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Catalogue: Dietetics and Regimen

Diet / Foodstuffs:

Discourses on diet and the medicinal value of various foods was of course part of general treatises on regimen as well as general medical encyclopedias and comprehensive manuals on pharmaceutics. Some treatises, however, focused upon the matter of food, and these have been selected for inclusion in this section though they might just as well have been placed in some other categories.

A very important, in fact unique, copy of a poem on diet and foodstuffs written in the 13th century by a famous astronomer al-Marrākushī was catalogued in the section dealing with medical poetry (MS A 85, item 3).

Four essays on foodstuffs by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911)

NLM has a volume containing three short essays and ten maqāmahs by the 15th-century encyclopedist and scholar Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, a maqāmah being a type of rhymed prose. The manuscript at NLM (MS A 35) containing the essays and maqāmahs by al-Suyūṭī is closely related to the Berlin MS We. 193, copied about 1800, which contains copies of all but the last item in NLM MS A 35, in precisely the same order. Other Berlin manuscripts contain additional copies of a few of the maqāmahs represented in the NLM manuscript. Specific references to other copies for each item will be given as they are catalogued individually.

Amongst the essays and maqāmahs in this volume are a maqāmah on the pistachio and a maqāmah concerned with the medical uses of the gourd, endive, lettuce, okra and other vegetables (items 3 and 7). There are also two essays on related topics: one concerns kunafah, which is a type of vermicelli baked in sugar, butter and honey, and qata'if, which are small doughnuts fried in butter and served with honey (item 9). The second essay (item 2) is on the cleaning of flax in dry bread.

None of the essays have been published in a modern translations or editions.

Manhal fī al-kunāfah wa-al-qaṭā'if (MS A 35, item 9): (A Pool concerning "Kunafah" and "Qata'if"); منهل فى الكنافة والقطائف; by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911); جلال الدين السيوطى

This essay concerns kunāfah, which is a type of vermicelli baked in sugar, butter and honey, and qata'if, which are small doughnuts fried in butter and served with honey.

Another copy of the essay is found in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS We. 193, fols. 20b-27a (see Ahlwardt, Berlin, no. 8567).

Manhal fī al-kunāfah wa-al-qaṭā'if (MS A 35 item 9)

Folio 30a from MS A 35 which features the colophon of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī's Manhal fī al-kunāfah wa-al-qaṭā'if (A Pool concerning 'Kunafah' and 'Qata'if'). The biscuit, glossy paper has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines, and watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small naskh script showing some North African influence using black ink with headings red.

MS A 35, fol. 30a

The colophon of a copy of an essay on a type of vermicelli baked in sugar, butter, and honey (kunāfah) and on small doughnuts fried in butter and served with honey (qata'if) written by al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911). It is stated in the colophon that copyist Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥalwānī al-Shāfi‘ī completed the copy on 16 Ramadan 1001 [= 16 June 1593].

Arabic. 9 leaves (fols. 22b-30a). Dimensions 20.4 x 14.6 (text area 15.5 x 9.5) cm; 23 lines per page. The title Manhal fi al-kunafah wa-al-qata'if is given at the start of the essay. On the title page (fol. 1a) the title varies slightly: Manhal al-lata'if fī al-kunāfah wa-al-qaṭā'if ("A pool of witticisms concerning kunafah and qata'if"). The author's name is given at the end of the second item (fol. 4a lines 12-14) as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, but on the title page (fol. 1a) and in the other individual items as: Jalāl al-Suyūṭī.

In the colophon (fol. 30 line 13), it is stated that copyist Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥalwānī al-Shāfi‘ī completed the copy on 16 Ramadan 1001 [= 16 June 1593].

al-Maqāmah al-zumurrudīyah (MS A 35, item 7): (The Emerald Maqāmah ); المقامة الزمردية; by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911); جلال الدين السيوطى

Despite the title of this essay written in rhmyed prose (maqāmah), it is concerned with the use, primarily medical, of vegetables such a the gourd, endive, lettuce, and okra.

Other copies of the essay is found in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS We.193, fols. 13b-16a, MS We. 189 fols. 14a-19b, and MS Pet. 296 fols. 41a-46b (see Ahlwardt, Berlin nos. 8559, 8555, and 8556).

Arabic. 5 leaves (fols. 14b-18a). Dimensions 20.4 x 14.6 (text area 15.5 x 9.5) cm; 23 lines per page. The title is given at the beginning of the essay and on the title page (fol. 1a). The author's name is given at the end of the second item (fol. 4a lines 12-14) as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, but on the title page (fol. 1a) and in the other individual items as: Jalāl al-Suyūṭī.

