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Catalogue: Natural History

‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (MS P 29): (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing); كتاب عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات; by Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī; زكرياء ابن محمد القزوينى

Illustrations

Folio 1b featuring an illuminated headpiece, executed in opaque watercolors, ink, and gilt, of a copy of ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) by al-Qazwīnī. The glossy yellow-brown paper is moderately thin with only laid lines visible. The text is written in a medium-small, widely-spaced, professional, and elegant ta‘liq tending toward naskh script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. The text area is frame-ruled.The text throughout the volume is inscribed within frames of blue, red, gilt, and black lines.

MS P 29, fol. 1b

An illuminated headpiece, executed in opaque watercolors, ink, and gilt, of a copy of ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) by al-Qazwīnī (d. 1283/682). The manuscript is undated but signed by the scribe, Sayyid Ḥusayn Yazdī, and at the end of the treatise there is a portrait of a scribe immediately below the colophon giving the scribe's name. The volume must have been completed before 1546/953 H, when an owner's stamp for one ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī was placed in the volume. It appears to have been copied and illustrated in India.

Folio 173a featuring the colophon and a portrait of a scribe immediately below the copyist's name from ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) by al-Qazwīnī. The glossy yellow-brown paper is moderately thin with only laid lines visible. The text is written in a medium-small, widely-spaced, professional, and elegant ta‘liq tending toward naskh script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. The text area is frame-ruled.The text throughout the volume is inscribed within frames of blue, red, gilt, and black lines.

MS P 29, fol. 173a

This copy of ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) by al-Qazwīnī (d. 1283/682) is undated but signed by the scribe, Sayyid Ḥusayn Yazdī. The colophon, shown here, is unusual in having a portrait of a scribe immediately below the copyist's name. The volume must have been completed before 1546/953 H, when the impression of an owner's stamp for one ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī was placed at the bottom of the page. The copy appears to have been produced in India.

The back cover of MS P 29 is made of dark-brown leather over pasteboards. In the center and the four corners there are gold-stamped flowers on stems, while the frame is formed of gold-tooled acanthus leaves alternating with flowerheads.

MS P 29, fol. binding

The covers of this binding, which is not original with the manuscript, are made of dark-brown leather over pasteboards. In the center and the four corners there are gold-stamped flowers on stems, while the frame is formed of gold-tooled acanthus leaves alternating with flowerheads.

Physical Description

Persian. 173 leaves (fols. 1b-173a). Dimensions 35.5 x 21 (text area 22.5 x 11.5) cm; 16 lines per page. The author and title are not given. Identification was confirmed by comparison with other copies, such as NLM MS P 1, P 2, and P 3. The translator of this Persian version is not identified.

The manuscript is undated but signed by the scribe, Sayyid Ḥusayn Yazdī. There is a portrait of a scribe immediately below the colophon giving the scribe's name (fol. 173a). The volume must have been completed before 1546/953 H, when an owner's stamp for one ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī was placed in the volume. It appears to have been copied and illustrated in India.

The text is incomplete. It lacks the introduction, and the text begins on fol. 1b in the first section (nazar) of the first chapter (maqalah), with the discussion of the celestial spheres, stars, and time [= NLM MS P 3, fol. 13a]. A break in the text occurs between fols. 1 and 1, for fol. 2 begins with the first nazar of the second maqalah [= NLM MS P 3, fol. 72a] with the discussion of elements, minerals, plants, and animals. Additional breaks occur in the text between fols. 22/23, 29/30, and 30/31.

The text is written in a medium-small, widely-spaced, professional, and elegant ta‘liq tending toward naskh script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. The text area is frame-ruled.The text throughout the volume is inscribed within frames of blue, red, gilt, and black lines. There are catchwords.

On fol. 1b there is an illuminated headpiece opening the text, executed in opaque watercolors, ink, and gilt.

There are a number of illustrations, and, except for those indicated as diagrams in red ink, all are executed in opaque watercolors and inks, on a silvery background: fol. 9a (unfinished circular diagram; red ink), 13a (unfinished diagram; red ink), 15b (unfinished sketch of rainbow; red ink), 21a (outline sketch of map of inhabited world; red ink), 26a (fish with human head; opaque watercolors), 31a (fish with feline head), 33a (large fish/whale with spiny back), 33b (large fish), 37a (pink fish/whale), 37b-38a (two fishes, one pink, one orange), 38b (two fishes, one winged), 41b (humanoid with face in center of chest, pink with brown spots), 42a (octopus), and 47b (unfinished diagram of the seven climes; red ink).

