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Thread. The Qur’ān ms E20 : background of a manuscript attributed to ‘Uthmān.
1/8. In 1936, the Institute of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg purchased 81 isolated leaves of this ms from an anonymous lady.
1/8. In 1936, the Institute of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg purchased 81 isolated leaves of this ms from an anonymous lady.
2/8. According to the director of IOS, Kratchkovsky, the leaves were probably part of the collection of the late I. Nofal, a Russian-Lebanese orientalist and professor in St. Petersburg. Where did the leaves come from ? Perhaps Nofal could have purchased them in the Levant.. 
3/8. Meanwhile other folios came to light, all located in Uzbekistan. 12 folios are in Katta Langar in Uzbekistan, 2 in Tashkent in different libraries (Academy of Sciences and Library of Administration of Muslim Affairs), and 2 in Bukhara (Ibn Sina Library).
4/8. The additional leaves indicate that the ms arrived in St Petersburg via Central Asia. The leaves were probably already separated in 1839/40 (when the Katta-Langar folios are restored in a new binding).
5/8. So, we know today 97 folios of this ms. It keeps around 40% of the Qur’ān. According to E. Rezvan, the entire volume would contain around 206 folios. Considering the fair size of the folios (52 x 34 cm), this volume required, just in parchment, a herd of some 100 sheeps..
6/8. The script is close to B.Ib group, irregular number of lines/ page. The rasm shows features which are more consistent with a later stage of orthographic development, maybe during the 1st half of the 8th (“la’in” written ﻻﺋﻦ, ḥattā with alif mamdūda, “ḏū” written ﺫﺍ )
7/8. The type of ornaments is very unusual. It differs from the common rectangular frame. But, we could make some parallels with the Tübingen ms and others from Damascus. No ink analysis has been done yet, so we can’t say if they are original or added later.
8/8. E20 seems to have followed a path that is different from the other early Qur’ān mss. The main challenge is to reconstruct the successive stages of its life. Where it has been produced ? When did it move to Central Asia ? We are waiting for a close examination of this copy.
