International records / OpenAlex research

Arabic Documents Of Northern Nigeria

The present article is based on photographs of nineteenth-century Arabic official letters, made by the author while carrying out conservation work on manuscript material for the Nigerian Department of Antiquities at the Northern Nigerian centres of Sokoto and Bauchi. Thanks to conscientious local custody, and the moisture-free atmosphere which these districts enjoy for most of the year, the greater number of these papers were still in remarkably good condition. At the same; time, progressive embrittlement of the fibres was making direct handling of the sheets undesirable, and some protection w…