Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād آثار البلاد وأخبار العباد Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد

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 Section at the end of a manuscript text. , 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 Section at the end of a manuscript text. (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

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. ii+174+iii

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 Section at the end of a manuscript text. (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

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 3623

History of this record

Date(s)

27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Provenance

• 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 creat and inscription 'Koenigl. Hannoversche Gesandtschaft zu London' ('Royal Hanoverian Delegation to London') (f. 174v);
• ‘Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maṣrī (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).

Immediate source of acquisition

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

Related material

Finding aids

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

Select Bibliography

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)

Subjects

Geography, medieval

People & organisations

Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad Qazwīnī

Share this record

• Share on twitter
• Share on facebook

Cite this record in your research

Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād آثار البلاد وأخبار العباد Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 3623, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023438862.0x000001> [accessed 19 April 2024]

Link to this record

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023438862.0x000001

IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100023438862.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Copyright: How to use this content