Alchemy; letter T-S 16.270

Title:

Alchemy; letter T-S 16.270

Date:

6th-19th century

Description:

Recto: two alchemical recipes. The first recipe (ll. 1-8) is aimed at producing ‘the work’ (אלצנעה), a word commonly used for indicating the production of gold, silver or the elixir that would turn base metals into precious ones. Ingredients mentioned are: sublimated arsenic, vinegar, sulphur, dissolved salt, sublimated mercury. The second recipe is composed of two parts. The first part (ll. 8-14) describes a preparation requiring silver, salt, water, mercury, and sal ammoniac that is aimed at obtaining a clear plate of metal. The second part (ll. 14-end) requires the use of quicksilver, horse manure, sal ammoniac, the Khurasani (?) and young boys’ urine. The end of the recipe is lost. Verso: part of a widely-spaced letter sent to a nagid in Fusṭāṭ.Condition: Torn, fadedLayout: 36 lines (recto); 16 lines (verso)

Language:

Hebrew
Judeo-Arabic
Arabic

Type (Narrower):

Manuscripts

Type (Broader):

Text

Provenance:

Donated by Dr Solomon Schechter and his patron Dr Charles Taylor in 1898 as part of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection

Medium:

Paper

Extent:

Leaf: (height: 36.2 cm, width: 18.5 cm)

Publisher:

Cambridge University Library

Rights:

This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.
This metadata is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Identifier:

T-S 16.270

Is part of:

The Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection

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