The Book of Wonders of the World (Kitab al-Bulhan)
- Date of account
- Late 14th-century illustrated manuscript, with older material incorporated
- Location
- Baghdad and wider Islamic manuscript culture
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Kitab al-Bulhan is an illustrated Arabic manuscript associated with the late fourteenth century and the circle of Abd al-Hasan al-Isfahani. It brings together astrological, calendrical, divinatory and cosmographical material, including images and descriptions of supernatural or fabulous beings. Its importance lies in showing how learned astronomy, magical practice, folklore and visual representation could coexist in a manuscript culture. Attribution, compilation history and interpretation of some images remain debated. The work should be studied as a manuscript artifact and composite textual object, not as an eyewitness catalogue of monsters.
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