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Banner featuring Arabic calligraphy in dark blue ink above the words Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine written in burgundy ink.

Catalogue: Pharmaceutics - Gallery

The opening page of al-Adwiyah al-mufradah al-musta‘malah bi-khawaṣṣhā wa-af‘ālhā al-mashhūrah bi-hā bi-hā (Useful Simple Remedies with Their Properties and Utilities for Which They are Renowned) by Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī. The thick, lightly-glossed, biscuit paper has indistinct wavy laid lines. The text is written in a small naskh script, in black ink. There are headings in red and also in a large black script. There are notes in the right and bottom margins.

Folio 66b of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's Aqrabadhin (Formulary) featuring the colophon. The thick biscuit paper has very indistinct vertical laid lines and traces of chain lines. The text is written in a small to medium-small naskh using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are annotations in the top and right margins.

MS A 3/I, fol. 66b

The back cover of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's Aqrabadhin (Formulary). The binding of the volume incorporates the covers from a 15th-century binding made in Egypt/Syria or possibly Persia. The central design of each cover is a scalloped mandorla. The points of the mandorla have extended gilt lines with tiny flower heads, and the edges of the mandorla have been painted gold, with gold radiating lines. The field within the mandorla has a blind-stamped floral and leaf design. The frame consists of a single gold fillet with tiny gold flowerheads at the corners, enclosed by a blind-tooled frame composed of lines either side of a row of small circles.

MS A 3/I, back cover

Folio 4b of MS A 3/II which begins Kitāb al-Aqrābādhīn (Book on Compound Remedies) by Abū Bakr Ḥāmid Ibn Samajūn. The opaque fibrous biscuit paper is water damaged near the edges. The text is written in a medium-small, compact naskh script. There is a note in the top right corner margin of the folio.

MS A 3/II, fol. 4b

Page 1 of al-Būnī al-Tamīmī's I‘lām arbāb al-qarīḥah bi-l-adwiyah al-ṣaḥīḥah (The Teaching of Those with Talent about the Reliable Medicaments). The full name of the author is given in line 9 of the page, with a slightly different version above that, in lines 4-6. The matte-finished ivory paper is thick and opaque, with no visible laid lines. The text is written in small Maghribi script using brown ink. The headings are written in a larger script in brown ink, and there are red and black overlinings.

Folio 1b of Ibn Jazlah's Minhāj al-Bayān (The Course of Explanation). The paper is dark brown and very thin and brittle; only laid lines are visible. The text is written in a very neat medium-small naskh script, in dense black ink with headings in red. The text is written within frames formed of gilt and blue lines, and space was left at the top for an illuminated opening.

MS A 40, fol. 1b

Folio 1b, the opening folio from Tunakābunī's Mufradāt mu‘arrabah. The fairly thick, lightly-glossed, light-beige paper is yellowed near the edges. The text is written in a medium-small, somewhat awkward, naskh, using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled.

MS A 42, fol. 1b

Folio 124a from MS A 45.1 featuring the beginning of Taqwīm al-adwiyah fī-mā ishtahara min al-a‘shāb wa-al-‘aqāqīr wa-al-aghdhiyah (The Organization of Drugs Concerned with the Well-known Plants, Medicaments, and Foodstuffs) which has been attributed to Yūḥannā ibn Bukhtīshū‘. The thin, ivory paper has horizontal thin laid lines and vertical single chain lines. The text is written in a medium-large, somewhat awkward, Maghribi script. Black ink with headings in red and green. There are red and green overlinings and occasional green-dot text stops. There are notes in the left margin.

MS a 45.1, fol. 124a

Folio 1b featuring the beginning of al-Khaymi's al-Muntaqā min al-Kitāb al-Jāmi‘ li-quwan al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah (Selections from the Comprehensive Book on the Efficacies of Medicaments and Foodstuffs). The paper is biscuit, semi-glossy, and fairly thick with rather irregular laid lines visible. A medium-small to medium-large naskh script, in brown-black ink, with headings in red or in larger script in black ink. There are red overlinings, red shading of some letters, and red-dot text stops.

