Taḥrīr kitāb uṣūl al-handasah wa-al-ḥisāb تحرير كتاب أصول الهندسة والحساب Euclid أقليدس Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad طوسي، نصير الدين محمد بن محمد

Content

Arabic version of the fundamental introduction to geomentry, the Elements (Στοιχεῖα; الأصول) by the mathematician Euclid of Alexandria (Εὐκλείδης, أقليدس; fl. 300 BC), in the annotated edition (تحرير) of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (نصير الدين محمد بن محمد الطوسي; d. 1274).

The text is divided into fifteen books (مقالات) and contains numerous diagrams. The last two books (Books 14 and 15) are correctly said not to have been written by Euclid, and al-Ṭūsī attributes both to the astronomer and mathematician Hypsicles of Alexandria (Ὑψικλῆς, إبسقلاوس; fl. first half of 2nd century BC).

Contents:

• Book One (المقالة الأولى, ff. 2r-30v);
• Book Two (المقالة الثانية, ff. 30v-36v);
• Book Three (المقالة الثالثة, ff. 36v-49r);
• Book Four (المقالة الرابعة, ff. 49r-56r);
• Book Five (المقالة الخامسة, ff. 56r-63v);
• Book Six (المقالة السادسة, ff. 63v-76v);
• Book Seven (المقالة السابعة, ff. 76v-84r);
• Book Eight (المقالة الثامنة, ff. 84r-89v);
• Book Nine (المقالة التاسعة, ff. 89v-95r);
• Book Ten (المقالة العاشرة, ff. 95r-114v);
• Book Eleven (المقالة الحادية عشر, ff. 114v-126v);
• Book Twelve (المقالة الثانية عشر, ff. 126v-134v);
• Book Thirteen (المقالة الثالثة عشر, ff. 134v-143v);
• Book Fourteen (المقالة الرابعة عشر, ff. 143v-147v);
• Book Fifteen (المقالة الخامسة عشر, ff. 147v-149r).

The text is followed (ff. 149v-153r) by a further two (?) propositions introduced by the words 'found in some copies of Euclid after the end of Book Fifteen' (وجد في بعض نسخ أقليدس بعد تمام المقالة الخامسة عشر; f. 149v, line 1).

The copy was completed on Thursday during the first ten days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1048/April 1639 at the Madrasah of the Shaykh al-Islām in Isfahan by Ibn ‘Abd al-Ghanī ‘Abd al-Karīm (ابن عبد الغني عبد الكريم; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , transcribed below).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-4):

الحمد لله الذي منه الابتداء وإليه الانتهاء وعنده حقائق الأنباء

وبيده ملكوت الأشياء وصلوته على محمد وآله الأصفياء وبعد

فلما فرغت من تحرير المجسطي رأيت أن أحرر كتاب أصول الهندسة

Ends (f. 149r, lines 4-5):

... وإذا وفقني الله تعالى

في تحرير هذا الكتاب حسب ما قصدته فلأختم الكلام بحمده أنه خير موفق ومعين

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 149r, lines 6-15):

لقد اتفق الفراغ من تتميمه وتنميقه زيرًا (؟) على يد العبد الغريق في بحر عصيان العميق

المستغفر من كل ذلك والمستعصم من الله عن كل خلل أفقر العباد وأحوجهم

إلى ربه العليم ابن عبد الغني عبد الكريم

الرشتي (؟) الجلالي أصلح الله حالهما وضاعف

في الآخرة تواب أعمالهما وغفر ولدهما

واسترعيوهما في يوم الخميس من

عشر الأول من شهر ذ[ي ا]لحجة الحرام

سنة 1048

من الهجرة

النبوية

على (؟) بطارق الحدثات في مدرسة الموسومة بمدرسة شيخ الإسلام

في دار السلطنة الإصفهان صانها الله منه

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. ii+153+iii+1+i+1+iii

Physical characteristics

Material: A mixture of Eastern and Western laid paper (mostly the latter; watermark particularly visible on f. 88)

Dimensions: 220 x 135 mm leaf [140 x 55 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: No ruling visible; 19 lines per page; vertical spacing 14 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is Ibn ‘Abd al-Ghanī ‘Abd al-Karīm (ابن عبد الغني عبد الكريم; see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 149r, lines 6-8)

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

Binding: British Museum binding

Condition: Waterstains, wormholes, etc

Marginalia: Many, most by hand of scribe, Ibn ‘Abd al-Ghanī ‘Abd al-Karīm ([ابن عبد الغني عبد الكريم])

Seals: 2r

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 21952

History of this record

Date(s)

Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1048 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Isfahan

Provenance

Owner's note (probably in the hand of Thomas Perronet Thompson), without date, in English stating that the manuscript was bought at Ahmedabad (India) in September 1817 for 25 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , which the note tells us was at that time equivalent to about £3; the note also states that the manuscript was rebound at Bombay (f. 1r);

Owner's note (probably also in the hand of Thomas Perronet Thompson?), without date, in English estimating the total word count of the manuscript and calculating, based on this word count, the price of having the manuscript copied in London and comparing that to the price of having it copied in India (f. 1v);

Ibn ‘Abd al-Ghanī ‘Abd al-Karīm (ابن عبد الغني عبد الكريم): his inscription, without date (f. 2r, upper left corner);

Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad (نور الدين محمد): his seal, dated 1127/1715 or 1227/1812-13 (f. 2r, centre left);

Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ (شيخ نور الدين محمد صالح): his seal, dated 1205/1790-91 (f. 2r, lower left).

Immediate source of acquisition

Presented by Major Gen. Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783-1869), 13 April 1857

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 974, p. 443

Select Bibliography

Edition of original Greek text:

• Euclidis Opera Omnia , Johan Ludvig Heiberg (ed.), vols. 1-4, (Lipsiae: Teubner, 1883-85)

Study:

• Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums , vol. 5 (Leiden: Brill, 1974). pp. 111-13
• Turner, Michael J, 'Thompson, Thomas Perronet', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27280?docPos=1 [accessed 30 August 2016]

Subjects

Geometry--Early works to 1800Euclid. Elements

People & organisations

Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ṬūsīEuclidof Alexandria HypsiclesThomas Perronet Thompson

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Taḥrīr kitāb uṣūl al-handasah wa-al-ḥisāb تحرير كتاب أصول الهندسة والحساب Euclid أقليدس Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad طوسي، نصير الدين محمد بن محمد, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 21952, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100035300716.0x000001> [accessed 24 April 2024]

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