The glossy yellow-brown paper is moderately thin with only laid lines visible. There is some water damage near the edges, and the paper is soiled through thumbing. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. Fols. 1 and 173 have been reinforced.

There are 173 leaves in the volume. Fols. 1a and 173b are blank. The main item in the volume, occupying the central text area of fols. 1b-173a is ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt by al-Qazwīnī here catalogued. There are 35 distinct treatises written in the wide margins of the folios. The marginal items are: MS P 29, marginal item 1: (fol. 1b) Dar ḥaqīqat-i ‘ālam, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 2: (fols. 2a-3b) Risālah-i qiyāfah by Sayyid ‘Alī Hamdānī; MS P 29, marginal item 3: (fols. 3b-10b) Risālah-i ḥifz al-ṣiḥḥah by al-Jurjānī; MS P 29, marginal item 4: (fols. 10b-12a) Muqaddimah-i nabz, anon. ; MS P 29, marginal item 5: (fols. 18a-19b) Muqqadimah-i ‘ishq, anon. ; MS P 29, marginal item 6: (fols. 19b-22b) sharḥ-i pat , anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 7: (fols. 23a-25b) Dar ‘ishq, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 8: (fols. 26a-29b) Risālah-i ṭarīqah-i naqsh-bandīy, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 9: (fols. 33b-33b) on astronomical principles, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 10: (fol. 41a) on the zodiacal sign of Cancer, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 11: (fols. 42b-45a) on ancient authorities, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 12: (fols. 45b-46b) Ḥaqīqat-i ṭūl-i va ‘arḍ-i aqālīm, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 13: (fols. 52a-53b) on astrology and magic, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 14: (fols. 54a-56b) Risāla dar khāṣṣīyat-i zanān, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 15: (fols. 57a-62a) on magic squares and talismans, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 16: (fols. 62a-63b) Risālah dar hawāṣṣ, attributed to Ibn Sīnā; MS P 29, marginal item 17: (fols. 63b-66b) Muqaddimāt-i ḥisāb, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 18: (fols. 66b-70a) on numerology and lunar mansions, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 19: (fols. 70a-73b) on occult properties, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 20: (fols. 73b-77b) Muqaddimah-i raml, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 21: (fol. 77b) Muqaddimah-i ganjifah, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 22: (fol. 77b) Muqaddimah-i shaṭranj, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 23: (fols. 78a-80b) on magical alphabets, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 24: (fols. 81a-88b) Khulāṣah-i tawārīkh, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 25: (fols. 88b-91a) Khulāṣah-i rājāwatī, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 26: (fols. 92a-93a) on wonders among world rulers, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 27: (fols. 96a-99a) reports and sayings of learned Sufi shaykhs (untitled), anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 28: (fols. 99a-101b) Dar akhlāq-i ḥamīdah, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 29: (fols. 101b-108a) Tuḥfat al-wuzarā' , anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 30: (fols. 108b-109b) on magic, untitled, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 31: (fols. 114b-129a, 132a-140a, 141a-147a, 148a-162a) on medical-magical procedures (untitled) by Ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib; MS P 29, marginal item 32: (fols. 162a-165a) Risālah dar akl va shurb, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 33: (fol. 166a) Dar ḥisab-i siyāq-i ḥayawanāt, anon.; MS P 29, marginal item 34: (fols. 167a-167b) on compound recipes, untitled, anon.; and MS P 29, marginal item 35: (fols. 169a-172b) Khawāṣṣ-i jafrāt, anon. There are no marginal texts on fols. 12b-17b, 30a-31b, 34a-40b, 41b-42a, 47a-51b, 91b, 93b-95a, 110a-114b, 129b-131b, 140b, 141b-142a, 147b, 165b, 166b, 168a, 168b [only marginal corrections], and 173a.

Binding

The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with dark-brown leather. On the covers there are gold-tooled frames filled with acanthus leaves, with flowers or a star in the center and corners. The spine has gold-stamped flowers and a border. The binding is not original. There are modern pastedowns and endpapers.

Provenance

There is an owner's stamp dated 1546/953 H with the name ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī (fol. 173a).

The volume was purchased from R. Thomas Heller, New York, on 3 August 1949. No further information is available on the provenance.

References

[unpublished]

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 55-41 no. 3