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Catalogue: Alchemy

Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb [al-‘ilm] al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab (MS P 27, item 1): (The Book of the End of the Search regarding the commentary on 'The Book of Acquired Knowledge concerning the Cultivation of Gold'); كتاب نهاية الطلب فى شرح كتاب [العلم] المكتسب در زراعت ذهب; by ‘Izz al-Dīn Aydamir ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Jaldakī (d. 1342/743); عز الدين ايدمر ابن عبد الله الجلدكى

NLM has a Persian alchemical tract in 5 sections (jumlahs) that appears to be a (partial?) Persian translation of a treatise titled Nihāyat al-ṭalab, written by ‘Izz al-Dīn Ayadamir al-Jaldakī as a commentary on Abū al-Qāsim al-‘Irāqī al-Sīmāwī's alchemical treatise titled Kitāb al-‘ilm al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab (The Book of Acquired Knowledge concerning the Cultivation of Gold). In his commentary on al-Simawi's treatise, al-Jaldakī quotes 42 different works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān as well as a large number of other earlier writers on alchemy.

This is the only recorded copy of a Persian translation of al-Jaldaki's commentary. For copies of the Arabic original of al-Jaldakī's commentary, see Ullmann, Natur, p. 239 note 3.

For copies of al-Simawi's Arabic treatise on which al-Jaldaki was commenting, see Ullmann, Natur, p. 235 note 6. An English translation of al-Simawi's treatise was published as: Kitab al-‘Ilm al-maktasab fi zira‘at adh-dhahab: Book of knowledge acquired concerning the cultivation of gold by Abu 'l-Qasim Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-‘Iraqi, ed. and trans. Erik John Holmyard (Paris, 1923).

Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb [al-‘ilm] al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab (MS P 27, item 1)

Illustrations

Folio 39 of MS P 27 which features the colophon for a copy of the alchemical treatise Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb [al-‘ilm] al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab (The End of the Search regarding the Commentary on the Book 'The Acquisition [of Knowledge] Concerning the Cultivation of Gold'). The beige paper is nearly matte-finished. The text is written in a medium-small naskh script. There is a note in the top left corner margin.

MS P 27, fol. 39a

The colophon for a copy of the alchemical treatise Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb [al-‘ilm] al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab (The End of the Search regarding the Commentary on the Book 'The Acquisition [of Knowledge] Concerning the Cultivation of Gold'). It is probably a Persian translation of a treatise by al-Jaldakī (d. 1342/743). In the colophon, at the bottom of the page, it is stated that the copy 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.

Physical Description

Persian. 39 leaves (fols. 1b-39a). Dimensions 21.4 x 16.6 (text area 16.3 x 9.8) cm; 22 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 29b, line 10 as: Kitāb Nihāyat al-ṭalab fī sharḥ Kitāb al-Muktasab dar zirā‘at-i dhahab. The author is not named.

The copy was completed at Kāshān in the month of Rajab 1133 (= 28 April-27 May 1721) by the scribe ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Faḍl Allāh al-Kāshānī (colophon, fol. 39a lines 20-21). On fol. 29b, lines 10-11, the year 997 is given, and the middle of the month of Rajab, with the statement 'by the hand of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān'; this statement is written by the same hand as the colophon (fol. 39a), where the year is written in both numerals and words as 1133, and it is likely that this latter date is the correct one.

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 here catalogued; fols. 39b-40a (item 2) a Persian treatise on the smelting of iron), attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS P 27, item 2); 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 itāb al-‘Ilm al-makhzūn fī mufāriḍah attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS P 27, item 5).