Kitāb al-Zahrah: The Book of the Flower

This volume presents the text of Ibn Dawoud’s Kitāb al-Zahrah, an anthology of verses on the subject of love, culled from preceding and contemporary poets. The Arabic text, drawn from a manuscript held by the Egyptian Library in Cairo, has been left untranslated in the hope that it will serve as a basis for further elucidation and improvement by those interested. It should be of value to specialists in Old Arabic poetry, students of literary history, and students of Muslim mysticism.