Catalogue: Dietetics and Regimen
Sexual hygiene was also a topic of monographs. The treatises usually included procedures and recipes useful for enhancing the pleasure of sexual intercourse and for aphrodisiacs, and sometimes procedures for ensuring the production of offspring. They also often included instructions for regimen and hygiene that would make a person more attractive, as well as cosmetic procedures and recipes.
For a general discussion of Arabic sources for medieval writings on sexual hygiene, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 193-198.
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Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fīi asrār al-nikīḥ (MS A 89, item 2) - (The Elucidation of the Secrets of Sexual Intercourse)
- كتاب الايضاح في اسرار النكاح
- by ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Naṣr ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Shayzarī (fl. 1164/560)
- عبد الرحمان ابن نصر الن عبد الله الشيزرى
Al-Shayzarī, one of the physicians to the Egyptian/Syrian ruler Saladin at the time of the Crusades, composed a treatise on sexual hygiene that consists of two parts: the first on the secrets of men and the second on the secrets of women. Each part (juz') consists of ten chapters (babs). The juz' on the secrets of men has many simple and compound drugs and aphrodisiacs, while the section on secrets of women is concerned with female beauty, cosmetics, the means of attracting men, and, in the final chapter, magical and talismanic procedures.
The NLM copy was completed in 1782/1196.
For other copies, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 196 note 1; GAL-S, vol. 1, pp. 832-3 no. 3; and Savage-Smith, "Bodleian", MS Marsh 595 item 9.
The treatise has not been published in a modern translation or edition.
Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fīi asrār al-nikīḥ (MS A 89 item 2)
Illustrations
The beginning of a treatise on sexual hygiene, Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fīi asrār al-nikīḥ, by al-Shayzarī, who was a physician in Aleppo, Syria in the mid 12th century. The copy was completed on 23 Dhu al-Hijjah 1196 [= 29 November 1782].
Physical Description
Arabic. 71 pages (Pages 185-255). Dimensions 21.5 x 14.5 (text area 13.5 x 8) cm; 22 lines per page. The author's name is given (p. 185 lines 2-3) as: ‘Abd al-Raḥmān [sic] ibn Naṣir [sic] ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Shirazī [i.e. al-Shayzarī, whose name is often incorrectly written as al-Shirazī]. The title is also given on p. 185.
The copy is dated in the colophon (p. 196) where it is said that the unnamed copyist completed it on 23 [Dhu al-]Hijjah 1196 [= 29 November 1782]. The same copyist appears to have transcribed the three main items in the volume.
A complete copy. The text is written in a North African (Maghribi) script using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are catchwords. Possibly the same hand is found in all three main items in the manuscript.
There is rather extensive marginalia. The volume has been paginated rather than foliated, with the pages numbered every other page beginning with item 1.
The coarse ivory paper has vertical laid lines single chain lines, and watermarks (three large lunar crescents). The paper is lightly soiled with thumbing and worm-eaten. The edges have been trimmed from their original size to fit the binding. The same paper was used for all three main items in the volume.
The volume consists of 293 pages and 13 preliminary pages (Preliminary pages [6-7] and [12-13] are blank; numbered pages 182-184, 256, 272, 291, and 293 are blank). Item 1 (pp. 1-181) contains a treatise on sexual hygiene, al-Rawḍ al-yāni‘ fī aḥkām al-tazwīj wa-ādāb al-majāmi‘, by al-Tamakrūtī (MS A 89, item 1), and item 2 (pp. 185-255) is the treatise on sexual hygiene here catalogued. The 3rd item (pp. 257-290) is an anonymous general treatise on magical medicine (MS A 89, item 3), al-Manāfi‘ al-bayyinah wa-mā yaṣilu bi-al-arba‘ah al-azminah, which has been falsely attribued to Galen. Preliminary pp. [1-5] contain anonymous magical procedures and invocations useful for illness (MS A 89, item [a]), dated 1198 [= 1783-1784]; preliminary pp. [9-11] consist of an unidentified alchemical fragment, anonymous and untited (MS A 89, item [b]). Page 292 contains a protective invocation. Preliminary p. [7] is blank except for a two-line casual note.
Binding
The volume is bound in front and back covers and envelope flap made of green/black marbled paper on red leather over pasteboard. There is a red leather spine and doublures of yellow/blue/green/red printed paper. There are plain paper endpapers.
