Love & Devotion: From Persia and Beyond

A new book from the Bodleian Library illuminates the evocative world conjured up by seven centuries of Persian illustrated manuscripts.

Love & Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, cover / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

These magnificently illustrated works come from one of the richest periods in the history of the book. Presenting full-page reproductions of more than 130 folios, including some of the finest examples of surviving Persian illustrated manuscripts, Love & Devotion features works from the collections of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, and from the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Many are reproduced here for the first time.

A landmark volume, Love & Devotion brings together the brightest minds working in this area to discuss the literature and art of these stunning texts. Edited by Susan Scollay â€“ art historian and specialist in Islamic culture â€“ the book presents fourteen essays, written for a general audience, by leading specialists in literature, art history and philosophy. In addition, there are useful appendices containing biographies of major Persian poets and writers, sketches of major characters and summaries of main stories.

Love & Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, a spread from the book / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

In courtly settings, versified epics and lyrical couplets were made into illustrated manuscripts for elite patrons in the eastern Islamic world, for whom poetry was a key component of cultural life from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Timeless tales, such as the magisterial Shahnama, and the masterful words of poets such as Sa`di, `Attar, Hafiz and Rumi were embraced not only in Iran but also in the neighbouring Mughal and Ottoman empires. Echoes of these captivating stories can be found in European literature from the time of Dante and Shakespeare up to the present day.

Love & Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, a spread from the book / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

This volume is published to coincide with landmark exhibitions in Melbourne and Oxford. The accompanying exhibition at the Bodleian Library features more than sixty visually stunning Persian manuscripts from the libraryâ€™s collection, including rare examples of thirteenth- to eighteenth-century Persian, Mughal Indian and Ottoman Turkish illustrated manuscripts.

Love & Devotion offers a fascinating insight into the great artistic and literary culture of Persia, and will appeal to both specialist and general readers.

Love & Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, a spread from the book / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Bodleian Library Publishing has a diverse list of general interest and scholarly books on a wide range of subjects drawn from or related to the Library's rich collections of manuscripts, rare books, maps, postcards and other printed ephemera.

Founded in 1602, the Bodleian Library is home to over 9 million volumes and a large number of manuscripts and rare printed books. It is the largest university library in Britain and the second largest library in the UK. It is one of some thirty libraries of Oxford University within the Bodleian Libraries group. More information about the Bodleian Library and its activities can be found here.

Susan Scollay is an art historian specializing in the Islamic world. She is guest co-curator of the Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond exhibition. Contributors include: Susan Scollay, Barbara Brend, Firuza Abdullaeva, Eleanor Sims, SÃ¼leyman Derin, Rafal Stepien, LÃ¢le UluÃ§, Stefano Carboni, Andrew Topsfield, Danijela Kambaskovic-Sawers, Nicholas Perkins, Clare Williamson, Seyed Mohammad Torabi.

The Love & Devotion exhibition will be in Oxford at the Bodleian Library until 28 April 2013, free entry.