MS. Marsh 80 (Bodleian Library, Oxford University)
Oriental Manuscripts Marsh Collection
Contents
1 copy of Kitāb al-Ghiná wa-al-muná by Qumrī, Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥasan ibn Nūḥ, 11th cent.
It is an incomplete copy. The text breaks off at the bottom of folio 60b in the fifty-first bāb of the first maqālah. A complete table of contents for the full treatise is given on folios 2a−3a. Maqālah 1 starts on folio 3a.
At the bottom of the page, a different more cursive hand has written: والله الهادي الى الطريق تمت الكتاب
The volume consists of 60 leaves. Folio 1a is blank except for a defaced owner’s note and an annotation of the author’s name, Qumrī (قمرى ).
References
Physical Description
Condition
The paper is worm-eaten and slightly foxed. Folio 60 is slightly water-damaged and has an unrepaired hole near the centre.
Layout
19 lines per page.
Hand(s)
Written in a medium-small compact Naskh script tending towards Nastaʿlīq, in dense-black ink with headings in red ink; some headings are now slightly tarnished, and may have been either blue or silver at one time. There are catchwords.
- Marginalia There are occasional marginalia in several hands, sometimes extensive (e.g., folios 9b 16a, 33b, 54a), as well as some interlinear annotations (e.g., 1b).
- Paper The glossy, beige, paper has a thickness of 0.12−0.14 mm and an opaqueness factor of 4 to 5. It has indistinct horizontal laid lines and traces of chain lines, possibly in groups of 3s.
Binding
The volume is bound in pasteboard covers and an envelope flap. The exterior covers and flap are simple tan paper, undecorated. The spine is a dark-brown leather, and the fore-edge flap a more recent light-tan soft leather. The plain pastedowns and envelope flap lining are modern. There are no endpapers.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The volume is from the private collection of Jacob Golius (d. 1667) who acquired manuscripts in the 1620s (mostly in Syria). The manuscript was purchased in 1696 by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh
Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, upon his death in 1713.
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures contact Bodleian Admissions).
Funding of Cataloguing
JISC
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