Catalogue: Alchemy

MS A 91.1 contains four anonymous alchemical treatises, one in Arabic, two in Persian, and one in Urdu.

Mas'alah min Kitāb al-Ḥukamā'   (MS A 91.1, item 6)

(A Problem from 'The Book of Sages')

مسئلة من كتاب الحكماء

Anonymous

No other copy of this anonymous alchemical essay has been identified.

Arabic. 2 pages (p. 184, line 5-p. 185). Dimensions 19.5 x 12.2 (text area 17.5 x 8)cm; 18-20 lines per page.

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 text is written in a small, cramped nasta‘liq script using black ink. The text area is frame-ruled. There are catchwords.

The copyist has added two small corrections in the margin. The pages in this item of the volume are numbered at the center top with Arabic numerals

Physical Description

Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. Dimensions 19.5 x 12.2 (text area variable) cm; lines per page variable.

One item in the volume (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.

Most of the texts are written in a small, personal, nasta‘liq script using black ink with headings black and black overlinings. The text area varies slightly. On some leaves (e.g., 119-133) a vertical fold line can be seen marking the outside margin. There are catchwords.

There are some marginalia. The pages numbers used in this description follow the recent pencilled pagination of the volume, though for some items there are also Arabic numerals at the center top.

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 (MS A 91.1, item 5); pp. 184-185 (item 6) Mas'alah min Kitāb al-Ḥukamā' here catalogued; 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 pastedowns.

Provenance

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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