MS A 47, fol. 1b

Folio 315a from ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīm al-Anṣārī's Dhikr al-tiryāq al-fārūq (Memoir on Antidotes for Poisons) featuring the colophon. The beige paper is highly glossed, with only laid lines visible. The text is written in an elegant large naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red or in large black script.

MS A 64, fol. 315

The front cover of a short anonymous and untitled Persian text, written diagonally, consisting mostly of recipes, MS A 68. The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with black leather. The cover is decorated with deeply-stamped blind, scalloped mandorla medallions with pendants; the inner fields are filled with flowers and leaves. This design is surrounded by two frames, one of deeply-impressed blind-stamped sprays of flowers with leaves and the other of deep-set S-shaped leaves. There are corner pieces on the covers filled with flowers and leaves.

Folio 2a, the second folio of Taqī al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ma‘rūf al-Shamī al-Asadī's Tarjumān al-aṭibbā’ wa-lisān al-alibbā’ (The Interpreter of Physicians and the Language of the Wise concerning Simple Medicaments). The semi-glossy beige paper is severely stained brown from water. The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, using black ink with headings in red and red dots for text separations.

MS A 75, fol. 2a

Folio 89b of MS A 82 which features the opening of Kitāb al-Qarābādhīn ‘alá tartīb al-‘ilal (Compound Remedies Arranged According to Ailment) by Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī. The text is written in a small, careful, and consistent naskh script, in dense black ink with headings in red-brown. The text area has been frame-ruled.

MS A 82, fol. 89b

Folio 177b of MS A82 which features the opening page of Kitāb al-Aghdhiyat al-marḍá (Nourishment for the Ill) by Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī. The paper is a glossy ivory with vertical laid lines, single chain lines and is watermarked. The text is written in a small, careful, and consistent naskh script, in dense black ink with headings in red-brown.

MS A 82, fol. 177b

The front cover of MS A 82, which is made of red leather over pasteboards. It has a blind-stamped central medallion, scalloped and with internal vegetal design. Blind quadrant lines and diagonals, decorated with S-stamps radiate from the central design. The wide frame is formed of blind fillets on either side of blind-tooled S-stamps.

MS A 82, binding

Folio 4b, the opening folio, of Ibn Jazlah's Mukhtaṣar min mufradāt Ibn Jazlah [al-kitāb] al-mawsūm bi-al-Bayān (Abridgement of the Simple Medicaments from Ibn Jazlah's [book] called al-Bayān). The ivory paper is thick and stiff, with visible vertical laid lines and single chain lines. The text is written in a fairly inelegant medium-large naskh script using black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. The the top, right and bottom margins contain annotations. The annotations on the bottom of the folio were crossed out.

MS A 87, fol. 4b

Folio 54b from MS A 87 which begins Ibn Jazlah's Mulaffaq min al-Bayān (A Compilation Taken from al-Bayan). The ivory paper is thick and stiff, with visible vertical laid lines and single chain lines. The text is an inelegant medium-large naskh script using black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. There are notes in the top, right and bottom margins.

MS A 87, fol. 54b

Folio 1b from Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh Shīrāzī's Alfaz al-adwiyah (Pharmacological Dictionary). The glossy, thin paper is dyed blue and has laid lines. The text is written in a small ta‘liq script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings.

MS P 4, fol. 1b

The cover of MS P 4 a copy of Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh Shīrāzī's Alfaz al-adwiyah (Pharmacological Dictionary). The binding has covers made of red leather over pasteboards, decorated with a central ovate blind-stamped medallion and two pendants. There is a vertical central line and a thin frame of a single fillet. This design is then enclosed by another frame formed of two fillets.

MS P 4, binding

Folio 98a featuring the beginning of the second section of Sulaymān ibn Sulaymān ibn Muḥammad Karīm ibn Muḥammad Walī ibn Ḥājjī Himmat ibn ‘Īsá ibn Ḥasan's Fawā’id al-ḥikmah (The Advantages of Wisdom). The semi-glossy, cream paper is fairly thick. It has horizontal laid lines and single chain lines and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small, widely-spaced, consistent naskh script with some nasta‘liq tendencies. It is written in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings.

