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Or 3623

Record Id:
032-002788014
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-002788014
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100023438862.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100023664859.0x000002
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Or 3623
Title:

Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād آثار البلاد وأخبار العباد

Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد

Scope & Content:

Gazetteer of world geography by Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī (زكريا بن محمد بن محمود القزويني, d. 1283).

The copy was completed late in the day on Friday 27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729/22 September 1329 by Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad al-Hamadhānī (محمد بن مسعود بن محمد الهمذاني), who claims to have copied the text from an autograph copy (i.e. a copy written by the hand of the author) dated Dhū al-Ḥijjah 674/May-June 1276 (see colophon, f. 173, lines 6-11, transcribed below).

The text is divided into introductory material (ff. 2v-5v) followed by alphabetically arranged headings for geographical locations divided according to the seven climes (الأقاليم السبعة):

  • First Clime (الإقليم الأول; ff. 5v-21r);
  • Second Clime (الإقليم الثاني; ff. 21v-38v);
  • Third Clime (الإقليم الثالث; ff. 39r-78r);
  • Fourth Clime (الإقليم الرابع; ff. 78v-136r);
  • Fifth Clime (الإقليم الخامس; ff. 136v-159v);
  • Sixth Clime (الإقليم السادس; ff. 160r-169v);
  • Seveneth Clime (الإقليم السابع; ff. 169v-173r).

The volume contains the following illustrations:

  • World map divided into seven climes (f. 5r);
  • Schematic drawing of the Ka‘bah (f. 33r);
  • The lighthouse at Alexandria as it was in the time of al-Qazwīnī (f. 41v);
  • Map of area around Tanīs Island (جزيرة تنيس) near Damietta (دمياط), Egypt (f. 49v);
  • Table listing the birds and fish indigenous to Tanīs Island (جزيرة تنيس) (ff. 50r-51r);
  • Map of Shahristān (شهرستان) (f. 119v);
  • Map of Constantinople in the form of a labyrinth (f. 168r).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 1-4):

العز لك والجلال لكبريائك والعظمة لثنائك والدوام لبقائك يا قائم الذات

ومفيض الخيرات أنت الأول لا شيء قبلك وأنت الآخر لا شيء بعدك وأنت الفرد

لا شريك لك يا واهب العقول وجاعل النور والظلمات منك الابتدا وإليك

الانتهاء وبقدرتك تكون الأشياء وبإرادتك قامت الأرض والسموات أفض

Ends (f. 173r, lines 4-6):

... فبقيت عندهم مدة وأهل يورا إن لم يلقوا السيف في البحر لا تخرج

السمكة فيجوعون لأن قوتهم من هذا إلى ههنا انتهى علم أهل بلادنا والله أعلم بما وراء

ذلك من البلاد والبحار وليكن هذا آخر الكلام ...

Colophon (f. 173r, lines 6-17):

... فرغ من تحرير هذا الكتاب

العبد الضعيف الراجي رحمة الله وغفرانه محمد بن مسعود بن محمد الهمذاني غفر الله ذنوبه

وستر عيوبه في الجمعة آخر النهار السابع والعشرين من شهر ذو القعدة المبارك

لسنة تسع وعشرين وسبعمائة للهجرة من نسخة مكتوبة بخط المصنف

زكريا بن محمد بن محمود القزويني رحمه الله رحمة واسعة

المؤرخة بذي الحجة سنة أربع وسبعين وستمائة والحمد

لله رب العالمين حق حمده والصلوة والسلم

على خير خلقه ومظهر حقه محمد

وآله وأصحابه الطيبين

الطاهرين أجمعين

وسلم تسليمًا دائمًا

كثيرًا

Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
Hierarchy Tree:
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Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-002788014
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-002788014
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

Codex; ff. ii+174+iii

Digitised Content:
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023438862.0x000001
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Arabic
Scripts:
Arabic
Start Date:
1329
End Date:
1329
Date Range:
27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729
Calendar:
Hijri qamari
Era:
AH
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 340 x 230 mm leaf [240 x 145 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah; 27 lines per page; vertical spacing 12 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh, with decorative elements in kūfī; the scribe is Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad al-Hamadhānī (محمد بن مسعود بن محمد الهمذاني; f. 173, line 7)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings in red

Decoration: Illuminated title page with central rosette (shamsah) and cartouches above and below containing title and author's name respectively (f. 2r); illuminated opening (ff. 2v-3r); all folios have borders of four fillets in black, blue and red; illuminated chapter colophon (f. 136r)

