Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Gaster Hebrew MS 1423
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Gaster Hebrew MS 1423
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Judeo-Arabic
- Hebrew
- Title
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- Kitab al-lamha (כתאב אל למחה | Book of Light)
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Abu Sa'ad Abi al-Surur al-Israili al-Samri (12..?-12..?)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Abu Sa'd ibn Abi al-Surur al-Isra'ili
- Al-Samri/al-Sawi al-Isra'ili, Abu Sa'd ibn Abi al-Surur (active 13th century)
- Biblissima authority file
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- Role
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- Owner
- Original form
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- יוסף אסיה הארופיה
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- Role
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- Owner
- Original form
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- יצחק אסיה הרופא בכר מושה אסיה הרופה
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- Preferred form
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- Moses Gaster (1856-1939)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Moses Gaster
- Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Description
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- Extent:
163 ff. (iii+163+iii) Leaf height: 185 mm, width: 126 mm. Written height: 130 mm, width: 75 mm.
Binding:
Modern black binding.
Decoration:
The initial words in this manuscript vary in colour and are alternately green, red, violet, blank and black. Some letters are decorated with dots, coloured outlining and small crowns or floral motifs. Some catchwords are also decorated with an ink line and a triangle of three dots. Folios 1a-76a: All the initial words are alternately green or red coloured, some words are bordered with a black ink frame for extra emphasis. Most of the letters are decorated with black ink crowns, some have curled ends or a diamond-shaped motif. The ink is well preserved. Nearly every very page is bordered with a double red ink frame with the exception of folios 75a-76a.
Folios 77a-78b: The initial words are alternately red or black coloured. The red initial word on folio 77b is decorated with small black ink crowns. No red ink text frames.
Folios 79a-86a: The initial words are alternately red or green coloured. The red initial word on folio 85b is decorated with small black ink crowns. No red ink text frames.
Folios 86b-97a: The initial words are alternately red or black coloured. The black ink has sometimes eaten a hole in the page. The text is bordered with a red ink frame on folio 89a. The red initial words on this same page are decorated with black ink dots and the bottom word has small crowns. For the rest no text frames.
Folios 97b-114b: The initial words are red coloured. One black initial word on folio 99b, perhaps because the same initial word occurs twice on that page and the black colour is used for extra contrast (see also the black initial words on 114a). On folio 105b an initial word with a red crown and an initial word bordered with a black ink frame with black crowns. Other initial words bordered with a black ink frame with black crowns can be found on folios 109b and 114b. The first letters of the latter initial word are shaped like a gate with two pillars. No red ink text frames.
Folios 115a-119a: The initial words are alternately made with black ink and the inside left blank and completely black. There is one red initial word on folio 117b. No red ink text frames.
Folios 119b-148b: The initial words are alternately red, black or made with black ink but left blank. Some of the blank initial words are decorated with black or white motifs (e.g. folios 120a, 132a, 142a, 144b). No red text frames.
Folios 149a-156b: The initial words are 1) black, 2) red, 3) violet, 4) violet and red, 5) violet with black ink motifs. No red text frames.
Folios 157a-158b: Alternately black and blank initial words. No red text frames.
Acquisition:
Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
Layout:
Long line with 25 written lines. Dry-stylus ruling of lines and margins.
Collation:
Hebrew catchwords on both sides of each folio.
Script:
Sephardi semi-cursive script
Data Source(s):
Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, description of decorations by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri, Renate Smithuis, Peter Pormann and Nienke Valk.
Subject(s):
Medicine--Early works to 1800; Magic
Abstract:
Book on medicine in Judeo-Arabic, entitled Book of Light (Kitab al-lamha). This is probably the Kitab al-lamha al-'afifa fi'l-tibb (كتاب اللمحة العفيفة في الطب) by the thirteenth-century Cairene physician Abu Sa'd ibn Abi al-Surur al-Isra'ili (cf. the marginal note on folio 106a). This work might be a commentary on Ibn Sina's Qanun. The work contains a treatment of so-called topical diseases, that is, diseases specific to a certain part of the body. It starts with headaches (צדאע) and ends with emaciation (הזאל). Incomplete at the beginning (one folio missing). For basic information about the author see the bibliography. Emilie Savage-Smith, who describes a manuscript with a commentary on the Kitab al-Lamhah al-'afifah, refers to the author as al-Sawi, whereas Sotheby's lot description mentions al-Samri.
Foliation:
Foliation in modern Arabic numerals at the bottom left corner of each folio. Full foliation (1-163) was added in 2018 after digitisation. Before digitisation only folios 1-2 and "160-164" were numbered, whereby the latter were added at the top but out of sync. Hebrew foliation at the top outer corner of side a of each folio from ב to קס, corresponding to folios 1-158.
Format:
Codex
Material:
Paper
Provenance:
Handwritten label on spine reading in 3 lines in Hebrew: "1423 / כתאב / אל / למחה".
Front paste-down: Handwritten in pencil "Kitab al Lumha".
Folio ia: Handwritten in blue crayon number 1423.
Folio 1a: Signature of Moses Gaster.
Folio 1a: Owner's name repeated thrice: יוסף אסיה הארופיה. The third time, which is in a different hand, the patronymics were added: בין מושה ובין יעקב אסיה הכה?ן.
Folio 2a: Ownership note including the name יצחק אסיה הרופא בכר מושה אסיה הרופה.
Folio 162a: Ownership note by the same person mentioned on folio 1a, including the date 561 [= 1801].
Condition:
Slight water damage, several pages detached.
Additions:
Folios 159a-160a: Incomplete table of contents of the manuscript, which also provides us with the subject of the first missing folio. Incipit: פי אמראץ אל / ראס אלצדאע דפ א.Folio 162a-b: Medical recipes and magical prescriptions in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic, mostly for women.Judeo-Arabic and Arabic additions / marginal notes in different hands. See folios 3b, 22a, 31a, 32a, 33a, 40a, 46a, 51a, 59a, 60a, 65b, 67a, 69b, 70b, 72b, 76b, 79a, 80a, 81a, 83a, 84a, 85a, 88b-89a, 91a, 92a, 93a, 95a-96a, 99a, 102a, 105b-106a, 108b, 114b, 129a, 133a, 134b, 139b, 141a, 142a, 143a, 144a, 145a-b, 147a, 150a, 151a-b, 153a-154b, 156a, 157a-b.
Excerpts:
Incipit: אלעלאג ינבגי אן ילטף אל כלט אלסודאוי פי אלי / אבתדא ויהייא ללי אסתפראגExplicit: ואללה אעלם ואלטף ואחכם ולמא פרג / אל מצנף מן אל אמראץ אל / מכתצה בבעץ אל אעצא / דון בעץ
- Extent:
- Rights
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