News
International Conference: “The Pen, the Page, the Book. Comparative Studies in Manuscript Cultures”
On the dates of October 20 and 21, an international congress will be
held about the culture of manuscripts, above all on the history of
Arabic books, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
October 13, 2022
MADRID
Organized by Nuria de Castilla (EPHE, PSL, Paris) and Michael Friedrich (CSMC, Hamburg), the international congress titled “The Pen, the Page, The Book. Comparative Studies in Manuscript Cultures,” paying tribute to Collège de France professor François Déroche, will be bringing together some fifteen international specialists to discuss the following topics: “Early Islam and Qur’anic Manuscripts,” “Safavid and Ilkhanid World,” “Ottoman World,” “The Saadian Collection in the El Escorial Library,” and “Written Culture.”
As part of the conference, we will be presenting the work by François Déroche, Nuria de Castilla and Lbachir Tahali, Les livres du sultan. Matériaux pour une histoire du livre et de la vie intellectuelle du Maroc (Peeters/AIBL, 2022). This two-volume book has resulted from the European project ERC SICLE (Saadian Intellectual and Cultural Life). It provides an overview of the history of the Arabic manuscript collection kept at the Monastery of El Escorial Library, which mainly consists of the library that belonged to the Sultan of Morocco, Muley Zaydan, in the early seventeenth century. The work also studies the set of manuscripts in the collection, presented from different points of view.
The congress will be ending with a concert by the World Champs Quartet: Lorenzo Solano (flute-saxophone), Carlos González (piano), Fran Molina (guitar and vocals) and Fernando Alandes (drums).
The event will be held on the dates of October 20 and 21 in San Lorenzo del Escorial. In order to attend you must register in advance by sending an email message to nuria.decastilla@ephe.psl.eu
Event schedule