Paper & the Islamic Book

Jonathan M. Bloom
February 11, 2012
7:00pm
Scripps College Humanities Auditorium

Jonathan Bloom will show how paper, which had been invented in China in the centuries before Christ, quickly replaced parchment and papyrus as the favored writing material in the Islamic lands after the Muslims conquered Central Asia in the 8th century. The lecture shows not only how paper transformed Muslim culture but also how Muslims introduced paper into Europe from the 11th century.

Jonathan M. Bloom shares the Norma Jean Calderwood University Professorship of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College and the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University with his wife, Sheila Blair. He is the author, co-author, or editor of many books and hundreds of articles on all aspects of Islamic art and architecture, including the prize-winning Paper Before Print: the History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World (Yale University Press).

Please note that Frederic W. Goudy Lectures are free and open to the public.