All but the last item in this volume were copied by the same copyist. In the colophon item 9 (fol. 30 line 13), it is stated that the copyist Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥalwānī al-Shāfi‘ī completed the copy on 16 Ramadan 1001 [= 16 June 1593].

Nathl al-kattān fī al-kushknān (MS A 35, item 2): (The Cleaning of Flax in Dry Bread); نثل الكتان فى الخشكنان; by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911); جلال الدين السيوطى

The subject matter of this essay is evident from the title.

Another copy of the essay is found in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS We. 193, fols. 2b-4a (see Ahlwardt, Berlin no. 8568).

Arabic. 3 leaves (fols. 2a-4a). Dimensions 20.4 x 14.6 (text area 15.5 x 9.5) cm; 23 lines per page. The title is given at the beginning of the essay and on the title page (fol. 1a). The author's name is given at the end of this item (fol. 4a lines 12-14) as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, but on the title page (fol. 1a) and in the other individual items as: Jalāl al-Suyūṭī.

al-Maqāmah al-fustuqīyah (MS A 35, item 3): (The Pistachio Maqāmah ); المقامة الفستقية; by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505/911); جلال الدين السيوطى

This essay in rhymed prose (maqāmah ) concerns the medicinal uses of the pistacio nut.

Another copy of the essay is found in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS We. 193, fols. 4b-6a (see Ahlwardt, Berlin no. 8560).

Arabic. 3 leaves (fols. 4a-6a). Dimensions 20.4 x 14.6 (text area 15.5 x 9.5) cm; 23 lines per page. The title is given at the beginning of the essay and on the title page (fol. 1a). The author's name is given at the end of the second item (fol. 4a lines 12-14) as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, but on the title page (fol. 1a) and in the other individual items as: Jalāl al-Suyūṭī.

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All four items occur in the same volume, where they were transcribed by the same copyist. The title of the volume is given as Majmu‘at maqamat al-Suyūṭī ("A collection of maqāmahs by al-Suyūṭī") in a recent owner's penciled label on the front endpaper.

The text is written in a medium-small naskh script showing some North African influence using black ink with headings red. There is also red shading of some words; there are red teardrop text stops and catchwords. The text area is frame-ruled.

The biscuit, glossy paper has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines, and watermarks (initials). Fol. 43 is dyed yellow. The paper is waterstained, especially at the top of the volume, and it is soiled with thumbing. The edges have been trimmed from their original size.

The volume consists of 51 leaves and 1 end leaf. Fol. 1a is the title page for the entire volume. It contains three short essays and ten maqāmahs (a type of rhymed prose), all by al-Suyūṭī. Item 1 (fols. 1b-2a) is Muṣannaf fī al-ghāliyah (MS A 35, item 1); item 2 (fols. 2a-4a) Nathl al-kattān fī al-kushknān is here catalogued; item 3 (fols. 4a-6a) al-Maqāmah al-fustuqīyah is here catalogued; item 4 (fols. 6a-8b) Naḍrah fī aḥādīth al-mā’ wa-al-riyāḍ (MS A 35, item 4); item 5 (fols. 8b-11b) al-Dhararī fī abnā al-sarāarī (MS A 35, item 5); item 6 (fols. 11b-14b) Maqāmah fī waṣf rawdah misr tasammá Bulbul al-rawḍah (MS A 35, item 6); item 7 (fols. 14b-18a) al-Maqāmah al-zumurrudīyah is here catalogued; item 8 (fols. 18a-22b) al-Maqāmah al-yāqūtīyah (MS A 35, item 8); item 9 (fols. 22b-30a) Manhal fī al-kunāfah wa-al-qaṭā'if is here catalogued; item 10 (fols. 30a-37a) Maqāmah al-rayāḥīn tasammá al-Maqāmah al-wardīyah (MS A 35, item 10); item 11 (fols. 37a-42a) al-Maqāmah al-miskīyah (MS A 35, item 11); item 12 (fols. 42a-50b) al-Maqāmah al-tuffā (MS A 35, item 12); and item 13 (fols. 51a-51b) Risālah fī al-khitān by al-Simillāwī (MS A 35, item 13). Fol. [1] at the end of the volume is blank but for small pious invocations; its paper is of later date.

The volume is bound in a red leather modern library binding. There are modern paper pastedowns and endpapers.

Various owners' signatures are on the title page (fol. 1a), including one by Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Bakr al-Kharrāṭ al-Ḥanafī al-Dimashqī dated 1054 (1644-45) and Muḥammad ibn Sulayman al-Kanāfī(undated).

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS 5043).

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A35, p. 309 (the specific items are not itemized)

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-119 no. 2