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With a photo-rich teaching method that's welcoming to everyone, this introduction helps you use ink and a qalama traditional reed pento create flowing, timelessly decorative lines of Arabic script. The book begins with the history behind this art that decorates writings and architecture worldwide. Master calligrapher Alani next shows you how to choose the materials and prepare your tools. After a quick introduction to how the Arabic language works, he guides you through exercises to help you successfully write the 28 Arabic letters, join them together, and finally assemble them into phrases. Once you have mastered the basics, explore creating graphic compositions in each of seven major styles (Kufic, Thuluth, Naskh, Persian, Turkish, Riqรขa and Maghrebi). Sometimes it takes years to be able to decipher a composition, but meanwhile, you can enjoy its aesthetic beauty. This guide helps beginners, like centuries of people before them, create graceful, meaningful art from words. Review: a beautiful book - gives meaning of some of the script shown and how to master it. Review: OK coffee table book - A decent intro but not a good instructional.










| Best Sellers Rank | 1,063,841 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 483 in Lettering & Calligraphy 686 in Handwriting Reference 39,301 in Hobbies & Crafts |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 97 Reviews |
C**N
a beautiful book
gives meaning of some of the script shown and how to master it.
J**T
OK coffee table book
A decent intro but not a good instructional.
B**D
Useful, informative and up to date
I really liked this book. As well as showing the main styles of Arabic calligraphy, there was some useful information about very recent additions to the Arabic alphabet, to enunciate sounds not present in Arabic, like โpโ. That said, Arabic calligraphy is an art form that demands a large investment of time and, of course, fluency in Arabic. Iโm just going to stick to observing and admiring the calligraphy without being able to understand all of it right now. Itโs very beautiful, but not for the novice, especially one with poor Arabic skills.
M**A
Interessting
Good printed..nice pictures intersssting
M**I
Good book
Good book
S**I
A beautiful product
A beautiful book. I am truly enjoying the learning process.
T**D
Good!
Great images and examples for my calligraphy practicing
J**.
Genial
Excelente Calidad y contenido.
K**J
Nice but somewhat lacking
While it does give a nice overview of the material, some history and presentation of different styles, the instructions remind me of the meme "How to draw an owl". It could have been made clearer for a beginner. Someone already pointed some mistakes but I'd like to point what I consider a big one if you want to go further. When presenting the ุฑูุนุฉ script, it is said to be "riqa" and not to be confused with "ruq'ah", said to derive from thuluth. But it's the reverse: ุฑูุนุฉ is ruq'ah and the thuluth derivative is riqa'. I could take a glance at the original version and the mistake is only in the translation.
T**R
A decent reference, not a practical way to learn Arabic calligraphy
This book is more of a birds-eye, theoretical introduction to Arabic calligraphy, as opposed to a tutorial to someone who wants to learn to write it. With that said, it does have some practical information, and it is a decent resource for anyone interested in the subject.
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