My interest in and work with Islamic manuscripts dates to my undergraduate studies in Middle Eastern Anthropology and History, and my internship at the SOAS library. Whilst Islamic art bibliographer at Keagan Paul, Trench, Trbner & Co. (antiquarian, Oriental and African booksellers) I trained with Roger de Coverly of the London School of Printing in book arts, with particular emphasis on the conservation of 19th century and Islamic materials. I've spent over four decades studying Islamic culture and in particular Islamic manuscripts from Morocco to Uzbekistan, Turkey to Nigeria. Earlier in 2008 I was selected as consultant to the U.S. Ambassador's Cultural preservation fund for a comprehensive survey of 20 northern Nigerian Islamic manuscript collections. Then, as the recipient of a US State Department speaker's grant I returned to teach paper preservation and conservation at Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, and the national Archives, Kaduna.