Compendium of alchemical treatises in Arabic, Persian and Ottoman

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or 13006
  • Dates of Creation
    • 919-1177
  • Language of Material
    • Arabic Persian Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • Codex ff. 159+i Material: Paper. Dimensions: 215 x 150 mm leaf [168 x 112 mm written]. Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; Arabic foliation in the purple crayon typical of Lebanese bookdealers of the 19th century. Ruling: Misṭarah; 19 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm (ff. 113r-158v: 29 lines per page; vertical spacing 17 lines per 10 cm). Script: Naskh with nasta'līq tendencies and some titles in thuluth (ff. 113r-158v: naskh). Scribes: Qudrat Allāh al-Marandī al-Ādharī (ff. 3r-112v) and Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Mawṣilī (ff. 113r-158v). Ink: Black ink, with rubricated, yellow and green headings and overlinings in red (ff. 113r-158v: black). Binding: British Museum binding. Condition: Some worm damage, foxing, and tears towards the fore edge. Folios 19, 21 and 24 have been replaced. Marginalia: Extensive marginal corrections, conjectures, glosses in Arabic and Persian and other evidence of collation and textual study (ff. 113r-158v: very few).

Scope and Content

The volume comprises two manuscripts. The first (ff. 3-112) was the notebook of Qudrat Allāh al-Marandī al-Ādharī, who copied into it thirteen alchemical texts between 919 AH/AD 1513 and 925 AH/AD 1519, first at Fez and then at Damascus (see colophons on ff. 11r, 14r, 57r and 66r). The second (ff. 113r-159v) was copied in the 18th century, beginning with ff. 113r-158r copied in 1177 AH/AD 1764 by Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Mawṣūlī in Algiers (see colophon on f. 158v). The volume contains 16 alchemical texts:. (1) Anonymous, Risālah nāfi'ah fī ghāyat al-naf' wa-l-nafāsah lam yu'raf muṣannifuhā (رسالة نافعة في غاية النفع والنفاسة لم يعرف مصنّفها) (ff. 3r-11r); (2) Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Umawī (خالد بن يزيد الأموي), Risālah li-Abī Hishām al-Amīr Khālid (رسالة لأبي هشام الأمير خالد ) (ff. 11v-14r); (3) al-Ṣafadī, Khalīl ibn Aybak (الصفدي، خليل بن أيبك), Extract from Kitāb al-Ghayth al-musjam fī sharḥ Lāmīyat al-ʿAjam (كتاب الغيث المسجم في شرح لامية العجم) (f. 14r); (4) al-Ṭuġrāʾī, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (الطغرائي، الحسين بن علي), Kitāb tarākīb al-anwār (كتاب تراكيب الأنوار) (ff. 14v-57r); (5) Democritus (ذومقراطيس), Untitled alchemical treatise (ff. 57v-66r); (6) Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (جابر بن حيان), Ayn fuṣūl az ba'z̤ kutub ustaẕ Jābir (اين فصول از بعض كتب أستاذ كبير جابر ) (ff.66v-67v); (7) al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar (الرازي، فخر الدين محمد بن عمر), Selections from Kitāb al-Mulakhkhaṣ (كتاب الملخص) concerning physics (ff. 67v-76b); (8) al-Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā (الرازي، أبو بكر محمد بن زكريا), Selections from al-Rāzī's al-Kutub al-Ithná 'asharah (الكتب الإثنى عشرة) (ff. 77r-91v); (9) Ibn Waḥshīyah, Aḥmad ibn 'Alī (ابن وحشية، أحمد بن علي), Extracts from Kitāb fī Maʿrifat al-ḥajar (كتاب في معرفة الحجر) (ff. 91b-96b); (10) Anonymous, Excerpts from a commentary on the poem of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Tammām al-ʿIrāqī (عبد العزيز ابن تمام العراقي) (ff. 96v-98r); (11) Anonymous, Excerpts from a commentary on the alchemical poem Shudhūr al-dhahab (شذور الذهب) (ff. 98r- 110v); (12) al-Sayyid al-Sharīf al-Bukhārī al-Naqshabandī (السيد الشريف البخاري النقشبندي), Excerpts from the Risālah fī al-Ṣināʿah al-falsafīyah (رسالة في الصناعة الفلسفية) (ff. 111r-112r); (13) Anonymous, Cancelled page of Persian alchemical poetry (f. 112v); (14) al-Maṣmūdī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (المصمودي، محمد بن أحمد), Kitāb al-Wāfī fī al-Tadbīr al-kāfī (كتاب الوافي في التدبير الكافي) (ff. 113r-158v); (15) Anonymous, Fragment of a treatise on practical chemistry (f. 159r); (16) Anonymous, Instructions for producing perfumes (f. 159v)

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Damascus, Fez, Algiers

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