BPG Western African Books and Manuscripts

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Book and Paper Group Wiki > Book Conservation Wiki > Western African Books and Manuscripts

This page covers the structure and conservation of Western African books and manuscripts. See also: Islamic Binding. For information on other binding traditions, see Bookbinding Traditions by Region or Culture.

Wiki Compilers: Mary Minicka, Kelli Piotrowski
Wiki Contributors: Katherine Kelly, please add your name here

Copyright 2024. The AIC Wiki is a publication of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). It is published as a convenience for the members of AIC. Publication does not endorse nor recommend any treatments, methods, or techniques described herein. Information on researching with and citing the wiki can be found on the Reference and Bibliography Protocols page.

Cite this page:

American Institute for Conservation (AIC). "BPG Western African Books and Manuscripts." AIC Wiki. December 21, 2024. https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/BPG_Western_African_Books_and_Manuscripts.

Bibliography

Biddle, Michaelle. 2010. "Conservation of Nigerian Manuscripts in Arabic Script: A Primer of Basic Paper Conservation Procedures and Treatments." Unpublished manuscript. Available at http://works.bepress.com/mbiddle/4. Accessed March 1, 2019.

Describes basic treatment approaches for cleaning, mending, and rehousing paper-based materials. Includes specific recommendations for materials and techniques suitable for West African environmental conditions and the types of media encountered in Nigerian manuscripts of this type.

Biddle, Michaelle. 2011. "Inks in the Islamic Manuscripts of Northern Nigeria Old Recipes, Modern Analysis and Medicine." Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 2 (1): 1-35.

Biddle, Michaelle. 2012. "Recent Preservation and Conservation Activities for Northern Nigerian Manuscripts in Arabic Script." Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 3 (2): 211-229. DOI:10.1163/1878464x-12341234

Biddle, Michaelle. 2017. “New Strategies in Using Watermarks to Date Sub-Saharan Islamic Manuscripts.” In The Arts and Crafts of Literacy, edited by Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 27-68.

Brockett, Adrian. 1987. “Aspects of the Physical Transmission of the Qur’an in 19th-Century Sudan: Script, Decoration, Binding, and Paper.” Manuscripts of the Middle East 2. 45-67. Accessed April 27, 2022.

Hassan, Salah M. 1992. Art and Islamic Literacy Among the Hausa of Northern Nigeria. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

Johnson, Kitty. 2010. “An Amuletic Manuscript: Baraka and Nyama in a Sub-Saharan African Prayer Manual.” In The Islamic Manuscript Tradition: Ten Centuries of Book Arts in Indiana University Collections, edited by Christiane Gruber. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 250-272.

Krätli, Graziano. 2004. “The Book and the Sand: Restoring and Preserving the Ancient Desert Libraries of Mauritania—Part 1.” World Libraries 14(1) : 21–44.

Krätli, Graziano and Ghislaine Lydon. 2011. The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Mutai, Maimadu Barma and Andrea Brigaglia. 2017. “Kaʾana Umar’s ‘CCI Quran’: The Making of a Bornuan Manuscript in the Twenty-First Century.” In The Arts and Crafts of Literacy, edited by Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. 331–52.

Nobili, Mauro. 2012/2013. “Manuscript Culture of West Africa.” Manuscript cultures, Hamburg: Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, 5: 42-51. Accessed April 27, 2022.

Nobili, Mauro. 2011. “Arabic Scripts in West African Manuscripts: A Tentative Classification from the de Gironcourt Collection.” Islamic Africa, 2(1) (Spring 2011), 105-133.

Jeppie, Shamil and Souleymane Bachir Diagne, eds. 2008. The Meanings of Timbuktu. Cape Town: HSRC Press in association with CODESRIA.

Simpson, Marianna Shreve. 2004. “Expanding Boundaries: A Manuscript of the Qur’an from Sub-Saharan Africa (W. 853).” The Journal of the Walters Art Museum, 62: 237-239. Accessed April 27, 2022.

History of This Page

This page was created in April 2022 from content previously found on the Bookbinding Traditions by Region or Culture page under the heading "West African".