Arabic MS 489 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)

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Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: ʿUyūn al-ḥaqāʾiq wa-īḍāh al-ṭarāʾiq (Essences of Truths and Exposition of Methods) by Aḥmad bin Muḥammad al-ʿIrāqi al-Sīmāwī. Treatise on white magic, portents, medicaments and divination, dated 1714.

Title: عيون الحقائق وايضاح الطرائق

Title: ʿUyūn al-ḥaqāʿiq wa-īḍāḥ al-ṭarāʿiq

Author: ʿIrāqī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, active 12th century-13th century ( حسين)

Language(s): Arabic

Folio 8b: the author mentions Shibāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardi, who died in 632 AH (1234 CE).

Marginal notes.

The work is divided into 30 bābs and subdivided into faṣls.

The bābs bear on the following subjects:

Folio 4b: فى النواميس;
Folio 12b: فى المخاريق;
Folio 17a: فى الدخن;
Folio 20b: فى النفافين;
Folio 28a: فى المراقد;
Folio 30a: فى النار نجيات;
Folio 32b: فى الاخفاآت;
Folio 34b: فى الدك والحيل;
Folio 39a: فى الزراعات;
Folio 40a: فى اللعب بالبيض;
Folio 40b: فى اللعب بالخواتم;
Folio 41a: فى اللعب بالقنانى;
Folio 43a: فى اللعب بالتماثيل;
Folio 44b: فى اللعب بالاقداح;
Folio 46a: فى اللعب بالذبابح;
Folio 47a: فى اللعب بالنار;
Folio 50a: فى اللعب بالسراج;
Folio 52b: فى غرايب المنجمين;
Folio 60a: فى تنابيل المجردين;
Folio 65a: فى قبس المشرمطين;
Folio 71b: فى حال الدكاشرة;
Folio 75b: فى ادوية صيد الحيوان;
Folio 78a: فى عمل اصناف الليق;
Folio 80a: فى الادوية المفردة;
Folio 87a: فى انواع الاصباغ والخضابات النادرة واجزاء ها;
Folio 89a: فى ملاعب المفردة;
Folio 92a: فى خواص المعادن;
Folio 98a: فى خواص النباتات;
Folio 101b: فى خواص الحيوان;
Folio 103a: فى كيفية تركيب الانسان .

See also British Library, Add MS 23390, folios 50v-87v. In the British Library copy, the epithet بالعراقي بخسروشاه (al-‘Irāqī in Khusrawshāh) is applied to the author.

Colophon on folio 111a giving the date of completion as Friday 28 Dhu'l Hijjah 1126.

Colophon: وكان الفراغ منه صبيحة يوم الجمعة المباركة الذى هو الثامن والعشرون من شهر الحجة ختام سنة الف وماية وستة وعشرين

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: paper

Extent: 112 folios (111+i).

Dimensions (leaf): 202 × 145 mm.

Foliation: Foliation in Eastern Arabic numerals in ink. Front flyleaf is foliated as 1. Title page is on folio 2a.

Collation

Catchword on every verso.

Condition

Water damage, usage stains, slight worm damage, historic repairs.

Layout

Uniform layout. Justified left margin. Writing within red rulings. Profusely rubricated.

154 × 83 mm.

Hand(s)

Clear Naskh script.

Decoration

Explanatory diagrams (e.g. 38b-39a), charaktêres (e.g. 10a, 37a, 70a), and magical squares (e.g. 26b)

Additions:

Note in Arabic script on folio 111b.

Binding

Red and brown leather binding, gold-tooled.

208 × 147 × 22 mm.

History

Origin: Produced in 1126 AH (1714 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Ownership inscription, partially erased, on title page (folio 2a), dated 1234 AH (1818 CE).

Previously in the collection of Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner of Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum selected 352, now held in the British Library; his note(?) on flyleaf iia and his bookplate on the back paste-down: "Hamilton MSS. No. 713", his name inscribed on folio 1a as كرنيل جارج وليم هملتن .

Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812-1880), book collector and writer on art Crawford, Alexander Crawford Lindsay, 1812-1880

James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847-1913), astronomer and book collector Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913

Formerly in the Crawford Library (Bibliotheca Lindesiana) at Haigh Hall, Lancashire, which was formed and developed by Alexander and James Ludovic Lindsay.

His bookplate on back paste-down: Bibliotheca Lindesiana 4/G.

Enriqueta Rylands (1843-1908), philanthropist and founder of The John Rylands Library Rylands, Enriqueta, 1843-1908

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847-1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843-1908) Rylands, Enriqueta, 1843-1908 in 1908 to The John Rylands Library .

Record Sources

Catalogue information compiled by Zsófia Buda from Alphonse Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester University Press, 1934.

Availability

The item is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Using Special Collections at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

For further information on the availability of the item, please contact the Special Collections Reader Services.

Digital Images

Library Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1934), no. 370 [489].

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Subjects

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