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Or 13230

Record Id:
032-003947711
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003947711
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100123934052.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100190929722.0x000002
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Or 13230
Title:

Mukhtaṣar ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʼib al-mawjūdāt مختصر عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات

Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد

Scope & Content:

An abridgment, without illustrations, of an encyclopaedic work on cosmology by Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī (زكريا بن محمد بن محمود القزويني, d. 1283). The title page attributes the abridgment to one Ibn Jamāʻah (ابن جماعة, f. 1r, line 1), possibly identifiable with the chief qadi of Egypt, Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Jamāʻah (بدر الدين محمد بن جماعة, d. 733/1333) or one of his descendants (see Salibi, Kamal, ‘The Banū Jamāʻa: A Dynasty of Shāfiʻite Jurists in the Mamlūk Period,’ Studia Islamica 9 [1958], pp. 97-103).

Two scribal hands are discernible in the copy, with the initial fully-vocalised naskh changing to a simpler un-vocalised naskh at the following sections: ff. 15r, lines 4-10; 24v, line 6-35v, line 4; and 35v, line 9-49v, line 19. The abruptness of the changes of hand mid-page, elegant gold-sprinkled section headings present throughout, and consistency of the paper suggest that the copy was produced as a single campaign.

Chapters (فصول) in the text are indicated by marginal devices of black ink sprinkled with gold dust. A piece of yellow thread sewn into the margin marks some divisions of the text (ff. 5v, line 9; 21r, line 6; 37r, line 13 [missing]; 40r, line 6 [missing]; and 46r, line 17).

The chapter on calendars, featuring a table for determining the first day of a given year, is heavily annotated, including calculations for the years between 1228-50/1813-1834 (ff. 16v-17r) and a marginal comment on Christian fasting (f. 19v). The text is followed by a page of notes.

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

مختصر من كتاب عجائب المخلوقات للقزويني رحمة الله عليه

فصل فأما القمر فهو كوكب مكانه الطبيعي الفلك الأسفل

Ends (f. 51r, lines 10-14):

...إذا اذيبت في لبن امرأة وسقى للطفل

في أول رضاعه صار فيه خاصية بأن يتمضمض

بالماء ويبخه في مكان تكون فيه الأرضة فإنها تهلك

ثم لا يتواد منها شيئًا إلا مات وهو صحيح مجرب

والله أعلم

Colophon (f. 51r, lines 14-19, continuing to left of colophon)

تم المختصر من عجائب...

المخلوقات للقزويني

رحمه الله وصلى الله

على سيدنا محمد

وآله وصحبه

وسلم

سنة ٨٠٠

Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Oriental Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
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Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003947711
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003947711
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:
Codex; ff. ii+51+ii
Digitised Content:
Languages:
Arabic
Scripts:
Arabic
Start Date:
1397
End Date:
1397
Date Range:
0800
Calendar:
Hijri-qamari
Era:
AH
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Material: Thick eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 239 x 155 mm leaf [200 x 120 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah; 19 lines per page; vertical spacing 10 lines per 10 cm

Script: Two naskh hands; see Content

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings often over-written in black, overlinings in red, keywords and punctuating devices in both red and black ink speckled with gold dust

Decoration: Use of gold dust; see Ink

Binding: Brown leather binding decorated with blind-tooled central medallion, pendants and frames with repaired envelope flap of cardboard

Condition: Water damaged, especially ff. 1 and 2; f. 1r entirely covered with a tidemark smudging text and revealing shadow of envelope flap; some smudges and stains throughout; pages trimmed and sewing repaired

Marginalia: Few, but see interlinear and marginal notes on f. 6v, and ff. 16r-17r margins

Seals: British Museum stamp: ff. 1r and 51v

Custodial History:
  • Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-Yamānī (محمد بن حسين اليماني): his calligraphic ownership inscription (f. 1r)
Source of Acquisition:
Purchased from Oskar Rescher (1884-1972), 10 February 1970
Publications:
Edition of full text:
  • al-Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad, Kitāb ʻajāʼib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʼib al-mawjūdāt, ed. by Fārūq Saʻd (Bayrūt: Manshūrāt Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīdah, 1981)
Study of an illustrated full text:
  • Carboni, Stefano, The Wonders of Creation and the Singularities of Painting. A Study of the Ilkhanid 'London Qazvīnī' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015)

Study on the Banū Jamāʻah:

  • Salibi, Kamal, ‘The Banū Jamāʻa: A Dynasty of Shāfiʻite Jurists in the Mamlūk Period,’ Studia Islamica 9 (1958), pp. 97-103

Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad, c 1203-1283
Subjects:
Cosmology -- early works to 1800