Two technological treatises

Or 14270

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The record is made up of Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+73+i. It was created in 28 Shawwāl 691. It was written in Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: Oriental Manuscripts.

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Content

Volume containing two technological treatises:

  • Kitāb Arshimīdas fī ‘amal al-binkamāt (كتاب أرشميدس في عمل البنكامات) (ff. 2v-21r);
  • Farghānī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (أحمد بن محمد الفرغاني), al-Kāmil fī ṣan‘at al-asṭurlāb al-shimālī wa-al-junūbī wa-‘ilalihuma bi-l-handasah wa-al-ḥisab (الكامل في صنعة الأسطرلاب الشمالي والجنوبي وعللهما بالهندسة والحساب) (ff. 21v-73r).

The title page (f. 2r) reads: Kitāb ‘Amal al-sā‘āt li-Arshimīdas wa-Kitāb ‘Amal al-asṭurlāb lil-Farghānī (كتاب عمل الساعات لأرشميدس وكتاب عمل الأسطرلاب للفرغاني).

The manuscript contains forty-five illustrations and forty-five tables.

The colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 71r) records the copyist's name as ‘Umar ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah, and the completion date as 28 Shawwāl 691/12 October 1292. A notes on the title page (f. 2r) and beneath the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 71r ) identify the copyist as the Ibn Ṭalḥah who authored the Key of Jafr (مفتاح الجفر) , a work on shī‘ī apocalyptic and divination. The death date ascribed to Ibn Ṭalḥah the author of the Key of Jafr , however, is 652/1254-5, 39 years before the manuscript was copied.

Notes concerning the astrolabe Ancient instrument for astronomical observations. are found on folio 1r, and a list of illustrations in Farghānī's al-Kāmil fī ṣan‘at al-asṭurlāb (item 2 in this manuscript) is found on folio 1v.

A quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. of eight leaves (quaternion) has been lost between folios 24 and 25 (marked 23 and 32 respectively in the Arabic-Indic foliation). Although the quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. signatures here are consecutive (the fifth quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. beginning on f. 25 and the sixth quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. on f. 33), the loss of a quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. has between these two quires is further indicated by the fact that the end of Chapter Two (النوع الثاني; begins f. 24v) and the beginning of Chapter Three (ends f. 28r) are both missing.

The box containing this volume also holds the volume's previous binding, and fragments of texts on papers retrieved from the previous binding. Two paper leaves that appear to have been the right and left doublures respectively of the previous binding have been bound into the volume as frontpaper ii and endpaper i.

Extent and format
Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+73+i
Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 254 x 185 mm leaf [198 x 135 mm written]

Foliation: Arabic-Indic foliation in black ink; British Museum foliation in pencil

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

Script: Naskh; the scribe is ‘Umar ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah (f. 71r)

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

Binding: British Museum binding; some quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. signatures visible (quaternions)

Condition: Wormholes, some repaired; grime and ink stains frequent

Marginalia: Some corrections and annotations by various hands

Seals: Frontpaper ii and endpaper i

Written in
Arabic in Arabic script
Type
Manuscript

Archive information for this record

Access & Reference

Original held at
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference
Or 14270

History of this record

Date(s)
28 Shawwāl 691 (CE, Gregorian)

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Two technological treatises, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 14270, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/242> [accessed 9 October 2024]

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