The bookseller from Gaza

 Sharjah, November 9 

Books maybe destroyed but cannot be erased from memory, says Palestinian publisher at SIBF 21

A recipient of royal philanthropy, Samir Mansour has rebuilt his publishing business and is attending the book fair for the first time.

Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, Palestinian publisher SamirMansour and his publishing house – the Samir Mansour Library - is at the Sharjah International Book Fair with a stall despitesuffering a colossal loss six months back. His bookshop in Gaza, Palestine, had been destroyed in an airstrike in May 2021. Book lovers from around the world then got together to help replace the 100,000 books that had been lost through donations in cash and books. 

The most notable donation came from HH Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA) and a leading champion of books and publishing in the Arab region. Sheikha Bodour, who is also theFounder and CEO of the UAE-based Kalimat Group (KG), had announced in August that the entire sales proceeds of her latest children’s book ‘World Book Capital’ will go to restock Mansour’s bookstore.

Her contributions have helped revive the bookstore, and its resilient owner cannot find enough words to thank SheikhaBodour for her generosity and kindness. “Her Highness paid attention to my tragedy and helped me when many didn’t. Nobody does that anymore. This shows that she promotes, protects and cares for culture.” 

He was also all praise for the SIBF, and its flawless and grand execution. “Regardless of the selling and buying of books, the event itself is so wonderful with different activities and cultural programmes for 11 days,” he emphasised. “This is my first time in Sharjah, in the UAE and at the SIBF. I am so happy to be here.”

Airstrikes, siege and restrictions in movement are a part of his life. “Even if it happens again, we will rebuild from the start.Nothing can stop us from starting all over again,” he revealed the indomitable Palestinian spirit.

He also has two branches of the bookstore in Gaza city but when the tower housing the main office in Gaza was razed, 70% of his business was gone. But he started republishing and reprinting the very next day to maintain the archives. “The publishing house is my whole life, and I have many employees I consider my family. So I have to go on. No force can destroy culture,especially Palestinian culture and struggle,” he stated. “Even if culture as documented in books is destroyed, it cannot be erased from memory. So it will be easy to reproduce it.” 

Mansour’s collection is predominantly in printed, physical format. He has just started to work with e-books, and now has a website for the publishing house. “It is just a beginning. If someone in the U.S. wants a book, he can download it for a fee. Personally, I feel printed books are more important.”

For the time being, he has no solid plans for audio books either. “But I have nothing against it. Anything that will benefit readers, I don’t mind doing especially if they cannot obtainprinted copies.”

His clientele includes all age groups and all segments – students, research scholars, children and the general reading public. To serve his people better, he is planning to open a cultural centre – to be called the Samir Mansour Cultural Centre – in Gaza.

After experiencing the Sharjah book fair, he wants to open ashop branch in Sharjah. “I feel it is important I have something here.”

A father of 11 children, Mansour is in Sharjah with his wife and oldest son, pursuing business administration back home. 

Don’t forget to look up K11 booth at SIBF.

Rare books seller

 Sharjah, November 8, 2021

The first edition of Marracci’s Quran from 1698

The exquisite work has Arabic text with Latin translations and commentary, which played a great role in spreading Islam in Europe.

One of the most striking and classy pavilions at SIBF 2021 is Peter Harrington, seller of rare books, manuscripts, and works on paper. The displays set in glass cases include an 1874 map of Oman and the UAE created by British officer E.C. Ross working in Muscat; one page from Johann Gutenberg’s Bible, the first printed book in the West; and 17th century folios of playwright William Shakespeare.

A good part of the Peter Harrington collection at SIBF is of interest to the Islamic world, the most invaluable among them being a 400-year-old copy of the Quran priced at £10,500. The firm’s sales director Ben Houston carefully unearths it from a cabinet and places it on a cushion for inspection. 

The book, which is two volumes in one, has dimensions of 34.6 x 22.5 cm. The cover is in contemporary vellum and thecompartments are lettered in gilt. 

This book presented by Peter Harrington is a first edition of Marracci’s Quran, from 1698. Ludovico Marracci was an Italian priest and a professor of Arabic, hence the holy book has Arabic text on one side and its Latin translation to the right, and a commentary or analysis of each surah. 

The book is not the oldest Quran in the West – there are others that exist. While earlier translations of the Quran in the West exist, they are now virtually unobtainable. Marracci’s edition is “the second obtainable printed edition of the Quran” in the original Arabic and the first accurate and complete Latin translation and commentary. Unlike the 12th-century Latin translation of Robert of Ketton, Marracci did not rearrange the Quranic verses or render free translations of them.

Called “the greatest pre-modern European work of Quranicscholarship” by historian Thomas E. Burman, Marracci’s bookwas hugely significant in spreading knowledge of Islam to the vast numbers of European readers who could not read Arabic. A cache of manuscripts unearthed in the library of Marracci’sorder in 2012 has since verified his claim to have translated the Quran four times before committing it to print. 

“It is the first full translation of the Quran into Latin, and that’s why it is so important,” emphasised Houston. “When it was printed and published, it spread the complete Quran through Europe. Before that, there were only manuscripts. There was a first Arabic printing of the Quran which exists only in one copy in a monastery. This is the second obtainable one with Arabic and Latin.” 

First editions and early printed material are part of the Peter Harrington collection. “We have two shops in London. Once a year we travel to the Sharjah and Abu Dhabi fairs to present our books for sale to private collectors, museums and institutions in the region. We don’t do any facsimiles,” Houston added.

The first illustrated account of Petra in Jordan is also available for sale and is priced at £19500.

