© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/157005808X364580 Arabica 55 (2008) 528-582 www.brill.nl/arab Eight Arabic Block Prints from the Collection of Aziz S. Atiya Mark Muehlhaeusler Georgetown University Abstract his article describes a group of medieval Arabic block prints from the collection of Aziz S. Atiya preserved (with one exception) at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah. It provides transcriptions of the texts, translations and notes, and discusses some aspects of the history of block-printing in the Middle East. his article also considers the place of block-printed amulets within the larger Islamic magical tradition, and examines parallels in a variety of sources. Keywords block-printing, printing, Arabic, magic, amulets, talismans, angels, manuscripts, medieval, medicine, magic, mystic, spagiric, folk religion, superstition. In a number of recent publications, K.R. Schaefer has drawn attention to medi- eval Arabic block prints in various European and North American Libraries and Museums. he importance of these prints derives not only from the fact that they are early witnesses to the use of printing in the Middle East, or their textual and artistic content, but also from their rarity. Schaefer estimates that there are not more than 70 specimens extant in the world, of which half belong to the collection at Vienna. We are in the lucky position that we can increase that estimate by Schaefer by some ten per cent, and introduce a hitherto unknown and unpublished group of seven Arabic block prints. hese prints were acquired by the Egyptian historian Aziz S. Atiya (1898-1988), and are now housed in the collection of the Aziz S. Atiya Middle East Library of the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah. Some of them are in an excellent state of preservation, while others show a high degree of artistic refinement. What is more, one print represents what may be the earliest example of polyglot printing in Middle Eastern languages. his article will describe each print in turn, and discuss textual aspects whenever possible or appropriate. hereafter, it will deal with a question of terminology,