Miniature Qur'an made of paper and printed with ink within a metal miniature Qur'an case, with a patterned surface and a glass magnifying section at the front. The cover is red with gold decoration.
Miniature Qur’an printed by David Bryce of Glasgow, circa 1900. Several presses printed miniature Qur’ans, but Bryce’s edition was the most widely circulated. All of Bryce’s Qur’ans came with metal lockets which incorporated a magnifying glass to help read the minute text. Many were supplied to Muslim soldiers fighting for the British in the First World War. It was in this context that a Bryce Qur'an was mentioned by T E Lawrence (or Lawrence of Arabia): '[Auda] told me later in strict confidence that he had bought a miniature Qur'an for one hundred and twenty pounds, thirteen years before, and had not since been wounded … The book was one of the little Glasgow reproductions, costing eighteen pence in England, but the Arabs were too afraid of Auda's deadliness to laugh at his superstition … or to explain to him his bad bargain.' ('Seven Pillars of Wisdom', book 4, chapter 57). National Library of Scotland website.
