P. 3 (University Library, Cambridge University)
E. G. Browne Collection
Contents
Summary of Contents: Jeju تذكرة الكحالين لعلى بن عيسى A fine old MS. of the Tadhkiratu'l-Kaḥhálín, or " Oculists' Reminder," of 'Ali
ibn 'Ísá, a celebrated oculist who flourished at Baghdád about A.D. 961. A notice
of him is given by Ibn Abí Uşaybi'a (vol. I, p. 247), who speaks in high terms of
this book, which is also discussed by Professor Julius Hirschberg in Die Arabischen
Lehrbücher der Augenheilkunde (Berlin, 1905), pp. 6, and 24 et seqq., and described
as "the oldest manual of our branch of the Healing Art which we possess in full
in the original language." In 1904 Hirschberg in cooperation with Lippert published
at Leipzig a complete German translation of the work, entitled Erinnerungsbuch
für Augenärzte, aus Arabischen Handschriften übersetzt und erläutert. A second
volume containing translations of three other Arabic works on Ophthalmology was
published by the same scholars in the following year. The text from which they
made their translation, but which unfortunately remained unpublished, was based
on the first five of the ten MSS. enumerated on p. 29 of the Arabischen Lehrbücher,
more fully described and classified on pp. xxvi-xxix of the Introduction to the
Erinnerungsbuch, which gives the fullest information as to the character, scope and
value of this remarkable work. The present MS. (not known to Hirschberg) was one of those bought of the
late Hájjí 'Abdu'l-Majid Belshah in January, 1920, and, with the exception of f. 1,
which has been supplied in a modern hand, is entirely written in a fine old naskh,
with rubrications, of the eleventh century of the Christian era. The colophon on
f. 108" with which the MS. ends is unfortunately damaged, so that all that can be
read of the date of completion is "Tuesday the twenty-first...and four hundred."
It comprises 108 ff. of 20 x 15 c. and 15 ll. The first Book (Maqála) or Discourse (ff. 2-11=Erinnerungsbuch, pp. 7-30)
comprises 21 chapters. The second Book (ff. 11-83=Erinn., pp. 31-236) comprises 73 chapters.
The third Book (ff. 83-108-Erinn., pp. 237-321) comprises 27 chapters
Begins: هذه رسالة على بن عيسى الكحال جوابًا عمّا سأله بعض اخوانه فى معرفة امراض العين وعلاجاتها
وصل كتابك أيها الأخ الأجل الفاضل حفظك الله برأفته وارشدك الى الصواب بحكمته تسأل
عن جواب مع كتب جالينوس في امراض العين وعلاج كل مرض منها لأنّ الاسكندرانيون (sic) ذكروا
عدد الأمراض في العين ولم يذكروا علاجاتها الخ For a description of another MS., transcribed in Rabi 1, 555/April-May,
1160, see the Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian MSS. in the Oriental Public
Library at Bankipore, vol. IV (Arabic Medical Works), pp. 36-37.
ibn 'Ísá, a celebrated oculist who flourished at Baghdád about A.D. 961. A notice
of him is given by Ibn Abí Uşaybi'a (vol. I, p. 247), who speaks in high terms of
this book, which is also discussed by Professor Julius Hirschberg in Die Arabischen
Lehrbücher der Augenheilkunde (Berlin, 1905), pp. 6, and 24 et seqq., and described
as "the oldest manual of our branch of the Healing Art which we possess in full
in the original language." In 1904 Hirschberg in cooperation with Lippert published
at Leipzig a complete German translation of the work, entitled Erinnerungsbuch
für Augenärzte, aus Arabischen Handschriften übersetzt und erläutert. A second
volume containing translations of three other Arabic works on Ophthalmology was
published by the same scholars in the following year. The text from which they
made their translation, but which unfortunately remained unpublished, was based
on the first five of the ten MSS. enumerated on p. 29 of the Arabischen Lehrbücher,
more fully described and classified on pp. xxvi-xxix of the Introduction to the
Erinnerungsbuch, which gives the fullest information as to the character, scope and
value of this remarkable work. The present MS. (not known to Hirschberg) was one of those bought of the
late Hájjí 'Abdu'l-Majid Belshah in January, 1920, and, with the exception of f. 1,
which has been supplied in a modern hand, is entirely written in a fine old naskh,
with rubrications, of the eleventh century of the Christian era. The colophon on
f. 108" with which the MS. ends is unfortunately damaged, so that all that can be
read of the date of completion is "Tuesday the twenty-first...and four hundred."
It comprises 108 ff. of 20 x 15 c. and 15 ll. The first Book (Maqála) or Discourse (ff. 2-11=Erinnerungsbuch, pp. 7-30)
comprises 21 chapters. The second Book (ff. 11-83=Erinn., pp. 31-236) comprises 73 chapters.
The third Book (ff. 83-108-Erinn., pp. 237-321) comprises 27 chapters
Begins: هذه رسالة على بن عيسى الكحال جوابًا عمّا سأله بعض اخوانه فى معرفة امراض العين وعلاجاتها
وصل كتابك أيها الأخ الأجل الفاضل حفظك الله برأفته وارشدك الى الصواب بحكمته تسأل
عن جواب مع كتب جالينوس في امراض العين وعلاج كل مرض منها لأنّ الاسكندرانيون (sic) ذكروا
عدد الأمراض في العين ولم يذكروا علاجاتها الخ For a description of another MS., transcribed in Rabi 1, 555/April-May,
1160, see the Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian MSS. in the Oriental Public
Library at Bankipore, vol. IV (Arabic Medical Works), pp. 36-37.
Physical Description
Form: codex
Support: Paper
Extent: Ff. 108
Dimensions: 20 × 15 cm.
Layout
15 lines
Hand(s)
Fine old naskh with rubrications.
History
Origin: undated
Provenance and Acquisition
The present MS. was one of those bought of the late Hájjí 'Abdu'l-Majid Belshah in January, 1920.
Bequest of E. G. Browne.
Record Sources
Summary, physical description and provenance copied from R. A. Nicholson: A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental MSS belonging to the late E.G. Browne. Cambridge, 1932.
Availability
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Funding of Cataloguing
JISC
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