Catalogue: Pharmaceutics

Mukhtaṣar min mufradāt Ibn Jazlah [al-kitāb] al-mawsūm bi-al-Bayān   (MS A 87, item 2)

(Abridgement of the Simple Medicaments from Ibn Jazlah's [book] called al-Bayān)

مختصر من مفردات ابن جزلة [الكتاب] الموسوم بالبيان

presumably by Abū ‘Alī Yaḥyá ibn ‘Īsá Ibn Jazlah

ابو على يحيى ابن عيسى ابن جزله

Illustrations

The opening page of an anonymous abridgement of the section on simple remedies from the pharmaceutic compendium titled Minhaj al-bayān by Ibn Jazlah (d. 1100/493). Throughout the copy, the margins contain many annotations, occasionally crossed out by later readers. The copy is undated and unsigned but appears to have been made in the 18^th century.

Physical Description

Arabic. 51 leaves (fols. 4a-54a). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area 17.8 x 11.5) cm; 22-3 lines per page. On fol. 4a the title is given as Mukhtaṣar min mufradāt Ibn Jazlah al-mawsūm bi-al-Bayān (Abridgement of the Simple Medicaments from Ibn Jazlah's [book] called al-Bayān). No author of the abridgment is given.

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

This is a condensed version of the text found in MS A 40, fol. 15, line 15, to fol. 244, line 20.The text is written in a fairly inelegant medium-large naskh script using black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. It was transcribed by the same unnamed copyist as copied most of the next item in the volume (item 3) as well as item 7 and possibly item 13. There are catchwords.

There are copious marginalia filling nearly all the margins. There are also annotations on the title page (fol. 4a).

The ivory paper is thick and stiff, with visible vertical laid lines and single chain lines (no evident watermarks). It is dampstained and soiled through thumbing.

The volume consists of 186 leaves. It is a mixed volume with 18 different items in it, copied by at least two different copyists. Item 1 (fols. 1a-3b) is an anonymous alchemical fragment (MS A 87, item 1), item 2 (fols. 4a-54a) is the abridgement of a treatise called al-Bayān by Ibn Jazlah here catalogued, and item 3 (fols. 54b-64b) extracts from al-Bayān [by Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 3). Item 4 (fols. 65b-68a) is an anonymous, untitled essay on stones (MS A 87, item 4), item 5 (fols. 68b-74a) an anonymous collection of therapeutic procedures (MS A 87, item 5), and item 6 (fols. 74a-75b) on regimen for infants, extracted from Kitāb al-Bayān [? Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 6). Item 7 (fols. 76a-96b) is the anonymous treatise on materia medica (MS A 87, item 7); item 8 (fols. 97a-100a) an anonymous tract on medicinal oils (MS A 87, item 8), and item 9 (fols. 100b-121a) a magical-medical treatise by Ibn Tūmart al-Maghribī (MS A 87, item 9). Item 10 (fols. 121b-125a) is an anonymous alphabetical list of medicaments (MS A 87, item 10), and item 11 (fols. 125b-140b) is the commentary on an identified "poem on the principles of the art of medicine" (MS A 87, item 11). Item 12 (fols. 140b-142a) contains selections from Kitāb al-Ḥāwī fī ‘ilm al-tadāwī by Najm al-Din al-Shirazi (MS A 87, item 12), and item 13 (fols. 142b-157b, 159a-172a) is an untitled anonymous treatise in five chapters on medicine, magic, and divination (MS A 87, item 13). Item 14 (fols. 172b-174a) is an anonymous tract on divination (MS A 87, item 14), item 15 (fols. 174b-175a) untitled extracts from medical writings (MS A 87, item 15), and item 16 (fols. 175a-181b) is an anonymous astrological treatise (MS A 87, item 16). Item 17 (fols. 182a-184b) is an anonymous treatise titled Dā'ir muḥibb fī ‘ilm al-ṭibb , on magical medicine (MS A 87, item 17), while the final item, item 18 (fols. 185a-186b), is an anonymous essay on the numerical values of letters and magic squares (MS A 87, item 18).

Binding

The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with brown leather, over which light-brown paper has been placed on the covers. There is a recent brown leather spine. The paper pastedowns are contemporary with the manuscript and are covered with miscellaneous notes.

Provenance

There is an owner's signature dated 1268 [= 1851-2] on folio 3b of the volume, and there are several owners' notes on fol. 4a, none apparently dated.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda, who acquired it from a dealer in Sanaa, the Yemen (ELS 2369).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., pp. 326-7 entry A87.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 4