Banner featuring Arabic calligraphy in dark blue ink above the words Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine written in burgundy ink.

Catalogue: Natural History

al-Jawhar al-fard fī mufākharat al-narjis wa-al-ward (MS A 91, item 13): (The Unique Gem in the Rivalry of the Narcissus and the Rose); الجوهر الفرد فى مفاخرة النرجس والورد; by Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Musharraf al-Māridīnī (fl. 1442/846); ابو الحسن على ابن المشرف الماردينى

NLM has a copy of a set of poems concerned with botanical topics composed by al-Māridīnī, who worked in Iraq and upper Mespotamia in the first half of the 15th century.

In the copy at NLM (MS A 91, item 13), no author is provided for this series of poems on botanical topics. The author, however, can be identified as Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Musaharraf al-Māridīnī based upon a comparison of openings of the poems with those in Berlin, Staatbibliothek, MS Pet. 654, fols. 79b-83a, and MS Mf. 1178, fols. 85b-87a, where the author is given as al-Māridīnī (see Ahlwardt, Berlin, entry nos. 8439 and 6111; for other anonymous copies of this poetical treatise, see entry 8594).

For additional copies, see GAL, vol. 2, p. 161 (270), and GAL-S, vol.2, p. 200.

The beginning of the treatise is also identical to that printed on pp. 201-9 of Nufhut-ool-Yumun, An Arabic Miscellany of Compositions in Prose and Verse by Shuekh Uhmud bin Moohummud Shurwanee ool Yumunee (Calcutta: Hindoostanee Press, 1811).

Illustrations

Page 254 from MS A 91 which is the opening page of al-Jawhar al-fard fī mufākharat al-narjis wa-al-ward (The Unique Gem in the Rivalry of the Narcissus and the Rose) by al-Māridīnī. The paper is a thick, glossy, light-beige (darkened near the edges) paper with laid lines, single chain lines, and watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, with black ink and headings in red. It is a fluid script with a number of ligatures.

MS A 91, p. 254

The opening page of al-Jawhar al-fard fī mufākharat al-narjis wa-al-ward (The Unique Gem in the Rivalry of the Narcissus and the Rose) by al-Māridīnī (fl. 1442/846). The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the 17th or 18th century.

Physical Description

Arabic. 9 pages (pp. 254- 262, line 4). Dimensions 21.5 x 15.7 (text area 16.5 x 10.5) cm; 21 lines per page. The title is given at the top of p. 254. No author is given.

The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the 17th or 18th century.

Apparently a complete copy.

The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, with black ink and headings in red. It is a fluid script with a number of ligatures. There are catchwords. This hand appears to have been responsible for most of the items in the volume.

The volume has been paginated rather than foliated. The volume has been recently repaginated in Western numerals. There is an early pagination in Arabic numerals which places the numeral 15 on the first page of the present volume, with subsequent mistakes and omissions. Therefore, it is evident that the first 14 pages of the manuscript are now missing. According to this earlier pagination, there are also leaves missing after pp. 44 (old 58), 182 (old 186), 188 (old 194), and 220 (old 227). There are also section numbers (nos. 40-694) in the margins, and this marginal numbering is continuous, except at the beginning, indicating that it was written after the missing leaves, except opening leaves, had disappeared. The page references are to the Western pagination, followed by the old pagination.

The same paper has been used throughout the volume. It is a thick, glossy, light-beige (darkened near the edges) paper with laid lines, single chain lines, and watermarks. The paper is greatly soiled by thumbing and with grime, and is waterstained near the edges. The edges have been repaired on several leaves.

The volume consists of 268 leaves. Item 1 (pp. 1-44) is the Mu‘alajat al-amrāḍ al-khaṭirah al-bādiyah ‘alá al-badan min khārij by Ibn al-Kattānī (MS A 91, item 1). Item 2 (p. 44) untitled and anonymous writing on foodstuffs (MS A 91, item 2); item 3 (p. 45) an untitled and anonymous collection of compound remedies (MS A 91, item 3); item 4 (pp. 46-91) is a therapeutic mujarrabat manual by Muḥammad ibn Khamrah (MS A 91, item 4); item 5 (pp. 91-96) an anonymous treatise titled Risālah fī khawāṣṣ al-panzahr (MS A 91, item 5); item 6 (pp. 97-103) contains recipes (MS A 91, item 6); item 7 (pp. 103-106) is an anonymous discourse titled al-Qawl fī faḍl al-fatīḥah (MS A 91, item 7); item 8 (pp. 106-109) an anonymous essay titled Ṣifat ma‘jūn nāfi‘ lil-ma‘idah (MS A 91, item 8); item 9 (pp. 110-119) in an essay on Prophetic traditions by al-Shaykh Abū al-‘Abbās known as Ibn al-Mīlaq, or Ibn Maylaq (MS A 91, item 9); item 10 (pp. 120-182) an anonymous treatise Kitāb al-Khawāṣṣ (MS A 91, item 10); item 11 (pp. 183-188) on medicinal plants, untitled and anonymous (MS A 91, item 11); item 12 (pp. 189-253) on compound remedies (MS A 91, item 12); item 13 (pp. 254-262) is here catalogued; and the final item (pp. 262-268) are anonymous recipes (MS A 91, item 14).

Binding

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

Provenance

At the lower right corner of p. 96 [old 110] there is an owner's inscription stating that the owner (sahibuhu wa-malikuhu) was al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Ḥakīm.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda who acquired it from a dealer in Damascus, Syria (ELS 1700 Med. 31).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 91 item 2, p. 329. This item is not included.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-130, no. 1