Catalogue: Prophetic Medicine

Kitāb al-Maṣābīḥ al-sanīyah fī ṭibb al-barīyah   (MS A 38)

(Brilliant Illuminations concerning Prophetic Medicine)

كتاب المصابيح السنيه فى طب البريه

by Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qalyūbī (d. 1659/1069)

شهاب الدين احمد ابن احمد ابن سلامه القليوبى

This 17th-century treatise on prophetic medicine by al-Qalyūbī has been preserved in a number of manuscripts today. NLM has one copy of it, made in 1813.

The first three chapters of the treatise have been edited and translated into French by B. R. Sanguinetti, 'Quelques chapitres de médecine et de thérapeutique arabes, texte arabe, publié, traduit suivi d'une liste de termes techniques et autres', Journal Asiatique, 6th series, vol. 6 (1865), p. 378-469, vol. 7 (1866), p. 289-328; reprinted in Beiträge zur Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Medizin (Frankfurt-am-Main: Institute für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, 1987), vol. 1, pp. 594-727.

For other copies, see the edition and translation by Sanguinetti, cited above, and also GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 492; and Iskandar "UCLA", p. 54.

Kitāb al-Maṣābīḥ al-sanīyah fī ṭibb al-barīyah (MS A 38)

Illustrations

The final page of a treatise on Prophetic Medicine by Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qalyūbī (d. 1659/1069). In the colophon shown here it is stated that the copy was completed in the month of Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1228 (= 26 October to 24 November 1813). The copyist is not named. The nature of the paper and script suggests that it is an Indian product.

Physical Description

Arabic. 27 leaves (fols. 1a-27a). Dimensions 21.5 x 17 (text area 16.8 x 12) cm; 25 lines per page. The title is taken from the title page (fol. 1a); a fuller title appears in colophon (fol. 27a line 14): al-Maṣābīḥ al-sanīyah fī ṭibb al-barīyah. The author's name is given as Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qalyūbī on the title page (fol. 1a); it appears in a shorter form (Shihāb al-Qalyūbī) in the colophon (fol. 27a line 15).

The manuscript is dated in the colophon (fol. 27a) Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1228 (= 26 October to 24 November 1813). The copyist is not named. The nature of the paper and script suggests that it is an Indian product.

The copy was probably made by the same copyist as copied NLM MS A 29, also on prophetic medicine. The script, paper and marginal scripts are very similar.

The text is written in a very casual and ill-formed, small naskh, using black ink and headings in red. There are also red and black overlinings. The lines of script are rather irregular and the margins variable. There are catchwords. The script, paper and marginalia very similar to NLM MS A 29, also on Prophetic Medicine. Both manuscripts are probably from the same workshop and provenance.

There are copious notes in later hands on the title page (fol. 1a) and in the margins throughout the manuscript, some correcting the text.

The paper is green-gray watermarked paper with laid lines and single chain lines visible. It is waterstained and soiled. The edges of some of the folios have been repaired.

The volume consists of 27 leaves. Fol. 27b is blank except very faint notes, now illegible. Between fols. 14 and 15 there is a small piece of paper tipped in, written in a later hand, with notes on therapy.

Binding

The volume is bound in a brown leather modern library binding. There are modern paper pastedowns and endpapers.

Provenance

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS no. 2360). No further information is available on its provenance.

References

Schullian/Sommer. Cat. of incun. & MSS., 1950, A38, p. 310.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-119 no. 5