PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

_ (the underscore) is the placeholder for exactly one character.
% (the percent sign) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character.
%% (two percent signs) is the placeholder for no, one or more than one character, but not for blank space (so that a search ends at word boundaries).

At the beginning and at the end, these placeholders are superfluous.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ar. 2772

[Black-and-white microfilm scans of the textblock.]
Collection of three works: Arabic. Date:

completed on 12 Muḥarram 730/4 November 1329 (44v).

Or.:

Tripoli (i.e., Ṭarābulus al-Shām); copied by Muḥammad b. al-Mubārak b. ʿUthmān al-Naṭṭāʿ (‘the bookbinder’) al-Arbalī (2r, 44v) for his personal use, from an exemplar in the possession of Abū Bakr b. Khurradak (?) (2r).

Prov.:

an ownership statement by Aḥmad b. al-Ḥajj ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-ʿ-b-y (‘al-Qubtī?’, Ruska) dated 1081/1670-1 (1r). Several unreadable notes, some upside down (1r, 45r). Earlier shelfmarks: Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Près, ‘402’ (front flyleaf); Bibliothèque Royale de France, ‘suppl. ar. 876’ (accession date 4 August 1874, front flyleaf), with stamps on ff. 2r, 44v.

Cod.: paper, 45 ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals in the upper left corner of rectos; additional foliation running from back to front in the upper right corner of versos; no catchwords). A single clear black naskh hand; mostly dotted ductus with numerous shaddas, vowels and a few other diacritics. Oversized chapter titles. Dimensions: 17.5×12 cm; 13 lines per page. Codex in good condition; some moisture stains (affecting the readability on ff. 43v–44r only), outer margins slightly damaged. Cover over marbled paper pasteboards. Type III binding.

Cont.: mineralogy and astral magic. — Index: Pseudo-Aristotle, Kitāb al-aḥjār, with four additional talismans (2r–36v); anonymous, Khawātīm al-kawākib al-sabʿa, beginning Hādhihi arṣād tunqashu ʿalā fuṣūṣ al-khawātīm al-kawākib (sic) al-sayyāra wa-ghayri-hā ntakhabtu-hā wa-jamaʿtu-hā fī hādhā l-kurrās and quoting from a Kitāb Baṭlamyūs (36v–39r); Ptolemaica (39r–44v). Blank: 1v, 45r.

Bibl.: William MacGuckin de Slane, Catalogue des manuscrits arabes, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1883–1895, pp. 499–500; Julius Ruska, Das Steinbuch des Aristoteles. Mit literargeschichtlichen Untersuchungen nach der arabischen Handschrift der Bibliothèque Nationale herausgegeben und übersetzt, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1912, pp. 50–51; George Vajda, Notices de manuscrits arabes rédigées par George Vajda (Arabe 2760-2800) (unpublished typescript, MS arabe 7300/1), Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1940–1969, pp. 19–20; Coulon:2021, pp. 167–168. BnF Archives et manuscritshttps://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc30685b.

39r–⁠44v

\39r\ وهذا كتاب بطلميوس في منافع الأحجار والجواهر وتدبيرها وصورتها وأوقات صناعتها وكيف العمل بها وكيف تمتحن الجواهر وأيّ كيفيّة نقشها وصورها. فأوّل ذلك الزمرد وهو صنفان أيّ نوعان أخضر وأصفر — \43v\ وينبغي أن يكتب أسفل الحجر اسم من يريد واسم أمّه وهذا صورة ذلك. ذكر محنة الأحجر وما يصلح منها للعمل والتدبير فأوّل ذلك الزمرّد وامتحانه أنّ الأفعى متى قابل حجرًا من الزمرّد سالت عيناه من دماعه — \44v\ يخرج محكّه أخضرًا صلبًا فهو يصلح للعلاج والتدبير والحمد وحده الله تمّت محنة الأحجار ووضعاتها ومنافعها.

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, Kitāb al-Aḥjār (B.5.2)

. — Title: Kitāb Baṭlamyūs fī Manāfiʿ al-aḥjār wa-l-jawāhir wa-tadbīri-hā wa-ṣūrati-hā wa-awqāt ṣināʿati-hā wa-kayfa al-ʿamal bi-hā wa-kayfa tumtaḥanu al-jawāhir wa-ayy kayfiyyat naqshi-hā wa-ṣuwari-hā (39r). — Index: description of 13 talismans, 39r–43v; an additional chapter entitled Dhikr miḥnat al-aḥjār wa-mā yaṣluḥu min-hā li-l-ʿamal wa-l-tadbīr (43v–44v). — Dated scribal colophon. No marginalia. A collation statement on f. 44v.