Bryce’s ‘Mite Quran’. 64mo (26 × 18 mm). Original richly gilt decorated red morocco. Marbled endpapers. Printed on fine India paper.
 
Housed in the original engraved locket, with inset magnifying glass. 
 
A bright, near fine copy. A little oxidisation to the locket.
 
“The first miniature Qur’an printed and distributed across the Muslim world” (McBurney, 2019).
 
A very nice example indeed of David Bryce’s miniature Quran. These were produced between 1898 and 1908 and were made famous in part by T.E. Lawrence, who observed Muslim soldiers wearing these Qurans in their lockets during the First World War:
 
“He told me later, in strict confidence, that thirteen years before he had bought an amulet Koran for one hundred and twenty pounds and had not since been wounded … The book was one of the little Glasgow reproductions, costing eighteen pence; but Auda’s deadliness did not let people laugh at his superstition”.
 
Louis Bondy deemed the Bryce Qur’an an “almost legendary title” of which it was “increasingly difficult to find copies” (Miniature Books 1981).