[Treatise on ancient, alchemical and magical alphabets].

Format
Manuscript, Book
Language
Arabic
Published/​Created
[17--?]
Description
46 leaves : paper, charts ; 198 x 145 (146 x 102) mm. bound to 250 x 149 mm.

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Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Special Collections - Manuscripts Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 52B Browse related items Reading Room Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    Treatise on ancient, alchemical and magical alphabets and their use in talismans and magic, with tables, incomplete at end. Contains also transcriptions of secret scripts used in a series of texts, such as the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (fol. 30a-b).
    Notes
    • Ms. codex.
    • Title supplied by cataloger.
    • Number of lines per page varies; the few pages with continuous text have 18 to 19 long lines. Written in black and red ink. European paper with watermarks. Catchwords on the verso of each leaf (up to fol. 26b). Modern foliation in pencil using Western numerals.
    • Contains tables with the letters of the different alphabets and their Arabic equivalent, a diagram explaining the secret meaning of the cross (fol. 37b) and another representing the tree of scriptures (fol. 40b).
    • This is not the Shawq al-Mustahām fī maʻrifah rumūz al-aqlām by Ibn Waḥshīyah.
    • Incipit: هذه الاحرف جميعها ينبغي لمن يعاني حل الاقلام يعرفها ويفهم تاويلها ليفهم منها علم لغة كل طايفة
    • Explicit: القلم الحادي والعشرين من اقلام السيميا
    Binding note
    Modern binding of violet paper over cardboard.
    Contents
    • Fol. 1a-22a: 24 scripts (from the language of Adam to the Kūfī script, which appeared during the reign of ʻAlī)
    • fol. 22b-23b: consideration on scripture in general and the Arabic script
    • fol. 23b-34a: the seven "al-aqlām al-musnadah"
    • fol. 34b-37b: the seven ancient "al-aqlām al-musnadah"
    • fol. 37b-40b: other scripts (qummī, fahlawī, etc.)
    • fol. 41b-45b: al-aqlām al-sīmīyā
    • fol. 46a-b: blank.
    Provenance
    Acquired by Robert Garrett from Brill, Leyden, 1925, from the books of Murād Bey Bārūdī (Beirut).
    Source acquisition
    Gift ; Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; 1942.
    References
    Hitti, P. Garrett coll., 749
    OCLC
    64445549
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