Catalogue: Alchemy
The collection of alchemical tracts called The 112 Books was, apparently, composed at the end of the 9th century. Of the 112 treatises comprising this collection, NLM has copies of four which will be here described here together. Medieval bio-bibliographers counted as number 5 of the 112 Books a treatise by the title Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-kabir or Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-awwal -that is The Large Book of the Unique or The First Book of the Unique. Number 6 in the compilation called The 112 Books was a treatise titled Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-thānī (The Second Book of the Unique). Both apparently concerned amalgams. A third treatise, however, titled Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-thālith (The Third Book of the Unique) was not generally counted as one of The 112 Books, even though the author (said to be Jābir) stated in the treatise that he wrote it for a contemporary alchemist. NLM has a manuscript containing a treatise titled Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-awwal wa-al-thānī wa-al-thālith (The First, Second, and Third Book of the Unique) that appears to be a copy of all three tracts combined (MS A 33, item 11). Copies of these treatises are very rare.
Medieval bio-bibliographers counted a treatise titled Kitāb al-Bāhir (The Book of the Resplendent) as the 37th of the books making up the collection known as The 112 Books. The copy at NLM (MS A 33, item 12) is only one of two recorded copies.
The 28th treatise in the collection called The 112 Books was titled Kitāb al-Sha‘ar
(The Book of Hair). NLM has an extract from this treatise (MS A 33, item 15), and only one other copy is recorded as being preserved.
The 42th treatise in The 112 Books was, according to the medieval bibliographers, called Kitāb al-Khalis al-mubarak (The Book of the Blessed Pure). The copy now at NLM is the only recorded copy of this treatise.
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Kitāb al-Sha‘ar (MS A 33, item 15) - (The Book of Hair)
- كتاب الشعر
- by Jabir ibn Hayyan (8th-9th century)
- جابر ابن حيان
The 28th treatise in the collection called The 112 Books was titled Kitāb al-Sha‘ar (The Book of Hair). MS A 33, item 15, is an extract from this treatise.
Only one other copy is recorded as being preserved: London, British Library, OIOC, MS Add. 7722, fols. 72b-75b. See Kraus, Jabir, pp. 22-3 no. 34; and Sezgin, GAS IV, p. 234 no. 19.
Illustrations
The volume is bound in an 18th or 19th -century Persian/Turkish binding of brown leather over pasteboards with an envelope flap. Both covers have a blind-stamped large scalloped mandorla panel stamp whose decoration on the inner field has a central flower in full bloom and interweaving vines with full blown and smaller flowers and leaves. There are two small pendants blind-stamped with a single flower-bud. The covers also have blind-tooled frames formed of simple fillets either side of a narrow guilloche roll.
Physical Description
Arabic. 2 leaves (fols. 229b-230b, line 2). Dimensions 21 x 14.8 (text area 15.3 x 7.4) cm; 12 lines per page. The author is given on fol. 229b, line 1, along with the title. It is evident from the text that only an extract is presented here.
The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script a date of the 17th or 18th century.
All the items in the volume were copied by the same person. The volume was given the title Majmu‘ nafīs al-kimiya’ (A Valuable Collection on Alchemy) on fol. 1b, which is a later title page and table of contents. A modern label on the front pastedowns reads: Majmu‘ah: Rasa’il li-Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Collection: Treatises by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān).
The text is written in a large naskh tending to ta‘liq script using black ink with headings in a tomato-red. The text area is frame-ruled. There are catchwords.
There are marginalia in several hands throughout the volume. Some indicate corrections, others (in a very large script) repeat section headings, and some provide brief commentaries. Most of the folios have been numbered in Arabic numerals on the verso; the volume has been recently refoliated in Western numerals.
Fols. 2-188 are composed of a thin, ivory paper with vertical laid lines and single chain lines (no watermarks observed). Fols. 189-252 are composed of a slightly thicker and stiffer light-beige paper that also has vertical laid lines with single chain lines spaced further apart than in the paper of the first group; there are also evident watermarks. The paper is damp-stained and darker near the edges, with considerable water-damage at the top inner corner. It is also slightly soiled through thumbing. Fol. 1 is a watermarked paper slightly different from the rest of the volume.
The volume consists of 252 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank; the folio is a later piece of paper on which someone has written a table of contents for the volume on the verso. Fols. 10b, 27a, 48a, and 89b are completely blank. Fol. 121a is blank except for a short Persian later annotation. Fol. 36b was blank, but a Persian note has since been added to it, and fol. 58a was blank until a short note in red ink was added that repeats the title of the previous item. Carefully written Persian notes have been written at the bottom of fols. 47a and 47b.
Fols. 2a-10a (item 1) contain Kitāb al-Malāghim al-awwal by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 1); fols. 11a-26b (item 2) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-thānī by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 2); fols. 27b-36a (item 3) Kitāb al-Malāghim al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 3); fols. 37a-47a (item 4) Tafsīr al-Malāghim by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 4); fols. 48b-57b (item 5) Kitāb al-al-Tadābīr by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 5); fols. 58b-89a (item 6) Kitāb al-Uṣūl by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 6); fols. 90a-120b (item 7) Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 7); fols. 121b-147a (item 8) al-Muntakhab min Kitāb al-Ittiḥād by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 8); fols. 147a-161b (item 9) Kitāb al-Sirr al-asrār by al-Rāzī (MS A 33, item 9); fols. 161b-173b (item 10) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 10); fols. 174a-185a (item 11) Kitāb al-Wāḥid al-awwal wa-al-thānī wa-al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 11); fols. 185a-211b (item 12) Kitāb al-Bāhir by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 12); fols. 212a-217b (item 13) Kitāb al-Khamā'ir al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 13); fols. 217b-229a (item 14) Kitāb Tafsīr al-khamā'ir al-thālith by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 14); fols. 229b-230b (item 15) Kitab al-Sha‘ar [quotations from] by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān here catalogued; fols. 230b-244b (item 16) Kitab al-Khama'ir by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 16); and fols. 244b-252b (item 17) al-Khalis al-mubarak by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 33, item 17).
Binding
The volume is bound in an 18th or 19th -century Persian/Turkish binding of brown leather over pasteboards with an envelope flap. Both covers have a blind-stamped large scalloped mandorla panel stamp whose decoration on the inner field has a central flower in full bloom and interweaving vines with full blown and smaller flowers and leaves. There are two small pendants blind-stamped with a single flower-bud. The covers also have blind-tooled frames formed of simple fillets either side of a narrow guilloche roll. The envelope flap has a similar frame, with the small scalloped panel stamp decorated with a small flower in full bloom surrounded by a scalloped design. The spine, fore-edge flap, and edges are recently repaired in a darker brown leather. The envelope flap has a yellow-green paper lining. There are modern pastedowns and endpapers and a recent brown-cloth fore-edge flap lining.
Provenance
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS No. 1683).
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 33, p. 308.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-118 no. 6.
