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Tehran, Kitābkhāna wa-mūza-yi millī-yi Malik, 5924

[Colour scanned images of the textblock and covers.]

Singe work: Arabic. Date:

mid Shaʿbān 371/mid February 981, or possibly 391/1001 (p. 101; reading of sabʿīna uncertain).

Or.:

Rayy (near Tehran), fī dār Ibn al-Aqwāl (?); copied by al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar al-Ṣūfī (p. 101), most probably the son of the famous astronomer Abū l-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar b. Muḥammad b. Sahl al-Ṣūfī.

Prov.:

a bio-bibliographical note, dated 1308/1890-1, on the manuscript’s content and scribe by the scholar and forger Luṭf ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Kāẓim, known as Ṣadr al-Afāḍil (d. 1931) (p. I^a). The form supplied with the manuscript scans credits him with having restored part of the lost beginning of the Ptolemaic work on the added p. 1, which carries the date ‘28.5.〈130〉3’/3 March 1886. Moreover, he was most likely responsible for some palaeographical notes on al-Ṣūfī’s writing style (p. II), one of the two title pages (p. III), and a transcription of the scribal colophon (p. II^a), as all this would fit his habit of adding material to ancient manuscripts before selling them to the founder of the Malik Library, Hājj Ḥusayn Āqā Malik; see Abolala Soudavar, Reassessing Early Safavid Art and History. Thirty Five Years after Dickson & Welch 1981, Houston: Soudavar, 2016, p. 85, and Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan, Fateme Savadi and Jamil Ragep, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī. al-Risāla al-Muʿīnīyya (al-Risāla al-Mughniya) and its Supplement, 2 vols, Tehran: Miras-e Maktoob, 2020–2024, pp. 73–74 (Persian) and xlii–xliii (English). In the present case, the additions do not have a fraudulent scope, as even those that mimic al-Ṣūfī’s writing style are clearly distinguishable from the tenth-century text and are in some cases dated. Furthermore: various statements and stamps mostly illegible on the scans available to us, some of which carry the date 1308/1890-1 (pp. I–II, I^a). Several unreadable seals (pp. III [three], 17, 101 [two]).

Cod.: brownish paper (pp. 2–101), with added folios of yellowish (pp. I–II) and dark brown (pp. III–1, I^a–II^a) paper, III+101+II^a pp. (paginated with odd Hindu-Arabic numerals in pencil in the upper right corner of versos, p. 1 being a verso; catchwords). A slightly irregular naskh hand. Partially dotted ductus with occasional vowels and shaddas, hamzas usually omitted but used in place of maddas . Pseudo-Ptolemy’s verba in red ink, introduced by an oversized formula ‘kalima’ with abjad numbering in bold black naskh; commentary in black ink (with some formulaic expressions in red) and always introduced by ‘al-tafsīr’ in a similar layout as ‘kalima’. Numbers often written out in full (e.g., on p. 89); abjad numbers sometimes in red (e.g., on p. 56) but always overlined in black. Additions by a number of naskh (pp. III–1 and II^a) and nastaʿlīq hands (in Persian on pp. I–III, I^a–II^a; in Arabic on p. 101), at least one of which (p. I^a) is Ṣadr al-Afāḍil’s. Lists arranged in columns (pp. 27, 50–53, 67). Codex in good condition; margins (especially upper corners) damaged by moisture throughout, central part of p. 101 faded and covered by stains. Rebound around 1308/1890–1 (the inserted folio III–1 is now part of a quinion and I^a–II^a of a binion). Dimensions: 19×14.7 cm, written area: c. 14½×11 cm; 16 lines per page. Dark brown leather cover over paper pasteboards. Type III binding.

Cont.: astrology. — Index: title page (p. I); a list of details of al-Ṣūfī’s writing style with ten items (p. II); a further title page (p. III); Ptolemaica (pp. 1–101); an extract on medical astrology from Sharḥ al-Kulliyyāt al-qānūn (sic), possibly Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī’s al-Tuḥfa al-saʿdiyya (p. 101); a bio-bibliographical note on the scribe and the contents of the manuscript (p. I^a); copy of the scribal colophon found on p. 101 (p. II^a). Blank: pp. II, III^a–IV^a.

Bibl.: Īraj Afshār and Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh, Fihrist-i nuskhahā-yi khaṭṭī-yi Kitābkhāna-yi Millī-yi Malik wābasta bih Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, Vol. I: Kitābhā-yi ʿarabī wa turkī, Tehran: Astān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1973 (1352 H.S.), p. 189; Ḥasan al-Amīn, Mustadrakāt aʿyān al-shīʿa, 11 vols, Bayrūt: Dār al-taʿāruf li-l-maṭbūʿāt, 1986–2006, vol. II, pp. 46–47; Jalīl Akhawān Zanjānī, Šarḥ-e Samare-ye Baṭlamyus. Xwāje Naṣir al-Din Ṭusi (597-672 L.H.), Tehran: Āyene-ye Mirās, 1999, pp. xi–xii; FankhāMuṣṭafā Dirāyatī, Fihristgān-i nuskhahā-yi khaṭṭī-yi Īrān (Fankhā), 45 vols, Tehran: Library, Museum and Documentation Center of The Islamic Consultative Assembly, 2011–13 1390, vol. XIX, p. 359).

