Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبير Jābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان

Content

Treatise attributed to the alchemist Abū Mūsá Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (أبو موسى جابر بن حيان), concerning the occult properties (خواصّ) of animals, plants and stones, chemistry and other related subjects. For a resumé of the diverse subject matter see Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Le corpus des écrits Jābiriens (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1943), pp. 149-52 and al-Hassan 'Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass al-Kabir (The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan', in Studies in al-Kimya' (Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Olms, 2009).

The text is divided into seventy-one books (كتب), six of which (as well as short extracts of others) have been edited by Kraus ( Jabir ibn Ḥayyan. Essai sur l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Textes choisis [Paris: Maisonneuve, 1935], pp. 224-332). This copy is defective at the end, but it can be presumed that only a small number of folios is missing, since the text on the last surviving folio ends abruptly in the seventy-first and final book of the work (Book Seventy-one begins on f. 99, line 11).

The manuscript was collected by Eduard Glaser (1855-1908) during his third visit to Yemen in 1887-88 (see Rieu, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts [London: The British Museum, 1894], p. vii).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-5):

المقالة الأولى من كتاب الخواص الكبير لجابر بن حيان الصوفي

الحمد لله كما هو أهله ومستحقه الكريم الجواد الفعال لما يريد تعالى عما يقول المبطلون

علوًا كبيرًا من كان حافظًا لقاعدة كتبنا هذه ترتيبها وما عليه موضوعها فسيعلم

علمًا يقينًا أنا وعدنا أن نذكر في جملة كتبنا شيئًا مفردًا في علم الخواص ...

Ends (f. 99v, lines 23-25 [damaged and semi-legible; transcription conjectural]):

... واعلم ذلك واعرف موضع مبنى ورجف ستر [؟] وإني يتم لك من الخسرين

[... أر]بعة ومن خمسة ومن ستة ومن سبعة ولا يكون أكبر من ذلك في الـ[...]

[...] أقل من نير [؟] فاعلم ذلك و [...] من ...

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+99+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern wove paper

Dimensions: 190 x 120 mm leaf [150 x 91 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; mid- quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. marks (mostly quinions) visible at the following openings: ff. 11-12, 19-20, 27-28,35-36, 43-44, 51-52, 66-67, 73-74, 88-89, and 96-97

Ruling: No ruling visible; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 17 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black

Binding: British Museum red, half-leather binding

Condition: Minor water damage towards gutter at head and tail; minor insect damage; some wax marks; verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. side of final folio [f. 99] badly rubbed and text there semi-legible; one or more folios missing at end

Marginalia: Many, mostly marginal headings by same hand, but not that of main scribe

Seals: None

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 4041

History of this record

Date(s)

14th century (CE, Gregorian)

Provenance

• Many owners' inscriptions, crossed out and illegible (f. 1r);
• Inscription in Hebrew characters, without name or date (f. 1r, upper right side).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Eduard Glaser (1855-1908), 13 July 1889

Related material

Finding aids

Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 782, p. 534

Select Bibliography

Partial edition:

• Jabir ibn Ḥayyan. Essai sur l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Textes choisis = مختار رسائل جابر بن حيان, ed. by Paul Kraus (Paris: Maisonneuve and Cairo: El-Khandgi, 1935), pp. 224-332

Studies:

• al-Hassan, Ahmad Y., 'Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass al-Kabir (The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan', in Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, Studies in al-Kimya'. Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry (Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Olms, 2009), pp. 145-90
• Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Le corpus des écrits Jābiriens (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1943), pp. 148-52, nos. 1900-1970
• Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 2. Jābir et la science grecque (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1942), pp. 64-91
• Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums , vol. 4 (Leiden: Brill, 1971), p. 264
• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1972), p. 207

Subjects

Alchemy--Early works to 1800Chemistry--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Jābir ibn Ḥayyān

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Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبير Jābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 4041, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100032090042.0x000001> [accessed 20 April 2024]

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