A guide to library resources and open access external sites useful for the study of Islamic art and architecture.
This Library Services page will be kept up to date with information about access to the library collections, online access to teaching resources and how to get further help.
The Academic Support Librarian team have created a new subject guide giving advice and guidance on resources relating to race studies, decolonising the curriculum, and matters relating to EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion).
Please also refer to your course’s online Resource List on Learn. The following are key texts, not a complete comprehensive reading list:
Bearman, P.J. (2012) Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition ebook, Leiden: Brill.
Benoît, J., (2012) Islamic Art and the Museum: Approaches to Art and Archaeology of the Muslim World in the twenty-first century, London: Saqi
Brice, W.C. (1981) An Historical Atlas of Islam, Leiden: Brill.
Blair, S.S. and Bloom, J. (1994) The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Bloom, J. and Blair, S.S. Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture (3 vols.) (2009) Oxford: OUP.
Carey, M., (2014) The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, London: Lorenz.
Ettinghausen, R. and Grabar, O. and Jenkins, M. (2001) Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250, 2nd edn. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Flood, F.B. and Necipoğlu, G. (2017) A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Grove Dictionary of Art: see Oxford Art Online, at the A-Z of databases, and also via DiscoverEd.
Grabar, O. (1987) The Formation of Islamic Art, Rev. and enl. edn. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hillenbrand, R. (1994) Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning, New York: Columbia University Press.
Hillenbrand, R. (1999) Islamic Art and Architecture, London: Thames and Hudson.
Milwright, M. (2010) An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Milwright, M. (2017) Islamic Arts and Crafts: An Anthology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Petersen, A. (1996) Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, London: Routledge. [also searchable online through Archnet]
Ruggles, D.F. (2011) Islamic Art and Visual Culture: An Anthology of Sources, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Vernoit, S. (2000) Discovering Islamic Art: Scholars, Collectors and Collections, 1850-1950, London: I.B. Tauris.
Key journals held by the University of Edinburgh Libraries:
Key journal article databases subscribed to by the University of Edinburgh libraries:
Index Islamicus
This database is listed on the A-Z of library databases and is also listed on DiscoverEd.
For the complete list of history of art related databases please click here.
Archnet, based at MIT, is a global open access multimedia library on the built environment of Muslim societies.
The Encyclopædia Iranica is a comprehensive research tool dedicated to the study of Iranian civilization in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Guide to Research in Islamic Art & Architecture (Harvard University):
Khalili Collection of Islamic Art: one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. There is more information at this webpage.
Islamic Art Historiography, ed. by Moira Carey and Margaret S. Graves. Special issue of The Journal of Art Historiography 6 (June 2012)
The Manar al-Athar website, based at the University of Oxford, provides high resolution, searchable images for teaching, research, and publication.
We have various databases dedicated to searching for theses and dissertations.
