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: Alchemy

Blue arrow pointing to the right Kitāb al-Mawāzīn     (MS A 70, item 24)
(The Book of the Balances)
كتاب الموازين
attributed to Jābir ibn ayyān (8th-9th century)
جابر ابن حيان

A group of 144 alchemical tracts known collectively as Kutub al-Mawāzīn (The Books of Balances) probably dates from the beginning of the 10th century. The National Library of Medicine has several treatises that appear to relate to this Jābirian collection.

Extracts from what is called simply Kitāb al-Mawāzīn (The Book of the Balances) preserved today in MS A 70 (item 24). This extract titled 'from (min)' Kitāb al-Mawāzīn (The Book of the Balances) has not been identified precisely. It may be an extract from some part of the group of 144 books known collectively as Kutub al-Mawāzīn (The Books of the Balances). On the other hand, there is according to one medieval bibliography (Ibn al-Nadim's Fihrist or 'Catalogue') a different collection of books ascribed to Jābir ibn ayyān - a collection of 17 books, one of which is titled Kitāb al-Mawāzīn (The Book of the Balances); see Kraus, Jabir, p. 71 no. 242 and Sezgin, GAS IV, p. 248 no. 3 (the latter lists one manuscript of two folios in length being preserved elsewhere.).

No other copy has been identified.

Kitāb al-Mawāzīn [extract from]   (MS A 70, item 24)

Physical Description

Arabic. 2 leaves (Fol. 63b, line 14-fol. 64a, line 9). Dimensions 21.3 x 16.8 (text area 15 x 10) cm; 20 lines per page. The title and author are given at the start of the text.

While the precise identity of the treatise being extracted has not been determined, it is evident that the text does not correspond to the Jābirian tract titled Kitab al-Mawāzīn al-saghir (The Small Book of the Balance) which was edited and translated into French by M. Berthelot and M.O. Houdas, La Chimie au moyen age (Paris, 1893), vol. 3, text no. 9; see also Kraus, Jabir, no. 980.

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

All twenty-seven items in the volume have been transcribed by the same unnamed copyist. Dimensions 21.3 x 16.8 (text area 15 x 10) cm; 20 lines per page.

The text is written in a small, compact naskh script using black ink with headings and overlinings in red. There are catchwords. On some leaves there are instructions written vertically in the margins to the person who later inserted the rubricated headings; most have been cut off as the edges were trimmed, but on some folios (e.g., 37a, 38a) traces can still be seen.

There are copious marginalia throughout in several hands, with some interlinear notes. A later hand has written the titles of various individual items in the volume in the upper left corners of the recto of some folios. One person adding marginalia to the volume frequently cites the alchemical authority al-Jaldakī.

Fols. 1-40 are composed of a biscuit, fibrous paper having a nearly matte finish, with neither laid lines nor chain lines. Fols. 41-67 are composed of paper dyed a light gray, of structure and finish similar to the first group. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. The volume is damp-stained and soiled through thumbing.

The volume consists of 67 leaves and one loose leaf. Fol. 1a is blank except for some later Turkish poetry and an owner's stamp. The loose leaf is smaller (ca. 18 x 11 cm) and of different paper from the rest of the volume; on it are miscellaneous and very casually written notes. Fols. 1b-12a (item 1) contain Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 1); fols. 12a-13b (item 2) Kitāb Jannāt al-khuld by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 2 ); fols. 13b-20b (item 3) Kitāb al-Ramah al-kabīr by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 3); fols. 20b-22a (item 4) Kitāb al-Iqāq min sab‘īn [extracts] by al-Rāzī (MS A 70, item 4); fols. 22a-24a (item 5) an untitled treatise attributed to Hirmīs [Hermes Trismegistus] (MS A 70, item 5); fols. 24a-27b (item 6) Kitāb al-Tadābīr by al-Rāzī (MS A 70, item 6); fols. 28a-29a (item 7) Kitāb al-Rāhib by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 7); fols 29a-30b (item 8) Kitāb al-Āthar al-‘ulwīyah by Aristotle (MS A 70, item 8); fols. 30b-31b (item 9) Risālah al-Fahm al-thāqib ilá al-fahm al-murāqib attributed to Plato (MS A 70, item 9); fols. 31b-33b (item 10) Risālah Mufākharat al-ajār attributed to Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 10); fols. 33b-37b (item 11) extracts from writings of al-ughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 11); fols. 38a-38b (item 12) untitled treatise attributed to Agathodaimon (MS A 70, item 12); fols. 39a-41a (item 13) Risālah fī inā‘at al-iksīr by Amad ibn ‘Imād al-Dīn (MS A 70, item 13); fols. 41a-45a (item 14) Risālah fī bayān tafrīq al-adyān wa-tafarru‘ al-‘ibādāt wa-al-diyānāt wa-al-i‘tiqādāt by Zosimos (MS A 70, item 14); fols. 45a-47b (item 15) Kitāb al-Fuūl attributed to Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 15); fols. 47b-48b (item 16) extracts from writings of al-ughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 16); fols. 49a-52b (item 17) untitled risālah attributed to Khālid ibn Yazīd (MS A 70, item 17); fols. 52b-53b (item 18) Kitāb al-Mujarradāt [extracts] attributed to Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 18); fols. 53b-57b (item 19) Masā’il attributed to Khālid ibn Yazīd (MS A 70, item 19); fols. 57b-60a (item 20) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 20); fols. 60a-63a (item 21) extract (nubdhah) from the writings of al-ughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 21); fols. 63a-63b (item 22) Aqwāl al-mutaffariqāt, anonymous (MS A 70, item 22); fols. 63b, lines 6-13 (item 23), alchemical note, anonymous (MS A 70, item 23); fols. 63b-64a (item 24) Kitāb al-Mawāzīn [extracts] by Jābir ibn ayyān here catalogued; fols. 64a-64b (item 25) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn [extract] by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 25); fols 64b-67a (item 26) Kitāb al-Ajār ‘alá ra’y Balīnās by Jābir ibn ayyān (MS A 70, item 26); and fols. 67a-67b (item 27) untitled treatise attributed to Agathodaimon (MS A 70, item 27).

Binding

The volume is bound in a soft brown-leather binding. On each cover there is a blind-tooled design formed of straight lines. There are no pastedowns or endpapers.

Provenance

On fol. 1b there is an impression of an owner's stamp whose date might be 1123 (= 1711), though the middle numerals are not clear, and the name might be Abū Nūr Muammad al-usaynī. On fol. 1a there is an unidentified library stamp.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda (ELS 1701 Med 120).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 70, p. 320, where says it a collection of 32 alchemical treatises.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-126 no. 3

Welcome Getting started Medieval Islam Catalogue Bio-bibliographies Glossary Abbreviations Credits About the Author Concordances A 1 - A 29 A 30 - A 59 A 60 - A 89 A 90 - A 92 P 1 - P 29 Authors, Translators & Commentators Copyists & Illustrators Owners & Patrons