Binding: Islamic binding with envelope flap; title blind tooled on envelope flap; leather doublure with gilt boarders and central medallion

Condition: Some leaves damaged and repaired towards ends of volume, minor water damage, some iron gall ink corrosion

Marginalia: Very few

Seals: Ff. 13v, 24v, 36v, 50v, 60v, 74v, 85v, 104v, 107v, 138v, 150v 161v, and 174v

Custodial History:
  • Four owners' inscriptions, mutilated (f. 2r);
  • [...] Ibn Yaḥyá ibn Aḥmad al-Dusūqī al-Ḥusnī ([...] ابن يحيى ابن أحمد الدسوقي الحسني): his inscription dated Rabī‘ II 1176/October-November 1762 (f. 2r);
  • al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Dusūqī (السيد محمد الدسوقي): his inscription, undated (f. 51v);
  • al-Sayyid Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Yaḥyá al-Disūqī (السيد محمد ابن السيد يحيى الدسوقي): his inscription, dated Rabī‘ II [11?]98/February-March [17?]84 (f. 72r);
  • Oblong seals, erased (ff. 13v, 24v, 36v, 50v, 60v, 74v, 85v, 104v, 138v, 150v and 161v);
  • Seal, smudged and illegible (f. 107v);
  • John Fiott, B.A.: his bookplate dated 1806, with crest and inscription 'St John's College, Cambridge' (inside right board);
  • Anonymous bookplate, undated with crest and motto 'Verum atque decens' (inside right board);
  • John Lee: his inscription, undated, inscribed Hartwell near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (inside right board);
  • G.C.R.: his note, undated, regarding the contents of the mansucript with references 'no. 69 of the new catalogue of 1840', 'G.C.R. n. 25' and 'new cat. no. 40' (f. 1r);
  • John Lee: his note, dated August 1845, regarding the Syro-Egyptian Society (f. 1r);
  • Portion of envelope (?) with address (in German) 'Herrn [deleted and replaced with 'Revd'] Dr John Lee, Hartwell, bei Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire' and wax seal with crest and inscription 'Koenigl. Hannoversche Gesandtschaft zu London' ('Royal Hanoverian Delegation to London') (f. 174v);
  • ‘Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Miṣrī (عبد القادر المصري): his inscription, undated (f. 173r);
  • ‘Abd al-Karīm ibn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad (عبد الكريم بن محمود بن أحمد), timekeeper (موقت): his inscription, dated 988 AH/AD 1580-81 (f. 173r);
  • Muṣṭafá ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarāblusī (مصطفى بن محمد الطرابلسي): his inscription, dated Ṣafar (?) 998/December (?) 1589 (f. 173r);
  • Muḥammad al-Akmal ibn Muflaḥ (?) (محمد الأكمل بن مفلح [؟]), traditionalist (محدث): his collation note dated Rabī‘ I-Rabī‘ II 997/January-March 1589 (f. 173r; see his mutilated and undated inscription in inner margin of f. 2r);
  • Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyá al-Ḥusnī (محمد بن يحيى الحسني الدسوقي): his inscription, dated 1172 AH/AD 1758-59 (f. 173v);
  • al-Sayyid ‘Alī ibn al-Sayyid Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Yaḥyá ibn al-Sayyid Aḥmad ibn al-Sayyid Sharaf al-Dīn Ibn Riḍá al-Dusūqī (السيد علي ابن السيد محمد ابن السيد يحيى ابن السيد أحمد ابن السيد شرف الدين ابن رضى الدسوقي): his inscription, dated Jumādá II 1199/April-May 1785 (f. 173v);
  • al-Sayyid ‘Alī ibn al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Ḥusnī al-Dusūqī (السيد علي بن السيد محمد الحسني الدسوقي): his inscription, dated 1200 AH/AD 1785-86 (f. 173v).
Source of Acquisition:

Purchased at sale of G.C. Renouard, Sotheby's, 8 November 1888

Finding Aids:

Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 697, pp. 473

Publications:

Edition:

  • Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad, Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād (Bayrūt: Dār Bayrūt, 1984)

Partial translations:

  • Artikel aus Qazwînîs Āthâr al-Bilâd aus dem Arabischen übertragen, ed. and trans. by Georg Jacob (Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1896)
  • Castro, Fátima Roldán, El occidente de Al-Andalus en el Āṯār al-bilād de Al-Qazwīnī (Sevilla: Ediciones Alfar, 1990)
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad, c 1203-1283
Subjects:
Geography, medieval