Provenance
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS 2366; Med. 372?) who acquired it in Tangier, Morocco.
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of Incun. & MSS., entry A89, pp. 327-8.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 6
Sexual hygiene was also a topic of monographs. The treatises usually included procedures and recipes useful for enhancing the pleasure of sexual intercourse and for aphrodisiacs, and sometimes procedures for ensuring the production of offspring. They also often included instructions for regimen and hygiene that would make a person more attractive, as well as cosmetic procedures and recipes.
For a general discussion of Arabic sources for medieval writings on sexual hygiene, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 193-198.
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Nuzhat al-albāb fī-mā lā yūjadu fī kitāb (MS A 51)
- (The Delight of Hearts concerning What is Not Found in a Book)
- نزهة الالباب فيما لا يوجد فى كتاب
- by Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Tīfāshī (d. 1253/651)
- احمد ابن يوسف التيفاشى
The 13th-century scholar al-Tīfāshī composed several treatises concerned with sexual hygiene as well as a treatise on the medical and magical use of stones that was particularly popular. His treatise on sexual hygiene titled Nuzhat al-albāb fī-mā lā yūjadu fī kitāb (The Delight of Hearts concerning What is Not Found in a Book) is in 12 chapters (babs), with poems and anecdotes. It devotes much space to unusual and illegitimate sexual practices. The medical content is not as great in this treatise as in many of the other treatises classified as sexual hygiene, and it might more properly be placed in the category of adab-literature, which is a moralistic type of belles lettres; this genre of literature will be discussed in another section of this catalogue.
A French translation of the treatise, based on a copy in Paris, has been published as Les Delices des coeurs par Ahmad al-Tifachi trans. by Rene R. Khawam (Paris: J. Martineau, 1971). There is no modern edition of the Arabic text itself.
For other copies, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 197 note 5.
Nuzhat al-albāb fī-mā lā yūjadu fī kitāb (MS A 51)
Illustrations
The opening of an Arabic treatise on sexual hygiene and unusual sexual practices written by al-Tīfāshī (d. 1253/651) and titled Nuzhat al-albāb fī-mā lā yūjadu fī kitāb (The Delight of Hearts concerning What is Not Found in a Book). The copy is undated, probably 18th century.
Physical Description
Arabic. 236 pages (Pages 1-236). Dimensions 21 X 15 (text area 15.3 X 9.5) cm.; 17 lines per page. The title is given on the title page (p. 1) and in the text on p. 2 line 12 and on p. 8 line 21. The author is named on title page (p. 1) as Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad al-Tīfāshī.
The copy was dated in the colophon (p. 236) but it has been effaced and is no longer legible. The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the 18th century.
A complete copy. The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, using black ink with headings in red. There are catchwords.
There are scattered marginalia. The first half of the volume is paginated in Arabic numerals. The yellowed, semi-glossy paper has visible laid lines and single chain lines and is watermarked.
The volume consists of 238 pages. Page 237 has unrelated couplets possibly by same scribe; page 238 has a defaced note that includes the date 1226 [= 1811]. The title page (p. 1) has many owners' signatures and stamps, including one dated 1225 [= 1810-1811].
Binding
The volume is bound in dark brown leather over pasteboards with stamped medallions and blind-tooled borders on the front and back covers. The binding has been repaired by placing leather panels over parts of the covers and the spine. There are modern paper pastedowns and endpapers.
Provenance
The title page (p. 1) has many owners' signatures and stamps, including one dated 1225 [= 1810-1811].
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda who acquired it from a dealer in Cairo (ELS 2352 Med. 87).
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A51, p. 314.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-122 no. 3
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al-Rawḍ al-yāni‘ fī aḥkām al-tazwīj wa-ādāb al-majāmi‘ (MS A 89, item 1)
- (The Ripe Garden on the Principles of Marriage and the Proper Conduct of Sexual Intercourse)
- الروض اليانع فى احكام التزويج واداب المجامع
- by Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd al-Dar‘ī al-Tafjarūtī al-Tamakrūtī (d. after 1572/980)
The Arabic treatise on sexual hygiene by Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd al-Dar‘ī al-Tafjarūtī al-Tamakrūtī is structured in 7 chapters (babs). Precisely when it was written is uncertain.
The author is known to have died sometime after 1572/980 and before 1720/1132, when a copy now in Berlin was made. His nisbah, or final part is his name, is also sometimes written as al-Tamjarūtī, al-Tamajrūtī, and al-Tamghrūtī.
