Three texts on alchemy and cookery. The volume was purchased from Rosa, the widow of Colonel Robert Taylor (1788-1852), Political Resident in Baghdad (1828-43). The three texts were copied in 1215/1800-01 by an un-named scribe. The second text in the volume was the first to be copied, as testif...
Kashf al-asrār fī hatk al-astār كشف الأسرار في هتك الأستار Iznīqī, ʻAlī Bak إزنيقي، علي بك
Scope & Content:
A work on alchemy, in an introduction (مقدمة), five sections (أقسام), and a conclusion (خاتمة) attributed to the semi-legendary figure ʻAlī Bak al-Iznīqī (علي بك الإزنيقي, d. 1609), also known as ʻAlī Çelebī ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn al-Ṣarūkhānī (علي جلبي علاء الدين الصروخاني). The copy was completed on 19...
Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبير Jābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان
Scope & Content:
Complete copy of a treatise attributed to the alchemist Abū Mūsá Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (أبو موسى جابر بن حيان), concerning the occult properties (خواصّ) of animals, plants and stones, chemistry and other related subjects. The copy was completed on 1 Shaʻbān 1215/18 December 1800 by an un-named scribe...
Extracts from al-Wuṣlah ilá al-ḥabīb fī waṣf al-tayyibāt wa-al-ṭīb ملتقط من الوصلة إلى الحبيب في وصف الطيبات والطيب Ibn al-ʻAdīm, Kamāl al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn Aḥmad ابن العديم، كمال الدين عمر بن أحمد
Scope & Content:
Excerpts (ملتقط) from chapters 2-10 of an important culinary treatise entitled Letter to the beloved on the description of delicacies and perfumes (الوصلة إلى الحبيب في وصف الطيبات والطيب). The copy was completed in Shawwāl 1215 (see colophon, f. 280r, transcribed below) by an un-named scribe. ...