Author
the Andalusian botanist Ḍiyā’ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad
Publication Date
Early 15th century (CE, Gregorian)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
230 x 155 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 6429
Record ID
vdc_100088051994.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
Early 15th century (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
The most influential and important Arabic handbook of materia medica, written by the Andalusian botanist Ḍiyā’ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad (Dia al-Din Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Ahmad; d. 1248), known as Ibn al-Bayṭār (Ibn al-Bitar), Chief Herbalist (Chief Herbalist) to the Ayyubid Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil (reg. 1218-38). The book is here called The Compendium of the Strengths of Drugs and Nutriments, see f. 379r, line 7, transcribed below), but it is usually known as The Compendium of Simple Drugs and Nutriments.
The first folio of the text is a replacement (f. 2).
This copy was completed on 6 Ramaḍan (no year given) by ʿUmar ibn Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad Abī Bakr (Omar ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad Abi Bakr, see
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 379r, lines 9-11, transcribed below).
Bound into the end of the volume is one folio from the end of Chapter four and the beginning of Chapter five (begins f. 380v, line 10) of the Aphorisms (Book of Chapters) attributed to Hippocrates (ca 460-370 BC).
Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-3):
Praise be to God, who, with the kindness of His wisdom, established the structure of man, specializing in him with what he taught him of the wonderful expressions, and subjugating him on earth
Of inanimate objects, plants, and animals, He gave them reasons for preserving health...
Ends (f. 379r, lines 4-9, some text lost due to damage in gutter margin):
Abu Al-Abbas Al-Nabati's yam is known in Kairouan and is tested in them
] It is a white plant whose leaves are fluffy and has leaves similar to those of wild plantain
The leaves of the gazelle's ears are smaller than the leaves in the middle, and they have a stem that is an inch or less long.
And more [in] the foreskin is thick and thin, and here we achieve the intended presentation of the comprehensive book of the powers of medicines and foods.
[And] Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon all the saintly souls who are free from sin
Miss (?)
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 379r, lines 9-13, some text lost due to damage in gutter margin):
... He completed the book with God Almighty’s help and good success in one day
On the sixth of God’s blessed and glorious month, Ramadan, may God bless him and grant him the greatest sanctity and blessings
[A] The servants of God are weak and most in need, the servant of the poor and needy, Omar bin Yusuf bin Muhammad Abi Bakr
May God Almighty grant him useful knowledge and righteous deeds that are right for him
Enjoy it to its owner
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 43
Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 194, pp. 169-70
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from David Fetto, 14 October 1902
Köken
Muḥammad Amīn al-Mawṣilī Yāsīn Afandīzādah (محمد أمين الموصلي ياسين أفندي زاده), physician (d. ca 1812, see Ruʾūf, ʿImād ʿAbd al-Salām, 'al-Adīb al-ṭabīb Muḥammad Amīn Bek Āl Yāsīn al-Muftī al-Mawṣilī' [2016]): his inscription with date 1181/1767-8 and his seal with date 1169/1755-6 (f. 2r);
ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Amīn (عبد الله ابن محمد أمين), son of Muḥammad Amīn al-Mawṣilī Yāsīn Afandīzādah (محمد أمين الموصلي ياسين أفندي زاده): his inscription without date and his seal with date 1181/1767-8 (f. 2r);
Muḥammad Shafīʿ ibn Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-Husaynī (محمد شفيع بن بهاء الدين الحسيني): his inscription dated Qazvīn, Shawwāl (year erased) and his seal without date (f. 2r);
Muḥammad Ṣādiq al-Ḥusaynī (محمد صادق الحسيني): his inscription without date and his seal with date 1114/1702-3 (f. 2r).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Editions of the al-Jāmiʿ li-mufradāt:
Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah, 1992)
Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah ([Būlāq]: al-Maṭbaʿah al-ʿāmirah, 1291 [1874]; reprinted in series Manshūrat Maʻhad Tarīkh al-ʻUlūm al-ʻArabīyah wa-al-Islamīyah, al-Ṭibb al-Islamī; 69, 70 [Frankfurt am Main : Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 1996])
Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Tanqīḥ mufradāt Ibn al-Bayṭār al-ʿashshāb al-Mālaqī min kitābihi al-Jāmiʿ, (ed. by Muḥammad al-ʿArabī al-Khaṭṭābī), (Bayrūt: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1990)
Translations of the al-Jāmiʿ li-mufradāt:
Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Grosse Zusammenstellung über die Kräfte der bekannten einfachen Heil- und Nahrungsmittel von Abu Mohammed Abdallah Ben Ahmed aus Malaga bekannt unter dem Namen Ebn Baithar, (trans. by Joseph von Sontheimer), (Stuttgart: Hallberger'sche Verlagshandlung, 1840-42)
Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Traité des simples, (trans. by Lucien Leclerc), in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale et autres bibliothèques, vols 23.1 (1877), 25.1 (1881) and 26.1 (1883) (reprinted Paris: Institut du Monde arabe, 1987)
Edition of the Arabic version of the Aphorisms:
Hippocrates, الفصول الابقراطية The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Translated into Arabic by Honain ben Ishak, Physician to the Caliph Motawakkul, ed. by John Tytler (Calcutta: The Education press, 1832)
Study of Ibn al-Bayṭār:
Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 280-83
