Islamic Art

Islamic Art Publications, 2022

Looking back at recent publications, with a close look at the offerings from Gingko

Treasures of Herat, by Barbara Brend. Hardback, 240 x 290 mm, 240 pp, 137 illustrations. ISBN: 9781909942547 | Image courtesy of Gingko

Founded with the intention to inform and educate the interested public and work with scholars of diverse backgrounds and research interests to increase crucial understanding of the Middle East, West Asia and North Africa through conferences, publications, public events and cultural programmes, Gingko has a history of presenting interesting titles. Following on from the publication of Alain George’s Umayyad Mosque of Damascus at the end of 2021, Gingko has continued to publish fantastic Islamic Art history books under the superb editorial guidance of Melanie Gibson.

At 240 pages, Barbara Brend’s Treasures of Herat (ISBN: 9781909942547) delivers a comprehensive dive into two manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library (Or.6810 and Add.25900). In the book, Brend examines these exquisite Persian manuscripts, both of which are copies of the Khamsah (Quintet) – a set of five poems by the twelfth-century poet Nizami, one of the most renowned authors of Persian literature. The poems include the love story of the pre-Islamic king Khusrau with Shirin, a queen of Armenia, as well as the ill-fated love of Layla and Majnun.