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...
IO Islamic 1734
- Record Id:
- 032-003472950
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003472950
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100093647487.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100145401288.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- IO Islamic 1734
- Title:
-
Ibn al-Wardī, Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar ابن الوردي، سراج الدين أبو حفص عمر
Kharīdat al-ʿajāʾib wa-farīdat al-gharāʾib خريدة العجائب وفريدة الغرائب
- Scope & Content:
-
A work of cosmography, natural history and eschatology focused on Egypt, compiled by Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar ibn al-Wardī (سراج الدين أبو حفص عمر بن الوردي, d. 1457), sometimes mistakenly attributed to the earlier poet and historian Zayn al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar ibn al-Wardī (زين الدين عمر بن المظفر بن الوردي, d. 1349).
The text is largely drawn from two works: Jāmiʿ al-funūn wa-salwat al-maḥzūn (جامع الفنون وسلوة المحزون) by Najm al-Dīn al-Ḥarrānī (نجم الدين الحراني, active c. 1332), and Kitāb badʼ al-khalq wa-al-taʼrīkh (كتاب بدء الخلق والتأريخ) by Muṭahhar ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī (مطهر بن طاهر المقدسي, active c. 966).
The present copy lacks the first folio, beginning near the end of the preface (see f. 3r, lines 1-5, transcribed below). A replacement first folio does not bear the missing text, but rather a description of the geography, history and political administration of the Sultanate of Khāndīs (Khandesh), a Deccani sultanate annexed in 1601 by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542-1605).
A contents table on f. 16r lists fifteen sections (فصول) followed by a conclusion (خاتمة). The manuscript contains two paintings: a world map in green, yellow, red and black on ff. 4v-5r, and a representation of the Kaʻbah indicating the direction of prayer from different cities on f. 59r.
The text is followed by two short sections 'On the computation of the victor and the vanquished' along with a table (جدول فيه حساب الغالب والمغلوب; ff. 272r- 272v); and verses on the subject of chess (فصل في موضوع الشطرنج; ff. 272v-273v). The copy is apparently also missing its final folios as the text breaks off abruptly and there is no colophon.
Begins (f. 3r, lines 1-5):
...القائل زويت لي مشارق الأرض ومغاربها كشفًا
واطلاعًا بسره وعيانه صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وأصحابه
وأنصاره وأعوانه صلاة تبلغ من آمن به غاية أمنه
وأمانه وتسكن روعته في الدارين بعفو الله وغفرانه
وسلم تسليمًا كثيرًا...
Ends (f. 273v, lines 16-17):
فإن رأيتَ النصر قد لاح لكا فلا تقصر واحترز أن تهلكا...
أضعف قوى الخصم فإن ضعفه بدني وإن طال مراه حتفه...
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- India Office Library
Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003472950", "parent" : "#", "text" : "IO Islamic 1734: Ibn al-Wardī, Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʻUmar ابن الوردي، سراج الدين أبو حفص عمرKharīdat…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003472950
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003472950
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. ii+273+iv
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100093647487.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1500
- End Date:
- 1599
- Date Range:
- 16th 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 laid paper
Dimensions: 208 x 147 mm leaf [139 x 83 mm written]
Foliation: India Office Library foliation in pencil; intermittent previous (erroneous) foliation in pencil, some crossed out or erased; quire marks in Eastern Arabic numerals in red ink throughout (quinions except ff. 70-78, quaternion), mark missing on f. 158r.
Ruling: Misṭarah; 17 lines per page; vertical spacing 12 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh throughout except for text on more recent replacement folio (f. 1v, nastaʻlīq)
Ink: Black ink with rubricated headings
Decoration: Two paintings in green, yellow, red and black (ff. 4v-5r and 59r)
Binding: India Office binding with marbled boards, fragments of previous spine removed during conservation work are contained in box with manuscript
Condition: Fore-edges repaired with paper at beginning and end of volume; tidemarks to tail edge margins; paint flaking and tears to paper especially at tail edge on ff. 4v-5r.
Marginalia: few, except ff. 159v, 163r and 198r.
Seals: ff. 2r, 3r and 273v
- Custodial History:
-
- Richard Johnson (رچارد جانسن, d. 1807, East India Company Resident in Hyderabad 1784-5): his inscription in Persian, without date but after 1780 (f. 1r);
- Muḥammad Hādī Husaynī, 'follower of Pādishāh ʻĀlamgīr' (محمد هادي حسيني مريد پادشاه عالم گير): his seal dated both 1090/1679-80 and 22, the corresponding regnal year of Aurangzeb, regnal title Alamgīr (عالم گير), above it a purchase inscription for 15 rupees, dated 1103/1717-18 (f. 3r);
- Muḥammad Nafī (محمد نفي): his seal and ownership inscription with date '4' (f. 273v).
- Source of Acquisition:
-
From the library of Richard Johnson (1753-1807), incorporated into the collection of the East India House in 1807.
- Finding Aids:
-
Loth, Otto, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office (London: Printed by order of the Secretary of State for India in Council, 1877), Item 726, p. 210.
- Publications:
-
Editions:
- Ibn al-Wardī, Sirāj al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar, Kharīdat al-ʻajāʼib wa-farīdat al-gharāʼib, ed. by Ḥamāh Allāh Wuld al-Sālim (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2014)
- Ibn al-Wardī, Sirāj al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar, Kharīdat al-ʻajāʼib wa-farīdat al-gharāʼib, ed. by Zanātī, Anwar Maḥmūd (al-Qāhirah: Maktabat al-thaqāfah al-dīnīyah, 2008)
- Ibn al-Wardī, Sirāj al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar, Kharīdat al-ʻajāʼib wa-farīdat al-gharāʼib, ed. by Fākhūrī, Maḥmūd (Ḥalab: Dār al-Sharq al-ʻArabī, 1991)
Latin translation of the section on Egypt:
- Fraehn, C. M., Aegyptus auctore Ibn al Vardi (Halle: Hendelius, 1804)
Study:
- Coşkun, Feray, 'An Ottoman Preacher's Perception of a Medieval Cosmography: Maḥmūd al-Haṭīb's Translation of Kharīdat al-ʿAjāʾib wa Farīḍat al-Gharāʾib', Al-Masāq, 23, 1 (2011), pp. 53-66.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)