Two medical texts

Content

The manuscript was produced in Egypt as confirmed by the use in the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 184v, lines 7-8, transcribed below) of the Coptic date alongside the hijrī year. The copy was completed on 28 Hatūr 1393 (of the Coptic era)/28 Ramaḍān 1087/4 December 1676. A small note below the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. gives the subsequent (collation?) date 18 Ṭūbah [1394] (of the Coptic era)/[29] Dhū al-Qa‘dah 1088/23 January 1678.

The manuscript was probably collected by the Scottish surgeon and naturalist Patrick Russell (1726-1805) during his service as physician to the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Company factory An East India Company trading post. in Aleppo (1753-71). While in Aleppo, Russell studied the outbreaks of plague in 1760-62, so may have been interested in the recipe (f. 1r) for pills (حبوب), five of which were to be taken in the morning, before breakfast, during plague season (في أيام الوباء). This recipe is said to have been received from Ibn al-Ḥākhām ('son of the Rabbi') Mūsá on 7 Rajab 1138/11 March 1726 (see Custodial History).

Contents:

• (1) al-‘Aynzarbī (العينزربي), al-Kāfī fī ṣinā‘at al-ṭibb (الكافي في صناعة الطب; ff. 2r-172v);
• (2) al-Qawṣūnī (القوصوني), Zād al-masīr fī ʿilāj al-bawāsīr (زاد المسير في علاج البواسير; ff. 173r-185r).

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iii+185+iv

It is grouped into

al-Kāfī fī ṣinā‘at al-ṭibb الكافي في صناعة الطب ‘Aynzarbī, ‘Adnān ibn Naṣr عينزربي، عدنان بن نصر

342 images

Ref: Add MS 5931, ff 2r-172v

Zād al-masīr fī ʿilāj al-bawāsīr زاد المسير في علاج البواسير Qawṣūnī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad قوصوني، محمد بن محمد

25 images

Ref: Add MS 5931, ff 173r-185r

Physical characteristics

Material: Western laid paper, with Tre lune watermark

Dimensions: 209 x 150 mm leaf [140 x 95 mm written]

Foliation: Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink, British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 23 lines per page; vertical spacing 16 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

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

Binding: Red leather binding, with stamped medallion, pendants corner and edge pieces; marbled doublures and recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. -side of first front and end flyleaves

Condition: Minor water damage to lower, outer corner towards front and end of volume

Marginalia: Few; most (all?) by hand of 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

Add MS 5931

History of this record

Date(s)

28 Ramaḍān 1087 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Egypt

Provenance

• Ibrāhīm Efendī Murād al-Ḥanafī (إبراهيم أفندي مراد الحنفي): his inscription, without date (f. 1r);
• Medical recipe apparently in hand of Ibrāhīm Efendī Murād al-Ḥanafī (إبراهيم أفندي مراد الحنفي), dated 7 Rajab 1138/11 March 1726 (f. 1r);
• Yūsuf wuld Jirgī wuld Buṭrus Dīyah (?) al-Ṭabīb (يوسف ولد جرجي ولد بطرس ديه [؟] الطبيب): his inscription, dated 15 Aylūl (September) 1756 (f. 1r).

Immediate source of acquisition

From the legacy of Patrick Russell (1726-1805), surgeon and naturalist

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 453, p. 223
• Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 153 and 309, pp. 129-31 and 229

Select Bibliography

Studies:

• Hawgood, BJ, 'The life and viper of Dr Patrick Russell MD FRS (1727–1805): Physician and naturalist', Toxicon: official journal of the International Society on Toxinology 32.11 (1994), pp. 1295–304
• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 161 and 180-81

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Patrick Russell

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Two medical texts, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 5931, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100032176486.0x000001> [accessed 18 April 2024]

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