Catalogue: Alchemy

Risālah al-Jami‘ al-mas’ūl wa-al-bulūgh al-ma’mūl fī izhār mā khafiya min al-sirr al-majhūl   (MS A 91.1, item 5)

(The Collection of What was Asked for and the Attainment of What was Hoped for Regarding the Revealing of What is Hidden Among the Unknown Secret)

رساله الجمع المسئول والبلوغ المأمول فى اظهار ما خفى من السر المجهول

attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (8th-9th century)

جابر ابن حيان

A large number of miscellaneous writings have been attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān that are not listed as part of one of the major collective works that circulated under his name. Amongst such writings, NLM has some that are attested to being attributed to Jābir in other sources, as well as several that are stated to be by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān in the NLM manuscript copy but are not recorded in the published bibliographic literature on Jābir.

A treatise titled Risālah al-Jami‘ al-mas’ūl wa-al-bulūgh al-ma’mūl fī izhār mā khafiya min al-sirr al-majhūl (The Collection of What was Asked for and the Attainment of What was Hoped for Regarding the Revealing of What is Hidden Among the Unknown Secret) is not among the recorded treatises associated with Jābir. Yet the copy at NLM gives Jābir as the author, and it occurs in a collection containing other treatise by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān.

No other copy has been identified.

Physical Description

Arabic. 26 pages (pp. 159-184, line 4). Dimensions 19.5 x 12.2 (text area 17 x 10.5 and 16 x 8.5) cm; 18-19 lines per page till p. 167, thereafter 12 lines per page. The author is given as Jābir on p. 159, line 7. The title is given at the end of the treatise.

This particular item is undated and unsigned. Another item in the volume transcribed by a similar hand (item 11) was copied in 1304 (= 1886-7), and there is an owner's stamp dated 1886 embossed in the volume. It is likely that all the items in the volume were copied about this time, probably in India.

The first part of the text (pages 159-166) is written in a small, personal, nasta‘liq script using black ink, 18-19 lines per page. With page 167 the hand changes, and the text is more widely spaced with 12 lines per page and written in a smaller text area. There are catchwords and scattered marginalia.

A mix of papers makes up the volume. Pages 1-96 are a light-gray, stiff paper with vertical laid lines, single chain lines, and very large watermarks (crown at top of an oval within which there is a woman wearing a crown and holding a sceptre; the letters 'WKing'). Pages 97-116 are a light-brown paper with no laid or chain lines. Pages 119-134 and 149-166 are composed of very thin transparent paper having prominent horizontal laid lines, every eighth of which is a darker, more prominent line. Pages 117-8, 135-147, 167-246, 261-276 are a thin biscuit paper with no laid or chain lines. Pages 247-260 are a light-brown paper with vertical laid lines and single chain lines (no watermarks observed). The edges of the paper have been trimmed so that some labels and numbering at the top have been cut off. There are ink smudges, and the paper is yellowed and damp-stained near the edges.

The volume consists of 276 pages. Pages 1,4, 115-117, 144-148, 255-260, 273-275 are blank. Pages 118 and 276 are blank except for later casual notes and recipes. Between 148 and 149 there is a small slip of paper with just the beginning phrases of an unidentified treatise. The first item is written in a larger script than the other items and on slightly different paper. The remaining items appear to have been copied by several different but closely related hands.

Pages 2-114 (item 1) contain an untitled Urdu treatise on alchemy and astrology, anonymous (MS A 91.1, item 1); pp. 119-143 (item 2) Kitāb al-Uṣūl by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 2); pp. 149-156 (item 3) Kitāb al-Tadābīr by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 3); pp. 157-158 (item 4) an untitled Persian alchemical essay, anonymous (MS A 91.1, item 4); pp. 159-184 (item 5) al-Jami‘ al-mas’ūl wa-al-bulūgh al-ma’mūl fī izhār mā khafiya min al-sirr al-majhūl, attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān here catalogued; pp. 184-185 (item 6) Mas'alah min Kitāb al-Ḥukamā', anonymous (MS A 91.1, item 6); pp. 186-197 (item 7) Fī bayān al-khamā’ir attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 7); pp. 197-215 (item 8) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-aṣghar [al-thānī] by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 8); pp. 215-225 (item 9) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 9); pp. 226-238 (item 10) Tafsīr al-malāghim by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 91.1, item 10); pp. 238-254 (item 11) al-Ḥajar al-mubārak, anonymous (MS A 91.1, item 11); pp. 261-264 (item 12) an untitled Persian alchemical tract, anonymous (MS A 91.1, item 12); and pp. 265-272 (item 13) an untitled essay on magical medicine and talismanic designs (MS A 91.1, item 13).

Binding

The volume is bound in a modern library binding of pasteboards covered in green cloth binding with a red leather spine. The are modern endpapers and pasteboards.

Provenance

Pages 118, 246, and 247 have been embossed with an oval stamp having a border of flowers and the date '1886' in the center.

No information is available on provenance or when it came into the collection of NLM. It was in the Armed Forces Medical Library by 1955.

References

Unpublished

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 56-40 no. 3