The Chapin Library at Williams College has recently acquired a 19th-century Qur'an manuscript from the Ottoman Empire.  It measures six and one eighth inches long and four inches wide, and has a wallet style binding.  Assistant Librarian Wayne G. Hammond describes the manuscript's condition as "superb", the result of the binding style, which protected the pages, and he surmises that, given its size, the manuscript was originally a personal volume.  This Qur'an is handwritten in Arabic calligraphy and decorated with gold and other metallic illuminations.  It was obtained from a local bookseller. Williams College added Arabic Studies as a major this year, which Hammond says helped influence the acquisition, as part of the Chapin Library's mission to "support all aspects of the Williams curriculum".  In light of recent anti-Muslim sentiment, sensationalized by the media's coverage of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero and a plan by a Florida church to burn copies of the Qur'an (which, thankfully, did not take place), the acquisition of a rare Qur'an manuscript by a collegial institution brings hope for proper knowledge and understanding of a religion and people that have been unfairly stereotyped in America.  Hammond commented, "I would hope we would always educate and help people understand and get along together. There is nothing worse than ignorance causing all the problems in the world." College gets rare Quran