Commentary on the 1501 Astronomical Tables by Abraham Zacut (Zacuto b. Salamanca; 1452) written by Abraham Gascon (16th century) and adapted to the geographical position of Cairo.Condition: tornLayout: 20-23 lines
An astronomical treatise by Abraham b. ʿAnzar(?) on the seven planets and the model of the Universe. Mentions Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Abraham bar Ḥayya, Copernicus and the philosopher Abū Bakr b. al-Ṣāyiḡ (ibn Bajja), whose book the author read with a Muslim.Condition: Torn, holes, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 15–27 lines (2v is blank)
A collection of anonymous astrological and magical treatises. Also bound together with this manuscript is a lithographed copy of Kitāb fī al-tamām wa-al-kamāl by Abū Maʻshar. This book is in two parts, the first dealing with horoscopes of men and their signs the second with women. Each part has 12 sections.
Watermark: Anchor in circle. See Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Hilversum, 1950), nos. 1-8.Text rubricated; marginal notes in hand of copyist (?) and others.Date in colophon: taḥrīran fī awākhir shahr Dhī al-Qaʻdah ʻām sabʻah wa-ʻishrīn wa-alf min hijrat al-nabawī [i.e. November 1618].Pp. [5-19]. Bound with: [2] Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Bannāʾ, Abwāb yastadillu bi-hā ʻalá al-awqāt wa-al-sāʻāt wa-yuʻlam bi-hā awqāt al-ṣalāh, pp. [20-47]; [3] Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Qalaṣādī, Kashf al-asrār ʻan ʻilm ḥurūf al-ghubār, pp. [48-116].On timekeeping and the conversion of calendars.
Watermarks: Three crescents; initials W+W. For the first see Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Hilversum, 1950), p. 24.Contains star tables and astronomical diagrams.Rubrication on first 5 pp. only; marginal corrections in another hand."A treatise dealing mainly with astrology.... This work merits investigation." David A. King, A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library (Winona Lake, 1986), p. 42.
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."
Binding: Late 16th or early 17th century calf over wooden boards, with blind-tooled panels and rolls and centrepiece ornaments on both boards; sewn onto four supports, with raised bands; remains of metal clasps; text block edges sprinkled red.Contents note: Includes vocalised text of Five Scrolls. Some marginal manuscript annotations in Hebrew in Sephardi cursive script.Decoration: Title page decorated with simple floral motifs.Dimensions: 200mm (height) x 158mm (width) x 48mm (depth).Layout: Biblical text in a larger square script and vocalised; Almosnino’s commentary that surrounds it is in a semi-cursive script. Hebrew types resembling square and semi-cursive scripts.
Binding: European binding (repaired) of pasteboards covered with mottled brown leather. The covers have a central frame of four fillets with scallops interspersed with palmettes; at each corner of the central frame are large blind-stamped flower-heads. The covers also have narrow outer frames of two fillets. The spine (five cords) is undecorated. The pastedowns and endpapers (fols. ii–ii, iii–iv) are modern. The numeral 91 has been inked on the fore-edge of the manuscript.Contents note: Ff. 10a-12a are incomplete; f. 12b is blank; some of the tables ff. 48a-49a are incomplete; f.50a has been added by a later hand. Ff. 4b-5a, 12b and 93b-94a contain pencilled notes in several languages by John Greaves (1602-1652), Savilian Professor of Astronomy (1643-8).Dimensions: 26.4 × 18.0 (17.2 × 11.0) cm; the pages have been trimmed.Hand: Main text in Arabic naskh; notes in several other Arabic and Persian hands in addition to three European hands: Greaves, Bernard and unidentified.Layout: 21 lines per page, blank ink with red rubrics; from f. 50a, the text is enclosed in red-inked frames. Tables are laid out in grids using red and black ink.Record origin: "Description abbreviated from Emilie Savage-SmithRecord origin: A descriptive Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts at St John's CollegeRecord origin: Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University PressRecord origin: 2005)Record origin: Entry No. 6Record origin: pp. 26-30."
Watermarks: initials AG in roman; stars in shield with crown. See Edward Heawood, Watermarks, Mainly of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Hilversum, 1950), p. 36 and nos. 860 and 3886.Text rubricated; copy incomplete.Date of mid-19th century based on author's death date."A commentary on Wasīlat al-mubtadiʾīn li ʻilm ghurrat al-shuhūr wa 'l-sinīn, a poem in 48 verses on the calendar by the same author." Cataloging by Elinor M. Husselman, 1945.
Set of works on mathematics and astronomy copied together in what appears to be the same hand. The second work has a supercommentary copied in the margins. Several leaves of calculations and notations tipped or laid in; two tipped in pages have been foliated along with the leaves (f. 26, 33). Also includes one page in Ottoman Turkish (f.94v).