bookporn #23: qur’ans at the V&A, london

I am fond of Qur’ans: those wondrous word-of-god recitations so conscious of themselves as books, so much so that amongst its many beautiful names — al-Qur’an (Recitation), al-Furqan (Discernment), Dhikrallah (Remembrance of God), al-Hikmah and al-Huda (the Wisdom and the Guide), and the one to be intoned sonorously, Kalamallah, word of God — it is known also by its most unadorned title: al-Kitab (The Book), or even Umm al-Kitab (the Archetype Book). Hence fondness. With such beautiful names, it is only fitting that many Qur’ans — the older, preserved ones at least — are almost uncompromisingly magnificent — for how else can the Archetypal Book be but unspeakably splendid? And so time spent ogling them in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London is always time well-spent –

especially when one comes across irrefutable proof that Size Does, In Fact, Matter. obviously, book = good, big book = better.

(you may get some sense of the size of the book by comparing with my reflection on the glass to the left — click to enlarge).

hothothot! All previous disclaimers vis-a-vis the inappropriateness of associating Holy Books with Unholy Lechery apply.