Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy

The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy (JOC) is dedicated to Islamic Art and Ottoman script calligraphy. Calligraphy was a skill to be mastered, and it was heavily used to express religious sentiment and many other aspects of personal and cultural life. Therefore Islamic calligraphy is more than handwriting. It is a “spiritual technique” that beaches out with grace and elegance to engage the eye,mind and soul.It was the Ottoman Turks who produced and perfected several varieties of this type of script. All the various branches of the art of calligraphy, an art greatly loved and respected by the Ottoman Turks, flourished particularly in the city of Istanbul, the administrative center of the Ottoman State, and it was in Istanbul that the finest and most mature works were produced. This collection showcases stunning examples of calligraphic art of the Ottoman society and modern Turkey. The mission of the JOC is to delight, inspire, and educate a diverse public through the collection and interpretation of works of Islamic and Ottoman calligraphy.

The vision of the JOC is to make resources of Ottoman Calligraphy available and useful to people and to preserve a collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The goal of the JOC is to offer broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents of Ottoman script calligraphy as a contribution to education and lifelong learning. The JOC is a non-commercial project. This is an experimental version of a prosopographical database of Ottoman calligraphy. It provides useful administrative data for researchers, students, scholars and amateurs of Islamic art to know about islamic calligraphy collections and what they hold.

Compiled by the Editorial Board of JOC, Bibliography of Ottoman Calligraphy is a free online bibliography of published material relating to the history and research of various branches of the art of calligraphy. It should represent a starting point for all enquiries concerning Ottoman Calligraphy development over the centuries or any conceivable aspect of calligraphic art, whether from the academic historian, student, the amateur or the general enquirer. The Bibliography is hosted by Worldcat, please click on the links.