Recto: family letter, ca. 11th century, from Abraham to his son-in-law Elijah and his daughter אתוכלי, Itwakkilī (Arabic, but unattested as a name). There are many greetings and good wishes from various family members. The writer states that Elijah’s brother wanted to visit him, but had been prevented by the grape harvest (הבציר). He wants the couple to send a letter at the next opportunity. Also mentioned is a debt and ‘the time that the river rises’, probably a reference to the flooding of the Nile. A number of different names are mentioned: Elijah’s sister is Sitt al-Rūmī (שטירומי); also mentioned are Irini (אריני), Leon (לאון) and his wife Sitt al-Bayt (שטילבית), another son-in-law Kalev, a wife Meršini (מרשיני, vocalised) and a son Šemarya. Verso: address and several lines of unrelated Arabic.Condition: tornLayout: 11 lines (recto); 5 lines (verso)
Letter from Abraham Maimonides to the judge Nissim in Alexandria, instructing him not to let Abū Manṣūr b. Abū l-Ḵayr, the tax-farmer of Sanhūr, re-marry before he has paid back his previous wife’s delayed bridal gift. In the hand of Solomon b. Elijah (13th century).Condition: holesLayout: 31 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Recto: letter to the dignitary Jacob in Alexandria from Abraham b. Isaac Ibn al-Zūlāfī in Palermo. The right margin has continuation of piyyuṭ from verso. Verso: piyyuṭ for Passover with many biblical quotations. Jottings in Arabic script at the top of the page.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 31 lines + marginalia (recto); 26 lines (verso)
Letter from Abraham b. Isaac al-Andalūsī in Jerusalem to Nahray b. Nissim in Fusṭāṭ (c. 1065 CE).Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 25 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Recto: begging letter to Mevoraḵ b. Isaac from Abraham b. Jethro from Damascus. Verso: list of names, most of them bankers, including Abū l-Faḍl b. Ṣaḡīr, Abū Naṣr b. Abū Sulaymān and Abū ʿImrān Mūsā, the ḡulām of Ibn ʿAwkal, and a poem in praise of a merchant, followed by a dirge.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 38 lines + marginalia (recto); 36 lines, partly in 2 columns (verso)
Letter concerning the poll tax (ḵarāj), from Abraham b. Saʿadya he-Ḥaver to Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Binyām. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan and his brother, Moses al-Salām ha-Kohen, Peraḥya, Bayān and the mother of Bayān.Condition: Holes, rubbedLayout: 28 lines (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Recto: letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic from Abraham b. Saʿadya he-Ḥebroni, on behalf of refugees from Hebron that are now in Bilbays. Abraham writes to Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefaradi (active ca. 1090-1130 CE) in Fusṭāṭ, concerning the building of a new synagogue in Bilbays, replacing an old synagogue that had been torn down. The entire community joined forces to dismantle the synagogue and rebuild the new building. The letter lists the donations given by members of the community, and describes in detail the surrounding properties and their owners. A muslim judge initially objected to the construction of the new synagogue, so the community tactically rebranded their construction as a ‘home’, to which the judge had no objection. Verso: jottings of an Arabic philosophical text.Condition: StainedLayout: 52 lines (recto); 40 lines (verso)
Recto: poem written by Abraham b. Yijū in praise of Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan (i.e. Maḍmūn b. Yefet), cursing his enemies. Probably written in Aden, c. 1140-41 CE. Verso: crossed-out list of commodities such as metals and their quantities in Arabic script.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 24 lines (recto); 13 lines (verso)
Letter from Abraham b. Ḥalfon b. Naḥum in Ashkelon to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Ḥayyim (c. 1090 CE).Condition: holesLayout: 26 lines + marginalia (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū Manṣūr b. Abū Saʿd to Abraham, sent to the Palestinian synagogue in Fusṭāṭ. Mentions, among others, Joseph b. Abū ʿImrān, Ezekiel the judge and Sitt Rayḥān.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 20 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Recto: letter from Abū Maymūn Yaʿqūb in Jerusalem to his son Abū ʿImrān in Fusṭāṭ, describing how he is bedridden after the death of another son and how he wishes to see him before his death. Verso: Arabic address to Abū ʿImrān.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 19 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Collection of recipes taken from works by Abū Maʿālī ibn Tammām, Ibn Al-Tilmīḏ, Dāwūd ibn Abī al-Bayān and Ibn Jumayʿ, dealing with illnesses of the stomach and the intestines.Condition: Torn, tiny holesLayout: 13 lines
Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Abraham informing the addressee that Judah ha-Levi set sail on Wednesday, the first day of Šavuʿot (= 1141 CE), after leaving him a letter for the Nagid Samuel b. Ḥananya, which accompanies this letter; dated 12th Sivan. Arabic on verso describes someone who went up to Cairo and met the leader of the community.Condition: torn, slightly rubbed, stainedLayout: 9 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Recto: begging letter from Abū Naṣr, ‘son of the doctor’, acknowledging receipt of letters from the addressee and from Abū l-Maʿālī. Verso: jottings in a crude hand in Arabic script.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 22 lines + marginalia (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Recto: note from Abū Riḍā to Abū Zikrī, acknowledging the receipt of the purse of Ibn ʿAlī and promising to send perfume with Ibn ʿAlī. Verso: draft of a Judaeo-Arabic letter and lines in Arabic script.Condition: holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 11 lines (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū Saʿd al-Maḡribī, possibly in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim in Fusṭāṭ (c. 1060 CE).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 16 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū Saʿīd in Alexandria to his father in Fusṭāṭ, with greetings to Sayyid al-Ahl, Abū l-Faraj, Michael, the teacher Isaac, Sahlān, Mūsā b. Ḥassūn and their relatives.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 16 lines + marginalia (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Recto: note from al-šaykh Abū Saʿīd dealing with a monthly wage that partially consisted of an ounce of myrobalan, possibly for medicinal purposes. Verso: unidentified Arabic text, very fragmentary.Condition: TornLayout: 4 lines (recto); 5 lines (verso)
Letter to Abū l-Barakāt b. Yefet from ‘his brother’ Abū Saʿīd Ibn al-[...], sent via the perfumer’s market and Abū l-Faḵr Ibn al-Maššāṭī (the flax comber). Mentions the death of Abū Naṣr and his sister Zayn (who the writer apparently had hoped to marry), and refers to Alexandria, with greetings to various family members and individuals including Joseph and Abū Y[...] Ibn al-Sabbāk (the caster).Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 19 lines + marginalia (recto); 16 lines + marginalia (verso)