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Catalogue: Alchemy

Fī sabk al-ḥadīd (MS P 27, item 2): (On the Smelting of Iron); فى سبك الحديد; attributed to Abū Mūsá Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (8th-9th century); جابر ابن حيان

A large number of miscellaneous writings have been attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān that are not listed as part of one of the major collective works that circulated under his name. Amongst such writings, NLM has some that are attested to being attributed to Jābir in other sources, as well as several that are stated to be by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān in the NLM manuscript copy but are not recorded in the published bibliographic literature on Jabir.

No treatise having the title Fī sabk al-ḥadīd (On the Smelting of Iron) is recorded amongst those attributed to Jābir. Yet the copy at NLM states that it is taken from 'a discussion by Jābir' (min kalam Jābir).

No other copy of the Persian essay has been identified.

Fī sabk al-ḥadīd (MS P 27, item 2)

Physical Description

Persian. 2 leaves (fols. 39b-40a, line 5). Dimensions 21.4 x 16.6 (text area 16.3 x 9.8) cm; 22-3 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 39b, line 1, and in the following line it is said to be from 'a discussion by Jābir (min kalam Jābir).

The copy was completed by the hand as transcribed the first item in the volume, which was completed at Kashan in the month of Rajab 1133 (= 28 April-27 May 1721) by the scribe ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Faḍl Allāh al-Kāshānī.

The text is written in a medium-small naskh script with pink-red overlinings (which may have been added later) and a few headings in about the same color. There are catchwords. The first three items in the volume are by the same copyist.

There is extensive marginalia, much of it apparently written by the copyist and intended as a guide to the contents and a commentary.

The beige paper is nearly matte-finished and has no laid lines or chain lines visible; the edges have been trimmed from their original size. The paper is grease and damp stained and soiled through thumbing. Repairs have been made to fol. 1.

The volume consists of 41 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank except for penciled note (Collection: Risalat Jabir) attributing the volume to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and an undeciphered phrase in Persian script. Fols. 1a-39a (item 1) contain Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb [al-‘ilm] al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab by al-Jaldakī (MS P 27, item 1); fols. 39b-40a (item 2) a Persian treatise on the smelting of iron, attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān here catalogued; folios 40a-40b an untitled short anonymous Persian essay on winds and rain (MS P 27, item 3); fols. 40b-41b are an Arabic untitled treatise on numerology whose author is given as Zosimos (MS P 27, item 4); and fol. 41b, lower two-thirds, contains an Arabic alchemical chapter from Kitāb al-‘Ilm al-makhzūn fī mufāriḍah attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS P 27, item 5).