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Secondary sourceBook1867

Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa Aja'ib al-Asfar (1867 Printed Edition)

Ibn Battuta · 1867

An 1867 printed Arabic edition of Ibn Battuta's Rihla, the full title of his travel account, marking its move from handwritten copies into print.

A printed 1867 edition of Ibn Battuta's own travel account, the Rihla, showing its spread into print culture.

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Back cover of a blue cloth-bound book, plain with no visible text except a small faint mark near the lower right edge. Worn corners and spine edge visible against a black background.
Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa Aja'ib al-Asfar, printed edition, 1867.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed Arabic edition from 1867 of Ibn Battuta's travel account, known by its full title Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa Aja'ib al-Asfar ("A Gift to the Observers Concerning the Curiosities of Cities and the Marvels of Travels"). The surviving object shown is the book's plain cloth-bound back cover.

Why it matters

Ibn Battuta's account was dictated after his travels in the 14th century and survived for centuries only through handwritten copies. By the 1800s, printing allowed his text to be reproduced in standardised copies and reach wider readers than manuscript copying ever could, marking a shift in how his work was preserved and studied.

Look closer

  • Why might printing a centuries-old text change who gets to read it and how it is studied?
  • What does the plainness of the physical object (just a cloth cover) tell you, and what does it not tell you about the text inside?
  • How might an 1867 printed text differ from the handwritten copies that came before it?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ibn Battuta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Scanned manuscript page in Arabic calligraphy on aged cream paper. The top has a line of black script with a decorative heading, and a red-ink title block in larger calligraphy reading the opening of the work. Below are about two dozen lines of brown-ink handwritten text in dense Arabic script, with a marginal note at the bottom left.Book

Primary source

The Rihla

Ibn Battuta · 1354-1356

Two facing pages of a handwritten Arabic manuscript on aged paper. The right page is written in dark ink in neat, flowing script; the left page is faded and more worn, with lines of script partly obscured. The pages show the text of the travel account.Book

Primary source

Manuscript of the Rihla by Ibn Juzayy

Ibn Juzayy · 14th century

Ruins of a stone fort on a dry, hazy hillside under a pale sky. Massive sloping stone walls with crenellated battlements stand on the left, and a long arched stone gallery with a flat roof runs across the right. Scrubby bushes and dry earth surround the site, with a distant city skyline on the horizon.Artifact

Secondary source

Tughlaqabad Fort

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq · 1321

Photograph of an open handwritten Arabic manuscript with dense black ink script on cream pages, with some red-ink headings visible. The left page is in focus and the right page is angled and partly blurred.Book

Secondary source

Manuscript copy of the Rihla (1484)

Ibn Juzayy · 1484

Eight vertical panels of the Catalan Atlas side by side, showing an illuminated medieval world map with colored seas, decorated landmasses, compass roses, flags, rulers on thrones, and figures and animals.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas

Cresques Abraham · c. 1375

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