A large-letter lithographed Holy Qur’an, printed in Bombay in 1300 AH. Despite dating from the heyday of lithographic printing in India, when the Qur’an was produced on an industrial scale, it is an increasingly uncommon example of a large-letter edition, complete and in good condition.
Muslim Indians first printed the Qur’an in 1828/29 but the mass printing of the text in South Asia began in earnest in the 1840s with the use of lithography. Whereas typography could be an awkward vehicle for certain scripts, lithography “was particularly well suited to reproducing the cursive Perso-Arabic scripts and derived its cultural authority from its visual proximity to the manuscript” (Stark, p.152). Importantly, it was also a much cheaper technology, especially for combining multiple scripts and languages on the same printing surface. Its impact on the printed Qur’an in India was instant and resounding, with lithography producing the vast majority of early editions from 1835 onwards (cf. Stark, p.150).
By the time of the present edition, the printed Qur’an was a mass-produced book, with a range of editions and prices to suit an ever-increasing readership. Publishers and printers capitalised on this demand, but were also sensitive to its sanctity, and took measures to observe Islamic precepts in the production process, such as allocating the work to Muslim employees and burying (instead of destroying) old lithographic stones. (cf. Stark, p.159).
This Qur’an is one of the attractive large-letter editions which became popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. They were prized for their aesthetic appeal and were also a practical option for those with impaired vision. Though the first page is covered with later paper (as an amateur repair), the colophon on the final page names the calligrapher and publisher, and confirms the correctness, sanctity and authority of the text.
Stark, U., "Calligraphic Masterpiece, Mass-produced Scripture: Early Qur'an Printing in Colonial India" in Manuscript and Print in the Islamic Tradition, edited by Scott Reese (De Gruyter, 2022), pp.141-180.
