Kazan Qur'an.

an early and scarce example of the Kazan Qur'an - the first to be printed by Muslims

One of the cornerstones of Islamic and Tatar publishing.

The 'Asian Printing House' was founded in Kazan in 1800 and became the first Muslim publisher in the world to print Islamic texts. A Qur'an had previously been published in St Petersburg in Arabic in 1787 by Catherine the Great but Paul I decreed that the fonts and printing equipment would be transported from the capital to Kazan. In Kazan it came under the stewardship of Gabdulgaziz Burashev who took on the cost himself and the proofreader and typesetter travelled along with the equipment. The printing house was initially housed in the city's lycée but then moved to the university in 1829. The press was the only in the Russian Empire permitted to publish Islamic material.

The Kazan Qur'an or the 'Kazan Basma' as it is also known was disseminated throughout the Muslim population of the Empire but remained incredibly scarce both in the Middle East and in Europe. Throughout Persia and the Ottoman Empire manuscript copies were widespread and printed editions had appeared in Western Europe but the Kazan Qur'an remains a rare piece of the history in the printing of the Qur'an. The first edition appeared in 1803 this fine example was published in 1821, according to the colophon under patronage of Yusef Ismail Oglu. Kazan Qur'ans are extremely scarce on the market but this example is particularly early and of exceptional quality.

4to (21.2 x 17 cm); type-printed text in Arabic naskh script, eleven lines per page, vignettes to title page, printed on both blue and white paper stocks, marbled endpapers, 764pp.; 19th century half dark blue calf over blue cloth, spine gilt ruled with raised bands, red morocco label to second part with 'Alcoranus Arabice' in gilt, top and tail of spine and corners rubbed and bumped, a very good copy.