One of the most important Bibles in the collection is the Bible owned by Omar Ibn Sayyid, an educated slave owned by the Owen family in Fayetteville, NC. Donated by Mrs. Ellen Guion in 1871, this Bible is an 1811 Newcastle-upon-Tyne translation into Arabic. The Bible was in poor condition, and remained in storage until it was sent out for conservation in 1994. Several leaves have Arabic notations written by Omar Ibn Sayyid. Scholars, including Dr. Jeffrey Einboden, have studied the notations as a part of their research. The Library of Congress has an extensive web site on Omar Ibn Sayyid, his history, and materials relating to him.
This exhibit is a curated collection of scanned leaves from an Arabic Bible owned by Omar ibn Sayyid, as well as his two Arabic translations of the Lord’s Prayer, all dating back to the early-to-mid 19th century. The selected Bible leaves feature notations authored by Sayyid at an unknown date in the margins of the printed text (marginalia).
Davidson College Library Research Guides are licensed under
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035