The NLM copied was made in 1782/1196.
Three other copies are recorded: Berlin, MS Qu. 1171, fols. 4b-72b, completed on 16 Jumadá II 1132 [= 25 April 1720]; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS arabe 5573, fols. 169a-178a; and Istanbul, University Library, MS Arab. 3192, fols. 1b-70b. See Gregor Schoeler, Arabische Handschriften, Teil II [Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, Band XVII, Reihe B, Teil 2] (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990), pp. 152-4 no. 157; G. Vajda, Index général des manuscrits arabes musulmans de la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris [Institute de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, tom. IV] (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1953), p. 580; and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, editor, Fihris al-makhtutat al-tibb al-Islami bi-al-lughat al-‘arabiyah wa-al-turkiyah wa-al-farisiyah fi maktabat turkiya; Catalogue of Islamic Medical Manuscripts (in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian) in the Libraries of Turkey. Prepared by Ramazan Sesen, Cemil Akpinar, and Cevad Izgi (Istanbul: Research Centre of Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1984), p. 154 no. 133.
For the titles of the different chapters comprising the treatise, see Gregor Schoeler, Arabische Handschriften, Teil II [Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, Band XVII, Reihe B, Teil 2] (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990), p. 153.
The treatise has not been published in translation or a modern edition.
al-Rawḍ al-yāni‘ fī aḥkām al-tazwīj wa-ādāb al-majāmi‘ (MS A 89 item 1)
Illustrations
The beginning of a treatise on sexual hygiene title al-Rawḍ al-yāni‘ fī aḥkām al-tazwīj wa-ādāb al-majāmi‘ (The Ripe Garden on the Principles of Marriage and the Proper Conduct of Sexual Intercourse) by al-Tamakrūtī (dates unknown) The copy was completed on 18 Dhu al-Hijjah 1196 [= 24 November 1782].
Physical Description
Arabic. 181 pages (Pages 1-181). Dimensions 21.5 x 14.5 (text area 13.5 x 8) cm; 22 lines per page. The author's name is taken from p. 1 line 2-3: Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd al-Dar‘ī al-Tafjarūtī nasaban [by descent] al-Tamakrūtī Darawi waladan [by birth]. The title is taken from p. 2, lines 13-14.
The copy is dated in the colophon (p. 181) where it is said that the unnamed copyist completed it on 18 [Dhu al-]Hijjah 1196 [= 24 November, 1782]. The same copyist appears to have transcribed the three main items in the volume.
A complete copy. The text is written in a North African (Maghribi) script using black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are catchwords. Possibly the same hand is found in all three main items in the manuscript.
There is rather extensive marginalia. The volume has been paginated rather than foliated, with the pages numbered every other page beginning with item 1.
The coarse ivory paper has vertical laid lines single chain lines, and watermarks (three large lunar crescents). The paper is lightly soiled with thumbing and worm-eaten. The edges has been trimmed from their original size to fit the binding. The same paper was used for all three main items in the volume.
The volume consists of 293 pages and 13 preliminary pages (Preliminary pages [6-7] and [12-13] are blank; numbered pages 182-184, 256, 272, 291, and 293 are blank. Item 1 (pp. 1-181) is the item here catalogued, and item 2 (pp. 185-255) is another treatise treatise on sexual hygiene, Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fīi asrār al-nikīḥ, by al-Shayzarī (MS A 89, item 2). The 3rd item (pp. 257-290) is an anonymous general treatise on magical medicine, al-Manāfi‘ al-bayyinah wa-mā yaṣilu bi-al-arba‘ah al-azminah (MS A 89, item 3), which has been falsely attribued to Galen. Preliminary pp. [1-5] contain anonymous magical procedures and invocations useful for illness (MS A 89, item [a]), dated 1198 [= 1783-1784]; preliminary pp. [9-11] consist of an unidentified alchemical fragment, anonymous and untited (MS A 89, item [b]). Page 292 contains a protective invocation. Preliminary p. [7] is blank except for a two-line casual note.
Binding
The volume is bound in front and back covers and envelope flap made of green/black marbled paper on red leather over pasteboard. There is a red leather spine and doublures of yellow/blue/green/red printed paper. There are plain paper endpapers.
Provenance
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS 2366; Med. 372?) who acquired it in Tangier, Morocco.
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of Incun. & MSS., entry A89, pp. 327-8.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 6
