A collection of short extracts of poetry and prose in Perisan and Arabic on various topics related to the natural sciences. The extracts are attributed to such authorities and works as Sharaf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī (شرف الدين علي يزدي, d. 1454; f. 5r), the Optica (كتاب المناظر) of Euclid of Alexandri...
Ṣafīḥat al-imkān fī aṣṭurlāb صفيحة الإمكان في أصطرلاب عاملي، بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين ‘Āmilī, Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn
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A short treatise on the construction and use of the astrolabe by Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي; d. 1621). The scribe, Ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Abū al-Qāsim Yaḥyá al-Astar’ābādī (ابن عبد الرحيم أبو القاسم يحيى الأسترآبادي), states in the colophon that he cop...
Two short extracts on astronomy in Arabic and Persian
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Folio 12v contains six lines of unpointed Arabic text entitled ' On ascertaining the distance between countries (في معرفة قدر المسافة بين البلدين)', and a diagram showing the orbit of the moon around the earth. Folio 13r contains a short and mostly unpointed Persian text attributed to Naṣīr al-...
Mā lā budda lil-faqīh min al-ḥisāb ما لا بد للفقيه من الحساب Isfarā’aynī, Abū al-‘Alā’ Muḥammad al-Bihishtī إسفرايني، أبو العلاء محمد البهشتي
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A treatise on arithmetic and algebra by Abū al-‘Alā’ Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bihishtī al-Isfarā’aynī (أبو العلاء محمد بن أحمد البهشتي الإسفرايني; d. 749 AH/AD 1348-49), known as Fakhr-i Khurāsān (فخر خراسان). The text is divided into two parts (مقالتان); Part One (ff. 2v, line 8-20r, line 10) conc...
A short anonymous treatise on geometry in the form of a commentary on an unknown work. The tables said to follow the text (see f. 28r, line 18, transcribed below) does not appear in this manuscript. Because the text is almost entirely unpointed, the transcriptions below are approximate. Conten...
Treatise on ascertaining the levelness of surfaces
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A short anonymous treatise on the construction and use of an instrument called the 'pipe (الأنبوبة; see f. 29v, line 7)', which functions similarly to a spirit level to ascertain the levelness of a surface. There is a diagram of the instrument on f. 30v. The 'tube (الأنبوبة)' is suspended from ...
Arabic version of the De sphaericis (كتاب الأكر) by Theodosius of Bithynia (ثاودوسيوس; Θεοδοìσιος; c 160-c 100 BC). The preface (f. 1v, lines 3-5, transcribed below) states that it was translated from Greek into Arabic by Qusṭā ibn Lūqā (قسطا بن لوقا; ca 820-912), up to Chapter 3, figure 5, at t...
Kitāb al-kurrah al-mutaḥarrika كتاب الكرة المتحركة Autolycus أوطولوقس
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Arabic version of the De sphaera quae movertur (Περὶ κινουμένης σφαίρας; كتاب الكرة المتحركة) by the astronomer, mathematician and geographer Autolycus of Pitane (Αὐτόλυκος ὁ Πιταναῖος; أوطولوقس; fl. 300 BC), translation from the Greek revised by Thābit ibn Qurrah (ثابت بن قرة; d. 901). Although...
Kitāb Thāwudhūsīyus fī al-layl wa-al-nahār كتاب ثاوذوسيوس في الليل والنهار Theodosius ثاودوسيوس
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Arabic version of the De diebus et noctibus (Περὶ ἡμερῶν καὶ νυκτῶν; كتاب في الليل والنهار) a work on astronomy by Theodosius of Bithynia (ثاوذوسيوس; Θεοδόσιος; c 160-c 100 BC). The translator is said to be Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn (إسحق بن حنين, d. c 910; see f. 70v, line 2, transcribed below), the son...
Kitāb Thāwudhūsīyus fī al-masākin كتاب ثاوذوسيوس في المساكن Theodosius ثاودوسيوس
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Arabic version of the De habitationibus (Περὶ οἰκήσεων; كتاب المساكن), a work on astronomy by Theodosius of Bithynia (ثاودوسيوس; Θεοδοìσιος; c 160-c 100 BC), translated from the Greek by Qusṭā ibn Lūqā (قسطا بن لوقا; c 820-912). The text contains twelve diagrams. The copy was completed at Yazd ...