[Ottoman medical mecmua].

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Add MS 5991
  • Dates of Creation
    • 17th century
  • Language of Material
    • Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • 4 texts 38 ff Materials : Paper. Foliation : European, 38 ff. Dimensions : 210 mm x 127 mm. Script : Nesih and nestalik in various hands.

Scope and Content

This volume is a codex containing the following four texts :. (I) ff 1v-23v : A fragment of a medical work containing directions for the preparation and use of compound medicaments, such as pills, sherbets, electuaries and ointments. It consists of short sections headed by either fasl or bab and containing a recipe each;. (II) ff 24v-30v : A similar fragment in different handwriting with the dates 1069 AH (1658-59 CE) and 1073 AH (1662-63 CE) found on f 24v;. (III) ff 31v-33v : Extracts from a medical treatise in mesnevi called the Risale-i Kaysunizade, beginning with the heading 'el ve ayak bozulması için devadır ki Risale-yi Kaysunizade'den menkuldur'. Bedreddin Mehmet İbn-i Mehmet called Ibn al-Qaysūni (ابن القيسونى) in Arabic and Kaysunizade in Ottoman Turkish, proceeded to İstanbul after studying medicine in his native Egypt. He became a great favourite of Sultan Kanuni Süleyman after having successfully relieved the Sultan's gout. He was appointed Reisü'l-etıbba. He died in the second year of Sultan Selim II's reign, 975 AH (1567-68 CE), according to Ali (Or 32 f 250) and El-Kevakib es-Saire (f 172r) or in 976 AH (1568-69 CE) as stated in the Takvimü't-Tevarih (p. 123). His Risale was versified for Sultan Selim II in 978 AH (1570-71 CE) or, according to some copies, 975 AH, by another physician who is only known under his mahlas, Nidai. Derviş Nidai had been physician to Sahip Giray, Han of Crimea, and was afterwards attached in the same capacity to Sultan Selim II, for whom he wrote the Menafı'u'n-nas. The current extracts treat the paralysis of the hand and the foot; asthma; and theriaca. The last section is designed as the fourth bab of the Risale; . (IV) ff 34v-38v : Miscellaneous recipes in various hands. This manuscript appears to have been copied in the 17th century CE.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from the collection of Hilgrove Turner.

Other Finding Aids

See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 125.

Related Material

Another copy of texts III and IV can be found at Or 8036 text XXX, Or 8728 texts I and II, Or 10956, and Or 11063. For more information on Kaysunizade, see Peçevi I, p. 461. For more the versification of text III, see Haj. Khal. III, p. 431; Flügel, Vienna Catalogue I, p. 718; Flügel, Vienna Catalogue, II, p. 539; and the Leiden Catalogue, III, p. 283. For more information about Nidai and his influence on the work, see Hammer, Geschichte der Osmanlichen Dichtkunst II, p. 541 (where Nidai is listed as the author of both the original and the versified editions).