Polish stall

 November 3, 2021

A Polish stall with four rare manuscripts for collectors at SIBF 2021

A seemingly small and non-descript stall at SIBF2021 catches one’s attention on account of the gilded books on display. One casual glance tells you they are manuscripts of some very ancient and unique books in history.  These are “The Big Four – the four most important, most unique, most expensive and most mysterious manuscripts in the world,” limited editions that are published as scientific, artistic copies by luxury publishing house Manuscriptum.

The stall is manned by Polish publisher Artur Sobolewski and his son Tomas, who have been in this business for seven years. Their clients have included members of the UAE royal families and other GCC countries. Three years ago, he met HH Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, who bought copies of the manuscript on Arabian culture. 

Although this is the first time he is at Sharjah and the SIBF, he has been to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Riyadh and Damam to publicise the manuscripts, which are very unique copies a layperson cannot buy or even see.

In their portfolio, one finds the most expensive book in human history – Leanardo Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, the original of which was bought 26 years ago by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for $32 million. Its current price is 52 million dollars. 

Then there is the most mysterious book in the world – Voynich Manusciprt by an unknown author. “We are preparing scientist’s copy on a one-to-one basis. Our clients are people who want to invest money in very limited editions,” Sobolewski says. “If there is a hole or tear, we make it the same way. This is made on special paper called pergamenata, and sounds like parchment.”

For the Arabian world, the most valuable is Rzewuski’s Manuscript, “the most important European book on Arabian culture 200 yrs ago”. Written in the beginning of the 19th centuryin French, the language of the nobles then, this book is about horses and the Arabian region of yore. It is a national treasure of Poland, and the original is underground in the safe of the National Library in Warsaw, Sobolewski notes. 

The Polish publisher explains that Rzewuski was a Polish Count who drew everything in the manuscript at a time such drawings of Muslim people and their horses were forbidden for laypeople. There is also avdrawing of the holy Kaaba in the Mecca.

The last and most interesting is a scientific book called De Revolutionibus by Nicolaus Copernicus, who proved that the earth is not the centre of the earth. 

“This is a copy that our company makes. It is very complicated to make the copy. If there are different types of paper used in the original, we have used the same in the print,” he said.

While Rzewuski costs 11000 euros, Voynich is priced at 3000 euros, Leonardo da Vinci 4000 euros and Copernicus 8000 euros.

The copies on display at SIBF are only two weeks old. The boxes used for packing are as exquisite as the books on display.

For more details, visit www.manuscriptum.eu

 

 

Women readers at SIBF

 Sharjah, November 6, 2021

Thrillers, romance and puzzles fascinate women readers at SIBF 2021

The love for the written word is not alien to women despite the addictive influence of social media and they patronise SIBF 2021 in large numbers.

Jana, an Egyptian student of pharmacy at the University of Sharjah, has just bought a book by Chinese American author Kevin Kwan – China Rich Girlfriend at the Sharjah International Book Fair. Her interest in the book – about the Chinese diaspora in the US - was kindled after watching its film adaptation.

“It is a kind of suspense with some scientific information. And Kwan is an amazing writer,” said the 21-year-old. “I don’t have any particular author favourite. Whatever story I like - those with a plot twist in the middle or the end - I read. They can be romance, fantasy, mystery.” 

Nigerian expatriates Omotolani Diana Hassan and her sister Aby have bought a copy of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s My Vision. A teacher at Woodlem Park School in Dubai, she would like to buy a coffee table book on the UAE from Motivate Media. 

“I always wanted to read this book by the Ruler of Dubai about his vision for his country’s future. Seeing this book here, I felt I need to grab this,” said Aby, who is preparing for her nursing exam.

Omotolani, a Grade 2 schoolteacher at Woodlem Park School, is scouting for UAE universities for her daughter at SIBF apart from checking out the book stalls. She exulted: “The UAE is one country I love so much. I used to come here on visits before shifting here to work in 2019. I liked everything I saw here – the education, the people etc. I want to read about Sheikh Mohammed’s vision so that I can use it for my own vision since I am learning to be proactive, creative and innovative. I also want to show it to my children in class and share ideas with them in the way they will understand.” 

Emirati mother Noura bint Tamim has gone for a book of Sudoku puzzles along with some books in Arabic to read out to her two daughters. She likes to read novels in Arabic, and the family has made a big haul of books at the fair.

Two young Arab women, Hoda and Aya Sayed, were seen buying copies of Egyptian novelist Nabeel Farrouq’s Those who Were and Serena Valentino’s The Beast Within. Suspense thrillers were the favourites of the two working women. 

Kairavi, an Indian expat from Bombay, was looking for “good deals”. She would love to buy a copy of Robin Cook’s Viral, a medical thriller about a deadly virus that is eerily similar to the coronavirus pandemic. Many mothers visiting the stalls with their children were seen giving priority to books their wards sought to buy.

An expat family from Kerala,  Asha, working in Dubai Media City, and her mother Radhamani, 61, have bought a few Malayalam books for themselves. “I am a retired bank official and have ample time to read now. Even otherwise I love to read. One of the books is written by a friend, Priya A.S., and she is a great writer. Then there is S.K. Pottekat’s In the land of Cleopatra and 21 backbones, a collection of short stories by 21 women authors,” said Radhamani who is visiting her daughter in the UAE.

Brazilian publisher Laura Di Petro whose publishing house Tabla won this year Turjman Award for translation from Arabic language, was leafing through children’s illustrated books in Arabic in a mission to find new interesting books to translate from Arabic to Portuguese. 

“I am always looking for new authors and titles. If I like, I pick up the cards and my team then decides on the next book to publish,” said Di Petro as she examined a copy of Just like Usby HH Sheikha Maryam Saqr Al Qasimi.