Hausa Qur'anic & Fortune Teller's Board

Every line of this board is filled edge to edge with tiny, tightly packed script.

This Qur'anic and fortune teller's board is Hausa, from West Africa, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is wood & ink. Wooden writing boards are traditionally used in West African Qur'anic schools, where students copy verses in ink and then wash the board clean so that it can be used again. Upright and tall board with a short handle at the top right and a notched, curved base. Dense lines of small dark-ink script cover the face, with a header line along the top. The surface is smooth, pale and lightly mottled. It is 10 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 22.25 high.

Not an inch wasted, and the margins are very small.