In 1566, Queen Elizabeth I visited Oxford for the first time. She toured the colleges, gave lectures, and attended a play in her honor at Christ Church. She was presented with a companion—a handbook made specifically for her and now fully reproduced as Queen Elizabeth's Book of Oxford.

 

Newly translated, the book's Latin verse is written in a conversational tone as a lively discussion between the revered Queen and a knowledgeable guide. The volume also includes exquisite pen-and-ink drawings of Oxford's most famous buildings and an illuminating introduction by Louise Durning that places the text in its proper historical context. As Durning relates, Queen Elizabeth's Book of Oxford served several purposes, the most important of which was Oxford's interest in the Queen's potential patronage of a new college. Although Elizabeth never honored the request, she was eventually honored as the "founder" of Jesus College.

 

Queen Elizabeth's Book of Oxford offers a glimpse into the process of patronage during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It will be treasured by scholars of Elizabethan history as well as by anyone interested in the historical development of universities around the world.

With Qur'ans: Books of Divine Encounter, Keith E. Small has written a rich visual history of the Qur'an focused on more than fifty manuscripts in the collection of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. One of the oldest and finest collections of Qur'an in the English-speaking world, it includes treasures from parchment pages from Islam’s earliest centuries to a highly adorned copy of the Qur'an that once belonged to Tipu Sultan, the eighteenth-century ruler of the Islamic Kingdom of Mysore. Beginning with a brief introduction, Small takes readers through the Qur'an’s origins. The book then follows the development of the Qur'an chronologically and geographically, treating in each chapter the themes of textual development, divine presence, and political and religious identity. A wealth of full-color illustrations facilitates an examination of the artistic legacy of the Qur'an, including the beautiful calligraphy that became the foundation of Islamic visual culture for centuries to come.

A lavishly illustrated historical overview,Qur'ans: Books of Divine Encounter brings together in one volume a magnificent range of Qur'ans, bearing singular insight into these beautiful and significant sacred texts.