Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyal al-handasīyah كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية Jazarī, Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz جزري، إسمعيل بن الرزّاز

Content

Treatise on practical mechanics by Badī‘ al-Zamān Abū al-‘Izz Isma‘īl ibn al-Razzāz (بديع الزمان أبو العزّ إسمعيل بن الرزّاز; fl. 1181-1206), written for al-Ṣāliḥ Abū al-Fatḥ Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Qarā Arslān, Artuqid king of Diyarbakır (الصالح أبو الفتح محمود بن محمد بن قرا أرسلان زعيم ديار بكر, reg. 1200-1222; f. 3r, lines 6-7) and mentioning the reigning caliph al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh (الناصر لدين الله أبو العباس أحمد, reg. 1180-1225; ff. 3r, line 23-3v, line 1).

The text contains numerous diagrams and illustrations of mechanical devices. Some spaces are left blank for missing diagrams. Folios 148v, 149r, 150v, 151r, 152v and 153r contain illustrations that have been cut out and mounted.

Begins (f. 1v, lines 3-6):

قال الشيخ رئيس الأعمال بديع الزمان أبو بكر المعز بن إسمعيل بن الرزاز الجوزي (!)

رحمه الله عليه الحمد لله المبدع صنعه في السمائيات المودع أسرار حكمته في الأرضيات

وهي نسخة من عالم ملكوته ودليل قاطع على جبروته أحمده على ما علم واستزيده من

فواضل النعم ...

Ends (f. 146v, lines 1-4):

وقد أثبت في هذه المخمس شكلًا بأصول فروعها كثيرة ومنافعها كثيرة ومن يجعل (؟)

أوصافها ولزومها أضعافها على أني ألقيت ذكر كثيرهما آخر عنه عن

الأعمال وغوامض أشكال وفيما ذكرته ملاع للمستعيد ومتاع للمدير والله

أعلم بالفنان وعلين التكلان

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 146v, lines 4-5):

... تم التكاب بعون الملك الوهاب وإليه المرجع و

المآب وأصلي على محمد وآله والأصحاب

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. 153+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 268 x 150 mm leaf [200 x 90 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; eastern Arabic pagination in black ink

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 23 lines per page; vertical spacing 12 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh with nasta‘līq features

Ink: Black ink, with rubrics and diagrams in red, yellow, green, blue and black

Binding: Binding combining European and Islamic features; both boards have guilt medallions with pendants and three gilt borders

Condition: Minor waterstains, many wormholes and small tears, some repaired

Marginalia: Few in both Arabic and Persian

Seals: Ff. 1r, 2r

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 116

History of this record

Date(s)

18th century (CE, Gregorian)

Context of creation

India?

Provenance

• Seal, defaced, dated 1117 AH/AD 1705-06 (f. 2r);
• Seal dated 1267 AH/AD 1850-51, name illegible (f. 2r);
• Colonel George William Hamilton (كرنيل جارج وليم هملتن; 1807-1868), Ṣāḥib Bahādur (صاحب بهادر), Commissioner in Delhi: his inscription, undated (f. 1r);
• Inscription: 'Ruthensing no 235', no date (f. 2r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from the widow of Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868), Commissioner in Delhi (1823-1867), April 1868

Related material

Finding aids

Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 1661, pp. 746

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• Jazarī, Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz, al-Jāmi' bayna al-'ilm wa-al-'amal al-nāfi' fī ṣinā'at al-ḥiyal , ed. Aḥmad Yūsuf al-Ḥasan (Ḥalab: Ma'had al-Turāth al-'Ilmī al-'Arabī, Jāmi'at Ḥalab, 1979)

Translation:

• Jazarī, Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyal al-handasīyah , ed. and trans. by Donald Routledge Hill (Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1974)

Subjects

Mechanics--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Ismā'īl ibn al-Razzāz Jazarī

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Kitāb fī maʿrifat al-ḥiyal al-handasīyah كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية Jazarī, Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz جزري، إسمعيل بن الرزّاز, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 116, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/242> [accessed 19 April 2024]

Link to this record

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