Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Or 4041
- Record Id:
- 032-003314554
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003314554
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100032090042.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100044824220.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Or 4041
- Title:
-
Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبير
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان
- Scope & Content:
-
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. For a resumé of the diverse subject matter see Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Le corpus des écrits Jābiriens (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1943), pp. 149-52 and al-Hassan 'Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass al-Kabir (The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan', in Studies in al-Kimya' (Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Olms, 2009).
The text is divided into seventy-one books (كتب), six of which (as well as short extracts of others) have been edited by Kraus (Jabir ibn Ḥayyan. Essai sur l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Textes choisis [Paris: Maisonneuve, 1935], pp. 224-332). This copy is defective at the end, but it can be presumed that only a small number of folios is missing, since the text on the last surviving folio ends abruptly in the seventy-first and final book of the work (Book Seventy-one begins on f. 99, line 11).
The manuscript was collected by Eduard Glaser (1855-1908) during his third visit to Yemen in 1887-88 (see Rieu, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts [London: The British Museum, 1894], p. vii).
Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-5):
المقالة الأولى من كتاب الخواص الكبير لجابر بن حيان الصوفي
الحمد لله كما هو أهله ومستحقه الكريم الجواد الفعال لما يريد تعالى عما يقول المبطلون
علوًا كبيرًا من كان حافظًا لقاعدة كتبنا هذه ترتيبها وما عليه موضوعها فسيعلم
علمًا يقينًا أنا وعدنا أن نذكر في جملة كتبنا شيئًا مفردًا في علم الخواص ...
Ends (f. 99v, lines 23-25 [damaged and semi-legible; transcription conjectural]):
... واعلم ذلك واعرف موضع مبنى ورجف ستر [؟] وإني يتم لك من الخسرين
[... أر]بعة ومن خمسة ومن ستة ومن سبعة ولا يكون أكبر من ذلك في الـ[...]
[...] أقل من نير [؟] فاعلم ذلك و [...] من ...
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003314554", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 4041: Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبيرJābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003314554
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003314554
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. i+99+ii
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100032090042.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
Hebrew - Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Eastern wove paper
Dimensions: 190 x 120 mm leaf [150 x 91 mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; mid-quire marks (mostly quinions) visible at the following openings: ff. 11-12, 19-20, 27-28,35-36, 43-44, 51-52, 66-67, 73-74, 88-89, and 96-97
Ruling: No ruling visible; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 17 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh
Ink: Black
Binding: British Museum red, half-leather binding
Condition: Minor water damage towards gutter at head and tail; minor insect damage; some wax marks; verso side of final folio [f. 99] badly rubbed and text there semi-legible; one or more folios missing at end
Marginalia: Many, mostly marginal headings by same hand, but not that of main scribe
Seals: None
- Custodial History:
-
- Many owners' inscriptions, crossed out and illegible (f. 1r);
- Inscription in Hebrew characters, without name or date (f. 1r, upper right side).
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased from Eduard Glaser (1855-1908), 13 July 1889
- Finding Aids:
-
Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 782, p. 534
- Publications:
-
Partial edition:
- Jabir ibn Ḥayyan. Essai sur l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Textes choisis = مختار رسائل جابر بن حيان, ed. by Paul Kraus (Paris: Maisonneuve and Cairo: El-Khandgi, 1935), pp. 224-332
Studies:
- al-Hassan, Ahmad Y., 'Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass al-Kabir (The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan', in Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, Studies in al-Kimya'. Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry (Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Olms, 2009), pp. 145-90
- Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Le corpus des écrits Jābiriens (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1943), pp. 148-52, nos. 1900-1970
- Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 2. Jābir et la science grecque (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1942), pp. 64-91
- Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, vol. 4 (Leiden: Brill, 1971), p. 264
- Ullmann, Manfred, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1972), p. 207
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)