A journey to search my soul

This is a blog of my personal collections. The purpose of this blog is to educate myself and public in regards to antiquities especially related to religion and calligraphy. I welcome everyone to input their feedback in this blog which they think would be helpful. I do not watermark the photos in this blog so everyone is free to use them as long as they are not used for illegal and unethical reasons. I appreciate if you could notify me if you plan to use any of the photos here. Enjoy browsing!!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Ancient Manuscript Review 25 : Antique Lithographed Malay Quran ( 1286 AH)





This is a very rare lithographed Quran from south east asia. So far this is one of two known complete Qurans lithiographed in Singapore in year 1869 CE by Terengganu scribe.

Lithography is a process in which the actual handwritten script is transferred to a paper. The Quran lithography was used initially in Calcutta in 1854, in Cairo in 1864 and in Constantinople in 1872. However the first Quran lithographed in south east asia was done in Palembang in 1848 CE.

From the article “ The spirit of Langkasuka? Illuminated manuscripts from the east coast of the Malay Peninsula” written by Dr. Annabel Teh Gallop ( The British Library), she stated that there are only 6 copies of known lithographed Quran which has Terengganu (East Coast Malaysia) influence which were published in Singapore with the earliest one dated 20 Rabiulawal 1287 AH ( 20 June 1870 CE).

I have contacted Dr Annabel from the British Library and she has confirmed that the lithographed Quran in my possession is so far one of earliest known copies  from Terengganu copyist lithographed in Singapore. The other similar copy is located in Singapore National Library. See below link to see the gallery.
Singapore Quran in National Library

With this discovery, this Quran was recorded in Dr. Ian Proudfoot’s article titled “Early Malay Printed Books”.

There is a colophone at the end of the Quran stated it was lithographed on 13 Rajab 1286 AH (1869CE) by Tengku Yusof Bin Al marhum Tengku Ibrahim of Terengganu.


Manuscript Specs

Item : A Lithogrpahed Malay Quran
Content : A complete Quran
Dim : 13" x 8" x 2.5"
Date : 13 Rajab 1286 AH ( 1869 CE)
Copyist : Tengku Yusof Bin Al Marhum Tengku Ibrahim
Origin : Singapore
Calligraphy : Nasqh
Design : Text written in Nasqh script on thick inlaid paper with vowel & diacritical signs in black. 15 lines per page.
Purchased Price :USD

1 comment:

  1. Dear Pak Abu Dervish, perkenalkan, saya Ali Akbar (quran-nusantara.blogspot.com). Saat ini saya tengah mengkaji Qur'an cetakan Singapore dari berbagai koleksi. Bolehkah saya bertanya beberapa hal tentang koleksi Tuan?:
    1. Berapa dimensi (ukuran) Qur'an dalam centimeter?
    2. Apa watermark dan countermark-nya?
    3. Apakah di bagian awal dan akhir Qur'an memuat teks-teks tambahan berupa ilmu tajwid, daftar surah, dll?
    4. Asal usul Qur'an Tuan itu dari mana? Dari mana dulu membelinya (jika dibeli)? Dan penjualnya sendiri dahulu dari mana memperolehnya?
    5. Apakah di Surah al-Kahf kata "walyatalattaf" ditulis tebal? Mohon jika mungkin minta fotonya.
    Terima kasih atas perhatian Tuan.
    Wassalam,
    Ali Akbar

    ReplyDelete