"There is much to interest the Arabic scholar in these reminiscences of a life working with Arabic texts. Kratchkovsky’s comments on medieval manuscripts are punctuated by his modern epistolary relationships with early twentieth-century greats, such as Amin Rihani, Mikhail Naimy and the Taymur family of Egypt. This book was not intented to be a dry, scholarly tome but to create “propaganda for my branch of study” and have “these reflections find their way into the hearts and minds of my readers”. What he produced is a paean to the enduring pleasures of scholarship, to the joy of making a new discovery in an old library and to the circle of people across the world who make it possible. Although on the surface there is an optimistic faith in human progress, a dark melancholy lies underneath. As Kemper’s introduction reveals, Kratchkovsky did not live his life in an ivory idyll and frequently suffered from dark periods. Lurking in passing references throughout the text are the stories of students and colleagues killed in wars and Soviet purges. If there is a refuge for him, it is in writing. Soviet Russia during the Second World War must have felt like a precarious place where considering, for instance, the handwriting of Abba Antonius of Baghdad from the ninth century was a comfort. More than anything, this is a book about (hand)writing and its endurance. It is propaganda as it should be." Raphael Cormack in Times Literary Supplement, October 26 2016.

I.Y. Kratchkovsky (Ignatii Iul'ianovich Krachkovskii) (1883-1951) was a pioneering Russian scholar of Arabic Literature and language, a fellow of the Academy of the U.S.S.R. and Russia's major Arabist under Stalin.