pp. 1–⁠101 Images\|Text	\p. 1\ وبعد فهذا كتاب ثمرة بطلميوس الحكيم من تمام الكتب الأربعة التي ألّفها في الأحكام لسورس تلميذه. قال بطلميوس قد قدّمنا لك يا سورس كتبًا فيما يؤثّر الكواكب في عالم التركيب كثير المنفعة في تقدمة المعرفة وهذا الكتاب ما اشتملت عليه تلك الكتب وما خلّص عن التجربة منها وليس يصل إلى معرفته من لم يمعن النظر فيما قدّمناه قبله وفي علوم أخر من علوم الرياضيّة فكن به سعيدًا — \p. 100\ فهذا ما حضري من تفسير كلمات هذا الكتاب وأرجوا أن يكون مطيفًا بمعانيه مستوفيًا لشرحه والصواب أن تضعه في \p. 101\ مستحقّيه ويمنعه ممّن لا يؤثّر منه إلّا التكثّر بملكه ويرى أنّ حصوله في خزائنه معادل لثباته في خلده فسيتثقّل الارتياض به ويعتمد في إحرازه لمكانه من الناس على المهاترة ولطيف التلبيس فإنّ احتيازه محرّم على أمثاله و مؤتم لموصّله إليه وأنا أسئل الله هدايتك وكفايتك وهو حسبي ونعم الوكيل. تمّ كتاب بطلميوس المسمّى بالثمرة. = Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad b. Yūsuf, Tafsīr Kitāb al-Thamara (C.3.1) , version with 102 verba. — Title: Sharḥ Ṣad kalimat Baṭlamyūs bi-khaṭṭ Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (p. I). — Additional titles: Tafsīr Kitāb al-Thamara li-Baṭlamyūs wa-l-mufassir huwa Aḥmad b. Yūsuf b. al-Miṣrī l-Muhandis kātib Āl Ṭūlūn (p. III); Kitāb Thamarat Baṭlamyūs al-ḥakīm min tamām al-Kutub al-Arbaʿa allatī allafa-hā fī l-aḥkām li-Sūrus talmīdhi-hi (p. 1); Kitāb Baṭlamyūs al-musammā bi-l-Thamara (pp. 101 and II^a). — Index: Pseudo-Ptolemy’s introduction, p. 1; 102 verba intertwined with the commentary, pp. 1–100. — Commentator’s colophon; dated scribal colophon. Collated by the scribe (a statement on p. 22) and incidentally annotated (numbers of conjunctions listed by Pseudo-Ptolemy on pp. 50–53; indication of the relation of single verba to either mawlad or qānūn on pp. 37–44). First folios lost; Pseudo-Ptolemy’s introduction and verbum 1 added on p. 1, most likely by Ṣadr al-Afāḍil; the missing part of the commentary on verbum 1 was not restored, thus pointing to Ṣadr al-Afāḍil’s use of a manuscript of the base text without the commentary, or with a different commentary.

pp. 1–⁠101

Images|Text

\p. 1\ وبعد فهذا كتاب ثمرة بطلميوس الحكيم من تمام الكتب الأربعة التي ألّفها في الأحكام لسورس تلميذه. قال بطلميوس قد قدّمنا لك يا سورس كتبًا فيما يؤثّر الكواكب في عالم التركيب كثير المنفعة في تقدمة المعرفة وهذا الكتاب ما اشتملت عليه تلك الكتب وما خلّص عن التجربة منها وليس يصل إلى معرفته من لم يمعن النظر فيما قدّمناه قبله وفي علوم أخر من علوم الرياضيّة فكن به سعيدًا — \p. 100\ فهذا ما حضري من تفسير كلمات هذا الكتاب وأرجوا أن يكون مطيفًا بمعانيه مستوفيًا لشرحه والصواب أن تضعه في \p. 101\ مستحقّيه ويمنعه ممّن لا يؤثّر منه إلّا التكثّر بملكه ويرى أنّ حصوله في خزائنه معادل لثباته في خلده فسيتثقّل الارتياض به ويعتمد في إحرازه لمكانه من الناس على المهاترة ولطيف التلبيس فإنّ احتيازه محرّم على أمثاله و مؤتم لموصّله إليه وأنا أسئل الله هدايتك وكفايتك وهو حسبي ونعم الوكيل. تمّ كتاب بطلميوس المسمّى بالثمرة.

= Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad b. Yūsuf, Tafsīr Kitāb al-Thamara (C.3.1)

, version with 102 verba. — Title: Sharḥ Ṣad kalimat Baṭlamyūs bi-khaṭṭ Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (p. I). — Additional titles: Tafsīr Kitāb al-Thamara li-Baṭlamyūs wa-l-mufassir huwa Aḥmad b. Yūsuf b. al-Miṣrī l-Muhandis kātib Āl Ṭūlūn (p. III); Kitāb Thamarat Baṭlamyūs al-ḥakīm min tamām al-Kutub al-Arbaʿa allatī allafa-hā fī l-aḥkām li-Sūrus talmīdhi-hi (p. 1); Kitāb Baṭlamyūs al-musammā bi-l-Thamara (pp. 101 and II^a). — Index: Pseudo-Ptolemy’s introduction, p. 1; 102 verba intertwined with the commentary, pp. 1–100. — Commentator’s colophon; dated scribal colophon. Collated by the scribe (a statement on p. 22) and incidentally annotated (numbers of conjunctions listed by Pseudo-Ptolemy on pp. 50–53; indication of the relation of single verba to either mawlad or qānūn on pp. 37–44). First folios lost; Pseudo-Ptolemy’s introduction and verbum 1 added on p. 1, most likely by Ṣadr al-Afāḍil; the missing part of the commentary on verbum 1 was not restored, thus pointing to Ṣadr al-Afāḍil’s use of a manuscript of the base text without the commentary, or with a different commentary.