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Or 5593
- Record Id:
- 032-002360260
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002360260
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000094.0x000094
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100023419751.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Or 5593
- Title:
-
Kitāb istī‘āb al-wujūh al-mumkinah fī ṣan‘at al-asṭurlāb كتاب استيعاب الوجوه الممكنة في صنعة الأسطرلاب
Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad بيروني، محمد بن أحمد
- Scope & Content:
-
One of only three recorded copies of an influential treatise on the construction and use of astrolabes by Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī (أبو الريحان محمد بن أحمد البيروني, ca 973-1048) containing 122 diagrams, 7 tables and 1 space for a diagram or table left blank and marked بياض صحيح ('correctly blank'; f. 20v).
Begins (f. 3v, lines 1-7):
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم رب يسر ولا تعسر
الأنفس الصافية ذوات نراع واشتناق إلى تصور الموجودات و
الإحاطة بها على الإطلاق فلذلك تلتفت إلى ما يزيدها روتفا (!) وبها
وتنبعث إلى ما يكسبها صفًا ونقًا كنفس الشيخ أيده الله التي صفت
من درن الطينة وخلصت عن كرر الطبيعة بل اتحدت بكلية النفوس
وأشغلت بالمعتول (!) عن المحسوس فلا يقصد من العلوم إلا ما يكون
معلومه أفضل معلوم
Ends (89v, lines 5-8):
ووصلنا كل واحدة من تلك بالفلس حتى يكون لعروض كثيرة ويكون
أحسن في الصورة بل لو ثمٮ (!)
الصفيحة باقطار بدل التربيع وفعل به ذلك
احتمل أفأما كثيرة وقاربت أن نعم العروض في العمل إن شاء الله وتمام
هذه الآلة تم إنجاز الوعد بما وعد به والوفاء بما صمته بعون الله وتوفيقه
The fore-edge and lower margins of f. 89v contain verses in Persian written by a hand other than that of the main scribe.
The diagram on f. 83v shows the internal gears of a calendrical device called the 'moon box' (حُق القمر). This diagram (although not this copy of it) is thought to be the earliest depiction of the internal gears of a hand-held device. See Hill, 'Al-Bīrūnī's Mechanical Calendar', 1985.
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002360260", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 5593: Kitāb istī‘āb al-wujūh al-mumkinah fī ṣan‘at al-asṭurlāb كتاب استيعاب الوجوه الممكنة في صنعة…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002360260
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002360260
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- Codex; ff. ii+89+iii
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100000000094.0x000094
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 700-800
- Calendar:
- Hijri qamari
- Era:
- AH
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper
Dimensions: 235 x 135 mm leaf [185 x 120 written]
Foliation: Museum foliation in pencil; Arabic numeral foliation in black ink in upper right-hand corners of versos
Ruling: Misṭarah; 21 lines per page; vertical spacing 10 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh
Ink: Black; rubricated headings; tables and diagrams in red and black
Binding: British Museum binding
Condition: f. 3 damaged and some words missing from last two lines; light water damage towards foredge and head, re-inked in places
Marginalia: infrequent marginal corrections and headings added by later hands
Seals: ff. 1r, 2r, 3r and 89r
- Custodial History:
-
The birthdate of an unidentified character is given as 14 Ramaḍān 1015/13 January 1607 (f. 1r)
Three owners' inscriptions and seals (f. 2r; from top down):
- Muẓaffar the astrologer (مظفر المنجم), his inscription and seal dated 1010 AH/AD 1601-2;
- Muḥammad ibn Ṭabīb (محمد بن طبيب), his inscription and seal dated 1128 AH/AD 1715-16 (fuller and slightly different name on seal; see same seal on f. 89r);
- Ibn Muḥammad Taqī, editor (المحرر [؟] ابن محمد تقي منجم) and astrologer, his inscription and seal (undated)
Numerous owners' inscriptions and seals (f. 3r)
Waqf ('endowment') statement along with semi-legible seal dated 1128 AH/AD 1715-16 (f. 89r; see same seal on f. 2r)
- Source of Acquisition:
- Purchased from Messrs Hannan and Watson, 16 May 1899
- Finding Aids:
- Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 38
- Publications:
-
Study and partial edition and translation:
- Donald R. Hill, 'Al-Bīrūnī's Mechanical Clock', Annals of Science, 42 (1985), 139-163 (repr. in Byzantine and Arabic Mathematical Gearing, ed. by J.V. Field, D.R. Hill and M.T. Wright [London: The Science Museum, 1985] and Donald R. Hill, Studies in Medieval Islamic Technology [Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 1998])
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)