Exhibits from the Near East Collection at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library & Yale University Library

Exhibit "Islamic Book and Bookbinding"

Stamped leather binding
(1472 A.D. / 876 A.H.)

A treatise on the qualifications of Muslim judges.
Naskhi script.

All patterns on this binding have been created using stamps. The painstaking method of handtooling began to disappear in the 15th century, as larger and more elaborate stamps became common. The six-pointed star had no particular association with Judaism and was a common motif in Islamic art.

Beinecke; Arabic ms. 13