not marked by any stylistic flourish. "