The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands: A Social and Cultural History of Reading Practices

Explores the history of reading in the high and late medieval period in the Middle East. The Middle East was home to one of the most literate civilizations during the high and late medieval period, boasting bustling book markets, voluminous libraries and sophisticated book production. After the ‘paper revolution’ of the 9th and 10th centuries the number of books increased dramatically. The written word played an increasingly prominent role and reading was taken up by wider sections of the population. This much-needed overview of the history of reading places the emphasis on the combination of cultural and social history and provides a depth of historical insight to the gradual development of reading practices over the centuries. On the basis of documentary sources and medieval illustrations the book shows the ways in which new groups in the Arabic speaking lands, especially craftsmen and traders, started to read and to participate in the written culture between the 12th and the 15th centuries. As a result the late and high medieval periods of Middle Eastern history are finally brought into the burgeoning field of the history of reading. Key Features: *Offers a detailed and wide-ranging analysis of reading in the period *Explores the key themes of literacy, orality and aurality *Considers the teaching of reading skills in schools *Examines the accessibility and profile of libraries *Looks at popular reading practices, often associated with the notion of the illicit.