A Mufradat is a catalogue or album which contains pages of Arabic vocabulary, with Arabic letters written in their various forms. Calligraphers write these pages for practice and they are also used as materials for students to study. This printed version is in keeping with the traditional Ottoman format of two to three lines of Thuluth script (a large cursive script sometimes used to decorate mosques) with a line or two of Naskh (a smaller, delicate script derived from Thuluth) in between. Students would copy the different letter forms as part of their training. Those apprenticed to master calligraphers had to demonstrate their ability with all of the six calligraphic style scripts (Thuluth, Naskh, Muhaqqaq, Raihan, Tawqi’, and Riqa’), after which they could obtain a diploma which allowed them to practice and teach calligraphy. Small dots can be seen alongside the letters in this album – they provided a framework for creating the correct shapes.Books with Arabic/Turkish typeface were first printed in Ottoman Turkey in the early 18th century. Printing was initially opposed to by the religious authorities as well as the guilds of copyists and calligraphers, until Ibrahim Müteferrika (1674 – 1745) convinced them of its efficacy.
