My favourite book on Arabic calligraphy! That is to say Arabic calligraphy (khatt) in its Ottoman form (hatt in modern Turkish, technical terms in the book being in their Turkish form). The calligraphy displayed is excellent, and the book is without the concentration on illumunation that one tends to find in earlier art-historical books on khatt; the genres of the texts vary from Qur'āns to album pages, with calligraphic models and fermans in there too; and the supporting text is superb, going in some detail through the training and equipment of calligraphers. Dates for the pieces range from c.1500 into the Republican period. That Turkish calligraphy still holds a major place in Arabic calligraphy may seem surprising, but my Arab tutors of khatt in Damascus and Abu Dhabi both praised contemorary Turkish calligraphers very highly. ( )