This manuscript contains a version of the most popular Arabic text on falconry in the premodern Middle East. The Book of Adham and al-Ghiṭrīf dates back at least to the early ninth century and discusses the history of falconry, the classification and assessments of birds of prey that can be trained to hunt with humans, methods of training, care and the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses.

The text survives in two main versions which have completely different prefaces and smaller differences in the main part of the text. This is a copy of the Iskandar version which typically begins with a fictitious dialogue between Alexander the Great and his scholars about birds of prey.

While this preface is missing from this manuscript, it shares a formal feature of this version. The Iskandar version counts the chapters of the two parts of the book separately.

This manuscript contains, except for the missing preface, a complete copy of the Iskandar version of the book of Adham and al-Ghiṭrīf, the most popular medieval Arabic manual on falconry.

Dating back to early Abbasid times, it covers the history of falconry, a classification and assessment of trainable birds of prey, care and training of birds of prey and the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.

Arabic edition of the text based on different manuscripts: Abū Bakr ibn Yūsuf al-Qāsimī (attr.), Kitāb al-jawāriḥ wa-ʿulūm al-bazdara, ed. Muḥammad Yāsir Zakkūr (Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmiyya, 2016).W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Fünfter Band (IX.-XIV. Buch) (Berlin, 1893), 478-480.

Detlef Möller, Studien zur mittelalterlichen arabischen Falknereiliteratur (Berlin, 1965), 40-43, 41.

Al Ġiṭrīf ibn Qudāma al-Ġassānī, Die Beizvögel (Kitāb ḍawārī aṭ-ṭayr). Ein arabisches Falknereibuch des 8. Jahrhunderts, Deutsche Übersetzung von Detlef Möller und François Viré (Hildesheim, 1988).

Al Ġiṭrīf ibn Qudāma al-Ġassānī, Traité des oiseaux de vol (Kitāb ḍawārī aṭ-ṭayr), Le plus ancien traité de fauconnerie arabe, Traduit, introduit et annoté par François Viré et Detlef Möller, Ouvrage préparé pour l’édition par Baudouin van den Abeele (Nogent-le-Roi, 2002).

© STAATSBIBLIOTHEK ZU BERLIN - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung