`_`	(the underscore) is the placeholder for exactly one character.
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Oxford, Bodleian Library, Marsh 206

[Colour photographs of the textblock and covers.]

Single work: Arabic. Date:

early 11^th/17^th c. (? Fihrist).

Or.:

unknown, probably the Maghreb; ff. 1v–88v copied by Shaykh Aḥmad Maṣūba (?) and ff. 89v–201v by his disciple (201r). In a statement of revision (201v), the second scribe states that lacunae in the present manuscript were already found in the base manuscript, and that in case he would find a new copy, he would fill them. In fact, on ff. 130v–131v nearly two pages were left empty for the missing last part of Book III.2 and beginning of Book III.3. Since a similar empty space is found in MS Escorial, RBMSL, ár. 916, which is likewise of Maghribian origin, we may assume that one of these two manuscripts was copied from the other or that they have a common ancestor.

Prov.:

a partially erased statement of ownership by … b. Manṣūr b. Yāl.t.n (?) al-W.zka (?) (1r). A crossed-out statement of ownership by … b. ʿAlī … with signature (1r). Old shelfmark: ‘Math. No. 9’ (Ir); catalogue number ‘Urii Moh. Arab. CMXCII’ (Ir).

Cod.: laid paper, I+201+I^a ff. (foliated with Arabic-European numerals in pencil; catchwords). Two maghribī hands in black. First hand (1v–88v): readable and elegant; fully dotted ductus, occasional vowels and hamzas and frequent shaddas; centered book headings in red; the words qāla Baṭlamyūs introducing text by Ptolemy in red and the words qāla l-mufassir introducing text by ʿAlī b. Riḍwān in blue. Second hand (89v–201v): faster and unpolished; partially dotted ductus, hardly any vowels, hamzas or shaddas; book headings in bold black; the words qāla Baṭlamyūs introducing text by Ptolemy and qāla l-mufassir introducing text by ʿAlī b. Riḍwān in bold black. Minor tables and horoscopes. Codex in acceptable condition; ink corrosion, substantial moisture stains, mold stains, smudges; some restorations of the first folios not affecting the body text. Dimensions: not provided; 30 lines (1v–88v) and 27 lines (89v–201v) per page. Covers in reddish leather over paper pasteboards decorated with fillets. Type III binding.

Cont.: astrology. — Index: title page (1r); Ptolemaica (1v–201v). Blank: Iv, 89r, 131r.

Bibl.: Joannes Uri, Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ codicum manuscriptorum orientalium, videlicet Hebraicorum, Chaldaicorum, Syriacorum, Aethiopicorum, Arabicorum, Persicorum, Turcicorum, Copticorumque catalogus. Pars prima, Oxford: Clarendon, 1787, p. 216 (no. cmxcii); Alexander Nicoll and Edward B. Pusey, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum orientalium Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ. Pars secunda. Arabicos complectens, Oxford: Typographeum Academicum, 1835, p. 605. — Fihrist – Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World: https://www.fihrist.org.uk/catalog/manuscript_11553.

1v–⁠201v	\1v\ [title] قال أبو الحسن علي بن رضوان بن علي بن الطبيب: قصدنا أن شرح أقاويل بطلميوس في صناعة القضاء بالنجوم على الحوادث — \201v\ فهذه أشياء قد شرحتها لك فانعم النظر فيها وتأملها والله يهدي من يشاء إلى صراط مستقيم. = ʿAlī b. Riḍwān, Tafsīr al-Maqālāt al-arbaʿ (C.2.3) . — Title: Kitāb al-Arbaʿ maqālāt wa-sharḥu-hu li-ʿAlī b. Riḍwān fī l-mawālīd wa-l-aḥkām al-nujūmiyya, raḥima-hu taʿālā (1r). — Additional title: Tafsīr Abī l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Riḍwān b. Jaʿfar al-Ṭabīb al-Kitāb al-Arbaʿ maqālāt (201v). — Index: Book I.1 (=I), 1v–19r; I.2 (=II), 19r–35r; I.3 (=III), 35r–49r; II.1 (=IV), 49r–63r; II.2 (=V), 63r–78r; II.3 (=VI), 78r–88v; III.1 (=VII), 89v–110r; III.2 (=VIII), 110r–130v (incomplete); III.3 (=IX), 131v–155v (incomplete); IV.1 (=X), 156r–171r; IV.2 (=XI), 171r–189v; IV.3 (=XII), 190r–201v. — The end of Book III.2 and the beginning of Book III.3 are missing. Undated scribal colophon. The manuscript was copied by two different scribes (1v–88v and 89v–201v), presumably at two different times; the part copied by the second scribe is particularly faulty. Substantial marginal corrections. Substantial marginalia.

1v–⁠201v

\1v\ [title] قال أبو الحسن علي بن رضوان بن علي بن الطبيب: قصدنا أن شرح أقاويل بطلميوس في صناعة القضاء بالنجوم على الحوادث — \201v\ فهذه أشياء قد شرحتها لك فانعم النظر فيها وتأملها والله يهدي من يشاء إلى صراط مستقيم.

= ʿAlī b. Riḍwān, Tafsīr al-Maqālāt al-arbaʿ (C.2.3)

. — Title: Kitāb al-Arbaʿ maqālāt wa-sharḥu-hu li-ʿAlī b. Riḍwān fī l-mawālīd wa-l-aḥkām al-nujūmiyya, raḥima-hu taʿālā (1r). — Additional title: Tafsīr Abī l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Riḍwān b. Jaʿfar al-Ṭabīb al-Kitāb al-Arbaʿ maqālāt (201v). — Index: Book I.1 (=I), 1v–19r; I.2 (=II), 19r–35r; I.3 (=III), 35r–49r; II.1 (=IV), 49r–63r; II.2 (=V), 63r–78r; II.3 (=VI), 78r–88v; III.1 (=VII), 89v–110r; III.2 (=VIII), 110r–130v (incomplete); III.3 (=IX), 131v–155v (incomplete); IV.1 (=X), 156r–171r; IV.2 (=XI), 171r–189v; IV.3 (=XII), 190r–201v. — The end of Book III.2 and the beginning of Book III.3 are missing. Undated scribal colophon. The manuscript was copied by two different scribes (1v–88v and 89v–201v), presumably at two different times; the part copied by the second scribe is particularly faulty. Substantial marginal corrections. Substantial marginalia.