A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature (Resources in Arabic and Islamic Studies): 1 Paperback – Illustrated, 30 Sept. 2012

There aren't many readers designed to help English-speaking students of Classical Arabic who would like to tackle prose writings in this language. It's never an easy task, especially if you're working alone. Apart from the problems encountered with the Arabic text, a knowledge of the background to the passages being studied is indispensable and often difficult to find out on one's own. This excellent volume provides much helpful guidance and information which will be welcomed by students at various levels.Very highly recommended!

The glossary isn't perfect and the book - originally published as part of the Quaderni degli Studi Orientali of Ca' Foscari University, Venice - has much of specifically Italian interest, such as al-Idrisi's account of Sicily. But it's useful. The book is a early ninties production; not pretty but, as Bertie says, really useful, especially as the best alternative, M. C. Lyons' excellent Elementary Classical Arabic Reader (Cambridge 1962), is hard to find and very expensive. This reader used to be almost unobtainably hard to track down, so I'm very glad Lockwood Press have taken it over.