Object Description
Manuscript
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Wetzstein II 1172
title
al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb
Title (Arabic)
al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb
القانون في الطب
date
Different dates have been suggested for individual parts of the manuscripts, ranging from c.800/1300 for the oldest parts to c.1100/1688 for the most recent parts.
Place/s of Origin
Unknown
Introduction
This manuscript combines ten excerpts or short texts, some of them identifiable and influential. The topics cluster around medicine and animals, especially horses. Authors of premodern Arabic literature often included quotations from other sources in their texts, sometimes identified as such and quietly at other times.
This manuscript reflects a different method of compilation where excerpts from different texts sit physically next to each other on separate pages. The combination of texts illustrates the connections of Arabic veterinary literature with other genres of scientific literature, here medicine in general and taxonomic and literary descriptions of animals.
Contents
This manuscript contains the following ten items, often only short excerpts:
1) Excerpt from ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Majūsī (d. c.384/994), Kitāb kāmil al-ṣināʿa al-ṭibiyya (also known as Kitāb al-malakī), a medical text; fol. 1b-8b (Ahlwardt 6263)
2) A medical text concerned with the pulse; fol. 9a-10b (Ahlwardt 6244)
3) A medical text; fol. 11a-11b (Ahlwardt 6393/2)
4) Excerpt from Ibn Sīnā (370/980-429/1037), Al-Qānūn fī ’l-ṭibb, a medical text; fol. 12a-16b (Ahlwardt 6413)
5) Excerpt from Nawādir al-udabāʾ wa’l-shuʿarāʾ, a literary text; fol. 17a-17b (Ahlwardt 8531/2)
6) Excerpt from ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʾib al-mawjūdāt, a text about the wonders of creation; fol. 18a-22b (Ahlwardt 6162/3)
7) Excerpt from Al-Damīrī (745/1342-808/1405), Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā, an animal encyclopaedia; fol. 23a-23b (Ahlwardt 6171/5)
8) A text about horseshoes; fol. 24-25b (Ahlwardt 6194)
9) A text about medical conditions of horses; fol. 26a-36b (Ahlwardt 6191)
10) A text about medical conditions of horses; fol. 37a-42b (Ahlwardt 6192)
Author
Patron of text
Scribe
Several scribes
Patron of manuscript
Unknown
Description of physical object
42 folios; folio size ranging from 23cm to 25.5cm x 15.5cm to 17cm
Bibliography
W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Fünfter Band (IX. und XIV. Buch) (Berlin, 1893), numbers 6162/3; 6171/5; 6191; 6192; 6194; 6244; 6263; 6396/2; 6413.
W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Siebenter Band (XIX. Buch) (Berlin, 1895), number 8531/2.
Provenance
Location of manuscript
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek
Location Of Original Digitised File
Rights Holder
© STAATSBIBLIOTHEK ZU BERLIN - Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung
Item Description
Manuscript
Ms_1172_001
