As a result of 25 years of research on early Qur’anic manuscripts collections, the book offers an overview of the evolution of the copies of the Qur’anic text under the Umayyad rule. The development of the study of the script styles, of the orthography and the illumination as well as the results of C 14 datings of the parchments used at that time have provided a more accurate chronological frame. The very simple codices produced at the beginning were quickly superseded by manuscripts that witnessed the emergence of an Islamic art of the book under the reign of caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (65/685 to 86/705). However, the examination of the manuscript production also shows that some quarters of the society still preferred copies closer to the earlier tradition.