MS P 8, fol. 98a

The cover of MS P 8 is bound in a dark-brown leather binding over pasteboards. Both covers have a blind-tooled central rectilinear design having large four-petaled flowers on stems with leaves stamped at the corners, both inside and outside the rectangle. This design is then enclosed in a broad frame filled with blind-tooled large poppies on leafy stems.

MS P 8, binding

Folio 210a from Ḥājjī Zayn al-‘Aṭṭār's Ikhtiyārāt-i Badī‘ī (Selections for Badī‘ī [al-Jamal]) featuring the colophon. The pale biscuit, semi-glossy paper is fairly thin and is fibrous with some inclusions with wavy vertical laid lines. The text is written in a careful and professional, compact, nasta‘liq script using black ink with headings in red.

MS P 9, fol. 210a

Folio 1b of Ḥakīm Muḥammad Sharīf Khān's Ilāj al-amrāḍ (The Treatment of Diseases) featuring the illuminated opening. The thin, cream, slightly glossy, paper has only slight visible laid lines. The text is written in a medium-large, professional ta‘liq script using black ink with headings in red. The text is written within frames formed of one blue and two red lines. There are catchwords. The illuminated headpiece executed in opaque watercolors (blue, red, pink, white), ink and gold.

MS P 10, fol. 1b

Folio 340a from MS P 11 with the beginning folio from Aḥmad ibn Farrukh's Qarābādhīn (Formulary). The creamy, smooth, glossy paper has evident watermarks, with laid lines and single chain lines. The text is written in a small to medium-small nasta‘liq script, using black ink with headings in red, red overlinings, and some marginal headings.

MS P 11, fol. 340a

The cover of MS P 11 bound in a 19th-century Persian binding of black leather over pasteboard. Each cover has a central panel stamp impressed over tan-colored paper cut roughly to its contours. The central panel is lozenge-shaped with scalloped contours and inner field of flowers and stems. On the vertical axis there are two pendant stamps similarly impressed over tan-colored paper. The frames surrounding the design are blind-tooled and composed of simple fillets and a string of S-shaped stamps.

MS P 11, binding

Folio 14a from Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Hādī's Majma‘ al-javāmi‘ va-zakhā’ir al-tarākīb (The Assemblage of Generalities and Treasuries of Compounds). The biscuit, thin, glossy paper has visible laid lines. The text is written in a small, compact ta‘liq tending towards naskh script. It is written in black ink with headings in red and some red overlinings. In the bottom left corner there is a table outlined in red ink.

MS P 11.1, fol. 4a

Folio 1b, the right-hand side of an illuminated double-opening of Makhzan al-adviyah (The Storehouse of Medicaments) apparently taken from the Jāmi‘ al-javāmi‘-i Muḥammad-Shāhī by Hakīm ‘Alavī Khān. Above the text, which is written inside gilt cloud-bands set within a gilt and black frame, there is a large illuminated head-piece painted in gilt, red, blue, and pink opaque watercolors incorporating very small floral designs. The margins are filled with similar decorative panels painted in blue, red, pink, brown, and gilt. The marginal illumination extends also to the facing folio.

MS P 12, fol. 1b

Folio 2a, the left-hand side of an illuminated double-opening of Makhzan al-adviyah (The Storehouse of Medicaments) apparently taken from the Jāmi‘ al-javāmi‘-i Muḥammad-Shāhī by Hakīm ‘Alavī Khān. Above the text, which is written inside gilt cloud-bands set within a gilt and black frame, there is a large illuminated head-piece painted in gilt, red, blue, and pink opaque watercolors incorporating very small floral designs. The margins are filled with similar decorative panels painted in blue, red, pink, brown, and gilt. The marginal illumination extends also to the facing folio.

