Second part of a collection of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī's (نصير الدين محمد بن محمد الطوسي; d. 1274) editions (تحارير) of the so-called 'intermediate [books] (متوسطات)', Arabic versions of ancient Greek mathematical and astronomical texts and Arabic responses to them which were meant to be read after Euclid's
Elementsand in preparation for Ptolemy's
Almagest. The first part of this collection is found in manuscript IO Islamic 1249.The script, ornamentation and binding of the volume indicate that it is part of a set comprising also manuscripts IO Islamic 924 and IO Islamic 1249. Since the latter was transcribed in 1198/1784, probably for Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal from 1772 to 1785 (see front paper ii recto), the collation notes in this manuscript dated to the months of Jumādá I and Sha‘bān without indication of the year probably refer to 1198 (March-April and June-July 1784).A descriptive title in Persian is found on front paper ii recto, and tables of contents in Persian and English are given on front paper iii recto.Contents:(1) Autolycus (أوطولوقس),
De sphaera quae movetur(تحرير كتاب الكرة المتحركة; ff. 1v-10r);(2) Theodosius (ثاوذوسيوس),
De habitationibus(تحرير كتاب المساكن; ff. 11v-21r);(3) Theodosius (ثاوذوسيوس),
De diebus et noctibus(كتاب في الأيام والليالي; ff. 23v-51r);(4) Aristarchus (أرسطرخس),
De magnitudinibus et distantiis solis et lunae(في جرمي النيرين وبعديهما; ff. 52v-69r);(5) Euclid (أقليدس),
Elements, Book 1 (مقالهٔ اولى از كتاب اقليدس; ff. 71v-95r)(6) Euclid (أقليدس),
De levi et ponderoso(في الثقل والخفة وقياس الأجرام بعضها إلى بعض; ff. 98v-101r).Codex; ff. vi+101+ivMaterial: PaperDimensions: 209 x 120 mm leaf [130 x 58 mm written]Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencilRuling:
Misṭarah; 12 lines per page; vertical spacing 9 lines per 10 cmScript:
Nasta‘līqInk: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings in redDecoration: Every opening and every page has a border in gold, black and red ink; the first opening (ff. 1v-2r) is extensively illuminated in gold, red, green and blueBinding: Hybrid binding with European and Islamic-style features; gilt tooled; leather doublureCondition: Excellent condition; book block re-sewn, boards reattached and spine replacedMarginalia: Very few and all appear to be by copyistSeals: Ff. 1r and 101v
Abstract: Treatise describing a quadrant called "al-rubʻ al-kāmil", comprising an introduction and fifteen chapters (bāb). On fol. 1a is a chart explaining the influence of the rainbow in association with the signs of the zodiac.Ms. codex.Title from preamble of text (fol. 1b).Physical description: 16 lines per page. Written in careful medium large naskh in black ink with use of red ; text is partially vocalized. Loose leaves and bifolia ; stained with water.Origin: According to note at the end of the text, copied in 993 H. 1585 (fol. 11b).Incipit: بسم ... الحمد لله الذى رسم على صفحات مصنوعاته قواطع الدلايل ... وبعد فهذه رسالة لخصت فيها محاسن الرسايل وخصصتها بالاهم مما يتعلق بالربع الكاملExplicit: لبعده يحصل الغرض فيها وفى هذا القدر كفاية لمن وفقه الله تعالى والحمد لله وحده وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم تسليما كثيرا امين
Abstract: Two texts on astrology and astronomy by Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī.Binding note: Limp dark brown leather with blind-stamped fillets; water damaged.Contents: "1. fol. 3a-53a: Sharḥ-i S̲amarah-i Baṭlamyūs. Persian translation of and commentary on an Arabic version of Ptolemy's CentiloquiumContents: a collection of a hundred aphorisms on astrology. With original Arabic text; missing first page."Contents: "2. fol. 54a-130a: Risālah-i Muʻīnīyah dar ʻilm-i hayʾat. Manual of astronomy dedicated to Muʻīn al-Dīn Abū al-ShamsContents: son of the author's patron Nāṣir al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Abī Manṣūr (governor of Quhistan). Missing first page; with numerous diagrams."Ms. composite codex.Title of first text from fol. 1a, by a later hand; title of second text from fol. 54a.On front cover: Label reading "284" in Arabic script.Ms. erroneously foliated beginning on first flyleaf. Record follows erroneous foliation.Physical description: 15-16 lines per page; written in casual nastaʻliq by two different hands in black on glazed, laid Arabic paper. Rubrication and catchwords. Some damp staining; edges somewhat ragged.Origin: First text completed Ramaḍān 935 H May-June 1529 by Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī (fol. 53a). Second text completed on Wednesday, 7 Rabīʻ II 681 H 15 July 1282 (fol. 130a).
Watermarks: Scrollwork, three hats. For the latter, see Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Hilversum, 1950), nos. 2593 and 2597.Rubrication absent; marginal corrections in hand of copyist.Date, name of copyist, place of employment and employer's name, and provenance in colophon: qad waqaʻa al-farāgh ʻan taḥrīrihi wa-taswīd fī yawm al-ithnayn min ākhir shahr Muḥarram al-ḥarām li-sanat sitt wa-ʻishrīn wa-miʻah wa-alf [15 February 1714] tamma ʻalá yad afqar al-wará Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī ... fī al-madrasah Sayf Bulandī fī madīnat Anqarah fī khidmat al-Qāsim Afandī.For another copy of this text see Mich. Isl. Ms. 817,2."Ḥāshīyah on the commentary of Qāḍī Zādah on al-Jighmīnī's Mulakhkhaṣ," a treatise on theoretical astronomy (hayʼah). David A. King, A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library (winona Lake, 1986), pp. 158-9.
Watermark: Three crescents. See Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Hilversum, 1950), p. 24.Text rubricated and overlined in red; marginal corrections and notes in hand of copyist; pp. [39-52] are on different paper in a different hand.For another copy of this text, see Mich. Isl. Ms. 800,2."An extract from the Risāla fī al-ʻamal bi-rubʻ al-dāʼira al-mauḍūʻ fīhi al-muqanṭarāt of Jamāl al-Dīn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Khalīl, al-Māridīnī." Cataloging by Elinor M. Husselman, 1945.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from fol. 1b. Pagination: 1st work: fol. 1b-26a (14 lines); 2nd work: fol. 27b-43a. (15 lines) First work written by ʻAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Shīrāzī; scribe of second work not identified. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. First work written in al-Ṭihrān [Tehran], Iran; second work written in Iran, city not identified. Paper: yellowish, polished cream color commercial paper with no visible watermarks; black ink, with rubrication and some overlining in red; some pages folded over; catchwords. First work: Cursive Naskh; 14 lines in written area 16 x 9 cm.; second work: Nastaʻliq; 15 lines in written area 16.5 x 9.5 cm. First work: Cursive Naskh; second work: Nastaʻliq. Astronomical drawings throughout in red and black. Folio 1b-26a; Folio 27b-43a. Library of Congress. Manuscript, M305. Binding: blue grain over cardboard sides, dark blue cloth spine.Manuscript.
Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldRecord origin: "Description based on the Bodleian Library's public card index of Arabic manuscripts with additional enhancements by the OCIMCO project team. Image descriptions based in part on CarboniRecord origin: S. (1988)Record origin: Il Kitab al-bulhan di Oxford."