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Catalogue: Astrology/Divination/Magic
One manuscript of mixed contents (MS A 87) has four anonymous treatises concerned with various aspects of astrology, magic, and divination, while another (MS P 29) has six anonymous treatises on the subject. The four items in MS A 87 will be described briefly together, with the description of the volume as a whole following the fourth item. A similar arrangement will be followed for the six items in MS P 29.
Arabic. 30 leaves (fols. 142b-157b, 159a-172a). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area 17.8 x 11.5) cm; 20-2 lines per page. The titles of the chapters are given at the start of the treatise. No title or author is specified. The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 18th century. Fasl 1 occupied fols. 142b-154b; fasl 2, fols. 154b-157b and 159a-163b; fasl 3, 163b-166a; fasl 4, fols. 166b-169b, and fasl 5, fols. 169b-172a. Folio 158 is a smaller fol. inserted later and containing material unrelated to the treatise. The text is written is a medium-large naskh script using black ink with headings in red. It was possibly transcribed by the same unnamed copyist as copied items 2 and 13 in the volume. There are catchwords. There are extensive marginalia, with some notes labelled with the emphatic za'.
Arabic. 7 leaves (fols. 175a-181b). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area 16.5 x 11) cm; 22-3 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 175a, line 4. The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 18th century. The text is written is a fairly inelegant medium-large naskh script using black ink. The table of symbols for the name of God is on fol. 180a. There are extensive marginalia which often incorporated magical writing.
Arabic. 3 leaves (fols. 172b-174a). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area 16.5 x 11) cm; 19-27 lines per page. No title or author is given. The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 18th century. The text is written is a fairly inelegant medium-large naskh script using black ink with headings in red. There are also red overlinings and red highlighting. The handwriting is slightly different from the preceding item. There are marginalia in Turkish.
Arabic. 2 leaves (fols. 185a-186b). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area ca.18 x 12) cm; 35 lines per page, variable. No title or author is given. The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 18th century. The text is written is an inelegant small naskh script using black ink. It is written in a smaller hand than the previous two items. The text appears to continue onto the back pastedowns. This are considerable marginalia. --------------
The ivory paper is thick and stiff, with visible vertical laid lines and single chain lines (no evident watermarks). It is dampstained and soiled through thumbing. The volume consists of 186 leaves. It is a mixed volume with 18 different items in it, copied by at least two different copyists. Item 1 (fols. 1a-3b) is an anonymous alchemical fragment (MS A 87, item 1), item 2 (fols. 4a-54a) is the abridgement of a treatise called al-Bayān by Ibn Jazlah (MS A 87, item 2), and item 3 (fols. 54b-64b) extracts from al-Bayān [by Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 3). Item 4 (fols. 65b-68a) is an anonymous, untitled essay on stones (MS A 87, item 4), item 5 (fols. 68b-74a) an anonymous collection of therapeutic procedures (MS A 87, item 5), and item 6 (fols. 74a-75b) on regimen for infants, extracted from Kitāb al-Bayān [? Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 6). Item 7 (fols. 76a-96b) is the anonymous treatise on materia medica (MS A 87, item 7); item 8 (fols. 97a-100a) an anonymous tract on medicinal oils (MS A 87, item 8), and item 9 (fols. 100b-121a) a magical-medical treatise by Ibn Tūmart al-Maghribī (MS A 87, item 9). Item 10 (fols. 121b-125a) is an anonymous alphabetical list of medicaments (MS A 87, item 10), and item 11 (fols. 125b-140b) is the commentary on an identified "poem on the principles of the art of medicine" (MS A 87, item 11). Item 12 (fols. 140b-142a) contains selections from Kitāb al-Ḥāwī fī ‘ilm al-tadāwī by Najm al-Din al-Shirazi (MS A 87, item 12), and item 13 (fols. 142b-157b, 159a-172a) is an untitled anonymous treatise in five chapters on medicine, magic, and divination here catalogued. Item 14 (fols. 172b-174a) is an anonymous tract on divination here catalogued, item 15 (fols. 174b-175a) untitled extracts from medical writings (MS A 87, item 15), and item 16 (fols. 175a-181b) is an anonymous astrological treatise here catalogued. Item 17 (fols. 182a-184b) is an anonymous treatise titled Dā'ir muḥibb fī ‘ilm al-ṭibb, on magical medicine (MS A 87, item 17), while the final item, item 18 (fols. 185a-186b), is an anonymous essay on the numerical values of letters and magic squares here catalogued.
The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with brown leather, over which light-brown paper has been placed on the covers. There is a recent brown leather spine. The paper pastedowns are contemporary with the manuscript and are covered with miscellaneous notes.
There is an owner's signature dated 1268 [= 1851-2] on fol. 3b of the volume, and there are several owners's notes on fol. 4a, none apparently dated. The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda, who acquired it from a dealer in Sanaa, the Yemen (ELS 2369).
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., pp. 326-7 entry A87 (none of these four items are not listed). NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 4 |
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