My posts tend to be quite long and I know it’s hard to keep up with everything that lands in the inbox, so from time to time I’m sending a purely visual newsletter. Today is a collection of verse markers from a ninth-century Qur’an1.
In the early days of the Islamic scribal tradition, verse markers injected rare notes of colourful decoration into otherwise sober volumes. Here, the markers for 1 and 5 verses are always the same design, but each of the rest is unique or very nearly, as the number is spelled out inside the freestyling rosette. I like to think someone had a lot of fun imagining and painting them. The series ends with a beautiful prostration marker, placed conspicuously well outside the text box.
One
Five ه
Ten عشر
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b1f51c2-a4b8-46dc-8956-045b15fd8b51_1022x1089.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5563206-6a13-4ca1-9240-3de59fc116aa_720x720.jpeg)
Twenty عشرون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf040bfa-c704-4318-bd37-5c1a978a4c1c_654x563.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa02b379c-d1d5-485d-976b-a445075ef712_948x803.jpeg)
Thirty ثلثون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed6350ea-8f34-4f86-b62e-1904e253b99d_730x633.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F27808e7b-14c8-435b-bd40-b7f576d2588f_822x828.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2802d4d1-d0c6-410f-a6a1-c261cf2a288a_1123x1123.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b082953-15d9-4d1d-9892-a3db352389e7_708x708.jpeg)
Forty اربعون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe8ae255a-697e-4c91-a2fd-819f9657e24d_987x896.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F585786dc-b5d9-493e-a6e7-7768953aef93_826x722.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F756a1f40-cd14-419c-b06f-581376e024ed_785x707.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F87a4e623-9c61-47c7-9382-e27c8c4a5efe_627x627.jpeg)
Fifty خمسون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc679c8e-faaa-4c6b-be22-4ef7db12bad8_818x749.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6ab0b0a-dd7c-472c-b03b-c363d9ef47d0_1035x1035.jpeg)
Sixty ستون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F229e726f-bc30-4a34-a2d1-920102f64aa8_1198x956.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026864ff-b42b-4271-9f7c-4dc08f7e434a_842x842.jpeg)
Seventy سبعون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d5ec10-0842-4ef8-8b24-59349d5665f4_910x735.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d784bcb-8cd2-423d-8bad-bdb56006b741_1062x930.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F102c6e7c-5bd0-4f4f-8f8a-e358716998fa_1060x933.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4403ae4b-cf92-4c33-9213-c8dcf9bb52b4_862x732.jpeg)
Eighty ثمنون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa30d267a-43c0-4871-bbd7-5aeac66184b3_643x546.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a2e48a0-3076-4431-8516-23a6988842b9_939x800.jpeg)
One hundred مائة
One hundred and sixty مائة ستون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5552638-653c-457e-8317-d151dc492d4a_1027x972.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43943692-571f-4d8b-8c44-4766fee6dd2a_258x258.jpeg)
One hundred and seventy مائة سبعون
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10d8e45c-f7ce-44ff-9689-0d68c2641585_788x727.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfd6854c-1445-4f7b-9e8f-52fe79f125a7_226x226.jpeg)
Two hundred and sixty مائتان ستون
Prostration سجدة
Folios of this manuscript are kept in different collections:
Bibliothèque Nationale de France: BnF MS. Arabe 350;
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford: MS. Marsh 178;
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel: Wolfen. Cod. Guelf. 12.11 Aug. 2°;
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin: CBL Is 1407.
The folios can all be seen in one place in this digital musḥaf (more info here). The close-ups in this article are taken from the BnF and Bodleian folios.