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SOAS has welcomed the addition of 38 new volumes from Professor Sir Nasser David Khalili to the library, continuing the university’s long-standing patronage by the scholar and philanthropist. The books, each cataloguing a portion of Khalili’s vast private art collection, will act as an invaluable resource for SOAS teaching and study.

Professor Sir Nasser David Khalili is a British scholar, collector, philanthropist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He is a longstanding supporter of SOAS, having founded the Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology in 1989, among other philanthropic initiatives, and received an Honorary Fellowship from SOAS in 2018.

Giving scholars unique access to such an extensive and meticulously documented private collection is of immense value to teaching and research here at SOAS.

Since the 1970s, Professor Khalili has assembled eight of the world’s largest collections of fine art, comprising over 35,000 works. Extensively researched catalogues of these have been published by the Khalili Foundation, making them accessible to historians, art-lovers and scholars worldwide.

Adding to the library's existing repository of Khalili publications, these new volumes cover Islamic arts, Aramaic manuscripts, Enamels of the World, Swedish textiles, Spanish Damascene metalwork and decorative arts of Meiji era Japan.

Notable within this gift, which arrived two weeks before the holy month of Ramadan, is the recently published Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage catalogue. The volume features over 5,000 items from the collection, which is one of the most extensive holdings related to the Hajj pilgrimage owned by an individual. Containing artefacts dated from the 8th to 21st centuries, it includes Qur’ans, illustrated manuscripts, rare books and some of the earliest Muslim photography of Hajj.

Commenting on this gift, Sam Henney, Chief Librarian said: “The Khalili Collections are world-renowned for their contribution to the study of fine arts. Giving scholars unique access to such an extensive and meticulously documented private collection, of Islamic arts in particular, is of immense value to teaching and research here at SOAS.”

The SOAS Khalili Collections volumes are available for study by students, staff, visiting scholars and guests of the library.