Bills, Letters and Deeds: Arabic Papyri of the 7th-11th Centuries

An examination of the Nasser Khalili Collection of Islamic art, which catalogues specifically the 250 Arabic documents written in papyrus which are owned by the Collection. The entries are catalogued according to whether they are legal documents, letters or accounts. The Khalili Collection is the greatest collection of Islamic art in private hands. This volume catalogues approximately 250 Arabic documents written on papyrus and owned by the Collection. The entries are catalogued according to the type of document: firstly accounts, secondly legal documents, and thirdly letters. Most of the documents date from the 8th or 9th centuries AD. A large number of the papyri came from Fustat, the old Arab capital of Egypt. Nearly all published Arabic papyri came from southern Egypt. The Khalili Collection contains the first Arabic document that has been discovered to have been written in northern Iraq.