MS P 12, fol. 2a

Folio 426b, the last folio of Makhzan al-adviyah (The Storehouse of Medicaments) apparently taken from the Jāmi‘ al-javāmi‘-i Muḥammad-Shāhī by Hakīm ‘Alavī Khān. The ivory paper is thin and very glossy; with laid lines, single chain lines and watermarks. The text is written in a fine medium-large professional naskh with some vocalization using black ink with headings in red. There are red overlinings and red marginal headings. There are also catchwords, The entire text is written within frames of gilt fine blue lines filled with gilt.

MS P 12, fol. 426b

Folio 70b, the final page of ‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd Shīrāzī's Risālah-i afyūn (Essay on Opium) featuring the colophon. The beige, glossy, paper is fairly thick and opaque, with laid lines only visible.
The text is written in a small ta‘liq script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings.

MS P 15, fol. 70b

Folio 2b, the beginning folio, of Tunakābunī's Tuḥfat al-mu’minīn. The thick, semi-glossy, paper has been dyed green. It has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines, and large, elaborate watermarks (crown with a wreath, initials). The text is written in a small to medium-small naskh tending toward ta‘liq script, compact, careful, and consistent.

MS P 21, fol. 2b

Folio 225b, the last folio, of Tunakābunī's Tuḥfat al-mu’minīn featuring the colophon. The thick, semi-glossy, paper has been dyed green. It has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines, and large, elaborate watermarks (crown with a wreath, initials). The text is written in a small to medium-small naskh tending toward ta‘liq script, compact, careful, and consistent. A different hand has written the date of the treatise for a second time in very large script at the bottom of the page.

MS P 21, fol. 225b

Front cover of binding of Tunakābunī's Tuḥfat al-mu’minīn. This Persian/Turkish binding of the 17th or 18th century is made of black leather over pasteboards. The cover has a deeply stamped ovoid medallion with pendants, scalloped and with internal floral designs. The design is framed by a single fillet surrounded by a wider frame of fillets filled with leaf-like S-stamps.

MS P 21, binding

Folio 199b from Tunakābunī's Tuḥfat al-mu’minīn (The Present for the Faithful). The thin, soft, beige, fibrous paper has a matte finish. Only wavy horizontal laid lines are visible. The text is written in a large nasta‘liq script using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled and there are catchwords. There are notes in the top, right and bottoms margins.

MS P 22, fol. 199b

The back cover of MS P 23, an anonymous and untitled collection of recipes for compound remedies. The volume is bound in a late 19th-century Indian binding of tan leather over pasteboards. The back cover has a central panel, and two smaller decorative devices, deeply impressed over paper cut to their contours and gold painted. The inner fields of the two smaller designs are filled with a single flower surrounded by a band of dots, while the inner field of the large panel has a number of flowers on stems.

MS P 23, fol. binding

Folios 6b and 7a of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's Aqrabadhin (Formulary). The thick biscuit paper has very indistinct vertical laid lines and traces of chain lines. The text is written in a small to medium-small naskh using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are annotations in the right margin of folio 6b.

MS A 3/I, fols. 6b-7a

Folio 1a featuring the title page of al-Khaymi's al-Muntaqā min al-Kitāb al-Jāmi‘ li-quwan al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah (Selections from the Comprehensive Book on the Efficacies of Medicaments and Foodstuffs). The paper is biscuit, semi-glossy, and fairly thick with rather irregular laid lines visible. A medium-small to medium-large naskh script, in brown-black ink, with headings in red or in larger script in black ink. There are red overlinings, red shading of some letters, and red-dot text stops.

MS A 47, fol. 1a

Folios 1b and 2a from the opening of Sulaymān ibn Sulaymān ibn Muḥammad Karīm ibn Muḥammad Walī ibn Ḥājjī Himmat ibn ‘Īsá ibn Ḥasan's Fawā’id al-ḥikmah (The Advantages of Wisdom). The semi-glossy, cream paper is fairly thick. It has horizontal laid lines and single chain lines and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small, widely-spaced, consistent naskh script with some nasta‘liq tendencies. It is written in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings.

MS P 8, fols. 1b-2a

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