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Catalogue: Alchemy

Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn (MS A 33, item 10): (The Book of the Hidden Secret); كتاب السر المكنون; attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (8th-9th century); جابر ابن حيان

A group of 144 alchemical tracts known collectively as Kutub al-Mawazin (The Books of Balances) probably dates from the beginning of the 10th century. The National Library of Medicine has several treatises that appear to relate to this Jābirian collection.

Among these there is a treatise titled Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn (The Book of the Hidden Secret). The treatise is composed of three parts (juz'): on the classification of metals, on spirits (al-arwah), and a further explication of the subject of the second section.

The treatise opens with opinions of Socrates on the preservation of solutions extracted from stones. In the second part, a number of ancient sources are also cited, including Socrates and Pythagoras. In the third section Socrates and Balīnās are the major authorities.

One manuscript at NLM (MS A 33) has a treatise (item 6) with selections (called muntakhab) from Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn, while another manuscript (MS A 70) has two items (nos. 20 and 25) that are extracts from the first and second sections of Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn.

For other copies, see Kraus, Jabir, p. 93-4 nos. 389-391; and Sezgin, GAS IV, p. 255 no. 18. A number of other copies are recorded.

The first part (juz') of the text was edited in P. Kraus, Jabir ibn Hayyan (Essai sur l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam). Vol. 1: Textes choisis (Cairo: Libraries El-Khandji and Paris: G.P. Maisonneuve,1935), pp. 333-340; the NLM copy was not used in the edition.

Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn [extract from] (MS A 33, item 10)

Physical Description

Arabic. 13 leaves (fol. 161b, line 3-fol. 173b). Dimensions 21 x 14.8 (text area 15.3 x 7.4) cm; 12 lines per page. On fol. 161b, lines 3-4, it states that this is a 'selection from (al-muntakhab min) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn which is among the writings (min kutub) of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān'.

The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 17th or 18th century.

All the items in the volume were copied by the same unnamed person. The volume was given the title Majmu‘ nafis al-kimiya' (A Valuable Collection on Alchemy) on fol. 1b, which is a later title page and table of contents. A modern label on the front pastedowns reads: Majmu‘ah: Rasa'il li-Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Collection: Treatises by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān).

The text is written in a large naskh tending to ta‘liq script using black ink with headings in a tomato-red. The text area is frame-ruled. There are catchwords.

There are marginalia in several hands throughout the volume. Some indicate corrections, others (in a very large script) repeat section headings, and some provide brief commentaries. Most of the folios have been numbered in Arabic numerals on the verso; the volume has been recently refoliated in Western numerals.

Fols. 2-188 are composed of a thin, ivory paper with vertical laid lines and single chain lines (no watermarks observed). Fols. 189-252 are composed of a slightly thicker and stiffer light-beige paper that also has vertical laid lines with single chain lines spaced further apart than in the paper of the first group; there are evident watermarks. The paper is damp-stained and darker near the edges, with considerable water-damage at the top inner corner. It is also slightly soiled through thumbing. Fol. 1 is a watermarked paper slightly different from the rest of the volume.

The volume consists of 252 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank; the folio is a later piece of paper on which someone has written a table of contents for the volume on the verso. Fols. 10b, 27a, 48a, and 89b are completely blank. Fol. 121a is blank except for a short Persian later annotation. Fol. 36b was blank, but a Persian note has since been added to it, and fol. 58a was blank until a short note in red ink was added that repeats the title of the previous item. Carefully written Persian notes have been written at the bottom of fols. 47a and 47b.

Fols. 2a-10a (item 1) contain Kitāb al-Malāghim al-awwal by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 1); fols. 11a-26b (item 2) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-thānī by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 2); fols. 27b-36a (item 3) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 3); fols. 37a-47a (item 4) Tafsīr al-Malāghim by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 4); fols. 48b-57b (item 5) Kitāb al-al-Tadābīr by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 5); fols. 58b-89a (item 6) Kitāb al-Uṣūl by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 6); fols. 90a-120b (item 7) Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 7); fols. 121b-147a (item 8) al-Muntakhab min Kitāb al-Ittiḥād by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 8); fols. 147a-161b (item 9) Kitāb al-Sirr al-asrār by al-Rāzī (MS A 33, item 9); fols. 161b-173b (item 10) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān here catalogued; fols. 174a-185a (item 11) Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-awwal wa-al-thānī wa-al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 11); fols. 185a-211b (item 12) Kitāb al-Bāhir by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 12); fols. 212a-217b (item 13) Kitāb al-Khamā'ir al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 13); fols. 217b-229a (item 14) Kitāb Tafsīr al-khamā'ir al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 14); fols. 229b-230b (item 15) Kitab al-Sha‘ar [quotations from] by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 15); fols. 230b-244b (item 16) Kitab al-Khama'ir by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 16); and fols. 244b-252b (item 17) al-Khalis al-mubarak by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 17).

Binding

The volume is bound in an 18th or 19th century Persian/Turkish binding of brown leather over pasteboards with an envelope flap. Both covers have a blind-stamped large scalloped mandorla panel stamp whose decoration on the inner field has a central flower in full bloom and interweaving vines with full blown and smaller flowers and leaves. There are two small pendants blind-stamped with a single flower-bud. The covers also have blind-tooled frames formed of simple fillets either side of a narrow guilloche roll. The envelope flap has a similar frame, with the small scalloped panel stamp decorated with a small flower in full bloom surrounded by a scalloped design. The spine, fore-edge flap, and edges are recently repaired in a darker brown leather. The envelope flap has a yellow-green paper lining. There are modern pastedowns and endpapers and a recent brown cloth fore-edge flap lining.

Provenance

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS No. 1683).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 33, p. 308.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-118 no. 6.