Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo, ár. 914
Incomplete single work: Arabic.
Date:
undated.
Or.:
unknown, probably al-Andalus; unknown scribe.
Prov.:
statement of ownership by Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Qurashī, known as Kalābada/Kalābara (?) (Ir). Statement of purchase by Yūsuf b. Ibrāhīm al-Hārawī (131r). Statement of ownership by Isḥāq b. Yūsuf (?) b. Dawud al-Isrā…ī (Ir). Statement of ownership in Judaeo-Arabic by Rabbi Ṭudrūs b. Musha al-Qusṭanṭīnī, who copied the first part of MS Paris, BnF, hébr. 1100 in 1380 (Ir, immediately following the previous statement). Statement of ownership in Arabic by Francisco de Gurmendi (1r), who died around ad 1620 (cf. José M. Floristán, ‘Francisco de Gurmendi, intérprete de árabe, turco y persa en la corte de Felipe III’, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 211 (2014), pp. 357–375). Old shelfmarks: ‘33’ (1r), ‘V.16’ (1r), ‘909’ (Cassiri).
Cod.: paper, I+131 ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals in pencil; additionally foliated with Hebrew abjad at the top of rectos with mention of the book; no catchwords). A single very clear Andalusī hand in black. Fully dotted ductus; occasional vowels and sukūns, occasional shaddas and hamzas. Centered book headings in bold black; occasional initial words of new sections in bold; no rubrications. Abjad notation in the main body text given in full letter form (e.g., point bāʾ instead of point ‘B’). Substantial diagrams and tables; diagrams in black with geometrical points and labels in red; tables in red and brown. Codex in good condition; frequent moisture stains and minor mold stains; some minor restorations. Dimensions: 265×205 mm; 23 lines per page.
Cont.: astronomy. — Index: a text in cursive Sephardi script (Ir); a table of the eastern abjad numerals (Iv); Ptolemaica (1r–131r); some figures with apparently a geomantic meaning (131v). Blank: 14v, 49bisr.
Bibl.: Miguel Casiri, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis sive Librorum omnium Mss. quos Arabicè ab auctoribus magnam partem Arabo-Hispanis compositos Bibliotheca Coenobii Escurialensis complectitur, recensio & explanatio, 2 vols, Madrid: Antonius Perez de Soto, 1760–1770, vol. I, p. 348 (no. cmix); Hartwig Derenbourg and H.-P.-J. Renaud, Les manuscrits arabes de l’Escurial. Tome II. — fascicule 3: Sciences exactes et sciences occultes, Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1941, p. 13; Paul Kunitzsch, Der Almagest. Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974, pp. 43–44 and 64; Paul Kunitzsch, Claudius Ptolemäus. Der Sternkatalog des Almagest. Die arabisch-mittelalterliche Tradition, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1986–1991, vol. I, p. 6; Paul Kunitzsch, ‘The Role of al-Andalus in the Transmission of Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium and Almagest’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 10 (1995–1996), pp. 147–155, here pp. 148–149.
1v–131r
\1v\ جمل المقالة الخامسة من كتاب بطلميوس وهي تسعة عشر نوعًا. [toc] المقالة الخامسة من المجسطي. النوع الأول في اتخاذ آلة يقاس بها الكواكب الثابتة. أما ما يحتاج إليه لاتصالات القمر بالشمس الذي يكون عند الاجتماعات — \130v\ وأما البعد الأبعد من الفلك الخارج المركز فعلى جزء واحد وسدس جزء من الميزان من قبل أن الجزء من ما بين هذه السنين التي ذكرناها يحصل أربعة \131r\ أجزاء ونصف وثلث جزء بالتقريب وذلك مبلغ فضل الستة الأجزاء من الميزان التي وجدت بالرصد على الجزء والسدس وذلك ما أردنا أن نبين. تمت المقالة التاسعة من كتاب بطلميوس بحمد الله تعلى وحسن عونه.
. — Title: Kitāb al-Majisṭī (1r). — Index: Book V, 1v–35v; VI, 36r–63v; VII, 63v–83v; VIII, 84r–102v; IX, 102v–131v. — Incomplete. Apparently the second volume of a three volume-set. Even though this manuscript transmits the Isḥāq-Thābit version, the star catalogue is taken from the version by al-Ḥajjāj. A pasted folio between ff. 49 and 50. Minor marginal corrections. No collations. Few marginal glosses in Hebrew.
