Seventeen internationally renowned antiquarians from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the US showcased their unique collections of antique books, drawings, manuscripts and signatures at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair in March 2010.

The spotlight was on a prototype of a reproduction of Sultan Baybars’ Quran, whose original manuscript was lavishly written in gold and first published in 1304 in Cairo. The original manuscript is currently part of the British Library’s collection. Each of its seven volumes is written in gold, and has a superb frontispiece combining intricate geometric patterns with ornamental script.

“We had a fantastic experience last year, with so many visitors coming in and out of the exhibition stands that we decided to come back this year bringing with us a bigger number of Arabic manuscripts, which was highly requested by our guests last year,” said Detlef Thursch of abooks.de, the organisers of the Antiquarian Book Fair at the ADIBF.

Click on the link to download the 2010 Antiquarian Book Fair Catalogue.

Click on the link to download the 2009 Antiquarian Book Fair Catalogue.

For more details about the Antiquarian Book Fair please click here.