Delhi Persian 1474 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Item a.

Excerpt from a talismanic treatise on magic spells and incantations by an unnamed author.

The title is only suggested in the colophon.

Dated colophon (f. 11v): completed Wednesday evening, 15 Jumādá II 1188/23 August 1774.

Item b.

Excerpt from the introduction of an untitled treatise on branches of esoteric magic (kīmiyā, līmiyā, hīmiyā, sīmiyā, nīranjāt), by an unnamed author, based on the works of Khusraw Shāh Samāvī, Ibn ʿAbd Allāh Maghribī, Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad, Ḥallāj Vaḥīl (?), Dakūk ibn ʿIrāqī, and Ḥakīm Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad Samāvī. Nevertheless, Reuben Levy attributes the work to Fakhr al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ al-Kāshifī (d. 939/1532), who apparently based his work on that of his father, the Tuḥfah-'i Khānī.

The work is dedicated to the poet Qāsim al-Anvār, that is, Muʿīn al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Naṣīr ibn Hārūn ibn Abū al-Qāsim (d. 837/1433).

The work ends abruptly without conclusion or colophon.

Not dated at end.

Quotations and diagrams in red, often in naskh.

Item c.

Untitled excerpt from an alchemical treatise on the processing and filtration of chemical substances quoting Hindavī rhyming couplets (overlined), by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Item d.

Untitled excerpt from an alchemical treatise on the processing and filtration of chemical substances, by an unnamed author.

The work frequently uses Hindavī terminology.

Not dated at end.

Item e.

Alchemical treatise on the action of heating substances grouped into corporeal (for example, gold and silver) and vapourific (for example, mercury, sal-ammoniac, etcetera), ascribed to the mythical sage whose name is variously spelled Tankhīshā, Tūnklūsh, Tankulushah, Tanglūshāh by a number of authorities, but given here as Tangū Shāh Kabīr [al-Bābilī], but spelled differently in the colophon.

Dated colophon (f. 52v): completed on Friday afternoon, 28 Shaʿbān 1188/3 November 1774.

Item f.

Autograph copy of a catoptric treatise on the grinding of billawr or rock crystal for the manufacture of mirrors, by an unnamed author.

Dated colophon (f. 55v): completed by author (in first person), Friday afternoon, 14 Muḥarram 1189/17 March 1775.

Item g.

Untitled alchemical treatise on the preparation of red sulphur, ascribed by Levy to the mythical sage whose name is variously spelled Tankhīshā, Tūnklūsh, Tankulushah, Tanglūshāh by a number of authorities (see item e), but the author remains unnamed within the text.

Dated colophon (f. 57v): completed 16 Muḥarram 1189/19 March 1775.

Item h.

Untitled alchemical treatise on the amalgamation of gold and silver ascribed by Levy to the mythical sage whose name is variously spelled Tankhīshā, Tūnklūsh, Tankulushah, Tanglūshāh by a number of authorities (see item e), but the author remains unnamed in the text.

Not dated at end.

Item i.

Untitled alchemical treatise on methods for the preparation of sublimated mercury, arsenic, and other substances, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Item j.

Excerpt from a commentary on the alchemical treatise Kanz al-yavāqīt by the same author, the mythical sage whose name is variously spelled Tankhīshā, Tūnklūsh, Tankulushah, Tanglūshāh by a number of authorities, but given here as Ḥakīm Tanglū Shāh Kabīr al-Bābilī, who is also the reputed compiler of the treatise Haft ganj-i gawhar-i Tanglū Shāhī.

Dated colophon (f. 64v): completed 23 Muḥarram 1189/26 March 1775.

Item k.

Gemmological treatise on the production of artificial pearls using several methods, by the mythical sage whose name is variously spelled Tankhīshā, Tūnklūsh, Tankulushah, Tanglūshāh by a number of authorities, but given here as Tanglū Shāh Kabīr [al-Bābilī], who is also the reputed compiler of the treatise Haft ganj-i gawhar-i Tanglū Shāhī.

Dated colophon (f. 68r): completed 27 Muḥarram 1189/30 March 1775.

Item l.

General treatise on the theory and practice of alchemy by Shahriyār ibn Hamzā[sic] Pārsī .

Dated colophon (f. 121v): completed Saturday afternoon, 12 Rabīʿ I 1189/13 May 1775.

Item m.

Brief dietetic treatise on the prevention of hunger followed by various food recipes, by an unnamed author.

Dated colophon (f. 123r): completed Friday morning, 18 Rabīʿ I 1189/19 May 1775.

The work is followed until folio 125v by miscellaneous notes on additional alchemical and talismanic prescriptions, ending with a poor impression of an owner’s personal seal and curses upon thieves and rival claimants.