Koran or Qu'ran. [Steinbrener, Hans? Vimperk, or Winterberg, Czech Republic?] Circa 1950.

About 800 printed pages in Arabic. Fine 'India' paper. Lithographed text and marginal decoration within ruled borders. Complete with original glassine that it was issued in by the publisher - a mint copy. A charming miniature Qur’an (18 x 26 mm.) in excellent condition, preserved in its original gilt binding and original wholesaler's wrapping still attached. With a richly decorated opening double page frontispiece. Fully vowelized text set in a frame, verse separators, sura headings and section markers in the margins printed in black throughout. Unpaginated. All edges gilt. Original marbled endpapers. 18 x 26 mm. Original red calf with gilt curlicue decoration. An excellent example. Miniature Qurans had been printed at the press of Hans Steinbrener since the early 1900s and served as highly prized protective talismans and popular souvenirs for pilgrims traveling to Mecca; in the 1960's, the shop closed down and ceased production. These miniature editions of the Qur’an, with their elaborate gilt leather bindings count among the finest examples of their kind and as masterpieces of Bohemian printing and craftsmanship, taking advantage of the new technique of photo-reduction. "The firm advertised itself as the continent's largest producer of artistic bindings for prayer books and the largest publisher of prayer books [...] This publisher supplied a market ranging from Manila to New York" (Marija Dalbello, "Franz Josef's Time Machine: Images of Modernity in the Era of Mechanical Photoreproduction", in: Book History, Vol. 5 [2002], pp. 67-103). "  It is narrower than the David Bryce & Co. Qur'ans published in Glasgow. But Bryce clearly showed a robust and highly lucrative market for miniature Korans among Muslims embarking on the Hajj pilgrimage through the 1950s. These micro-printed books were extraordinarily easy for travelers to carry on long, arduous journeys across continents. Many devotees purchased them not necessarily to read—as the text required a magnifying glass—but to wear. They were encased in lockets, tucked into pockets, or pinned to clothing as a ta'wid (talisman) for divine protection during the Hajj or in battle. Bringing back a beautifully bound, novelty Quran from Europe was considered an immense luxury. Pilgrims bought them in bulk to distribute to family and friends back home as blessed mementos of their sacred journey. By the 1950s, a mature distribution network saw European traders and local merchants supplying these exact miniature Qurans to bustling markets, street vendors, and bazaars surrounding the holy sites in Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina.