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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: Medical Poetry - Gallery

Folio 1a from Mūsá ibn Ibrāhīm (ibn Mūsá ibn Muḥammad) al-Baghdādī's al-Jawhar al-nafīs fī sharḥ urjūzah al-Shaykh al-Ra’īs (The Precious Gem in Commenting upon the Poem of Shaykh al-Ra'is (Avicenna)). The gray-beige paper is thick, opaque, and yellowed; it has wavy vertical laid lines with single chain lines and is watermarked. The text is writen in a medium-small naskh tending to ta‘liq with occasional vocalization; the letter sin has a caron over it. Black ink with headings in red; the text being commented upon is in red.

MS A 24, fol. 1a

Folio 1b from Ibn Sīna's Urjūzah fī al-ṭibb (Poem on Medicine). The cream, semi-glossy paper has laid lines, single chain lines, and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small naskh, inelegant and awkward but consistent, with some ligatures. The text area has been frame-ruled but the ruling was often not followed. Black ink with the headings in red and some vocalization; the ends of stanzas are indicated by red dots.

MS A 34, fol. 1b

Folio 48a of MS A 34 featuring Urjūzah fī ta‘rīf al-nabḍ wa-al-bawl (A Poem on the Knowledge of the Pulse and Urine) attributed to Ibn Sina. The cream, semi-glossy paper has laid lines, single chain lines, and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small naskh, inelegant and awkward but consistent, with some ligatures. The text area has been frame-ruled but the ruling was often not followed. Black ink with the headings in red and some vocalization; the ends of stanzas are indicated by red dots.

MS A 34, fol. 48a

Folio 52b of MS A 34 featuring Urjūzah fī amrāḍ jafn al-‘ayn (A Poem on Diseases of the Eyelid) attributed to Ibn Sina. The cream, semi-glossy paper has laid lines, single chain lines, and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small naskh, inelegant and awkward but consistent, with some ligatures. The text area has been frame-ruled but the ruling was often not followed. Black ink with the headings in red and some vocalization; the ends of stanzas are indicated by red dots.

MS A 34, fol. 52b

Folio 54b of MS A 34 featuring Urjūzah fī tadbīr al-ṣiḥḥah fī al-fuṣīl al-arba‘ah (Poem on the Regimen of Health in the Four Seasons) attributed to Ibn Sina. The cream, semi-glossy paper has laid lines, single chain lines, and is watermarked. The text is written in a medium-small naskh, inelegant and awkward but consistent, with some ligatures. The text area has been frame-ruled but the ruling was often not followed. Black ink with the headings in red and some vocalization; the ends of stanzas are indicated by red dots

MS A 34, fol. 54b

Folio 58b of MS A 34 which starts Ibn Makkī's Urjūzah wajīzah fī ‘adād al-‘urūq al-mafṣūdah (A Short Poem on the Number of Vessels for Bloodletting). The text is written in a medium-small naskh, inelegant and awkward but consistent, with some ligatures and some vocalization. Black ink has been used with the headings in red; the ends of stanzas are indicated by red dots.

MS A 34, fol. 58b

Folio 82a from Alī ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Haydūr's al-Durrah al-ḥasnā’ fī sharḥ Qaṣīdat Ibn Sīnā (The Beautiful Pearl Concerning a Commentary on the Poem of Ibn Sīnā). 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.

MS A 45.1, fol. 82ab

Page 163 of MS A 59 featuring the colophon from a copy of Ibn Rushd's (Averroes) 12th-century commentary on the Poem on Medicine written by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna). The paper is a glossy cream paper with visible laid lines and single chain lines. The text is written in naskh script; black ink with headings in red.

MS A 59, p. 163

Folio 1b from Ibn al-Khaṭīb's al-Manz ūmah fī al-ṭibb (The Poem on Medicine). The light-beige paper has a nearly matte finish. The text area has been frame-ruled. Black ink with headings and marginal headings in red and blue-green. The text is written within frames of red and green lines.

MS A 85, fol. 1b

Folio 52b of MS A 85 which is the opening of al-Marrākushi's ‘Alāmat al-sa‘ādah fī al-aghdhiyah al-mu‘tādah (Signs of Well-being in Readily Available Foodstuffs). The light-beige paper has a nearly matte finish. The entire volume is written in a very fine North African (Maghribi) script by one unnamed copyist. The text area has been frame-ruled. Black ink with headings and marginal headings in red and blue-green. The text is written within frames of red and green lines.

MS A 85, fol. 52b

Folio 14a from Shihāb al-Dīn Nāgawrī's Shifā’ al-maraḍ. The glossy, beige paper is thin and rather brittle, with very wavy laid lines but no visible chain lines. The text is written in two columns in a medium-small ta‘liq script, professionally and carefully executed with dense black ink and headings in red. There are notes in the left margin.

MS P 16.1, fol. 14a

Folio 80b from MS P 25 featuring the opening of Ḥifz al-ṣiḥḥah manzūum (The Maintenance of Health, Versified). The thick, opaque, slightly-glossy yellow-brown paper has only indistinct laid lines occasionally visible. The paper is waterstained. The treatise is written in two columns, with an unrelated prose text written in the margins. The text were written in a medium-small careful, professional ta‘liq tending toward naskh script. The text area has been frame-ruled, and space was allowed for frames to enclose the metrical treatise; Black ink with headings in red and green.

MS P 25, fol. 80b

Folios 30b and 31a of Alī ibn shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān's Jawāhir al-maqāl (The Gems of Discourse). The thick, opaque, slightly-glossy yellow-brown paper has only indistinct laid lines occasionally visible. The paper is waterstained. The folio is written in two columns with an unrelated prose text written in the margins. The central text and the marginal text were written in a medium-small careful, professional ta‘liq tending toward naskh script. The text area has been frame-ruled, the text is written within small blue-purple frames, while the marginal text is written diagonally in a larger blue-purple frame.

MS P 25, fols. 30b-31a

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