Object Description
Manuscript
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek. Ms. or. fol. 550, fols 1b-4a
title
The Benefits of Birds and Treatments of their Diseases
Title (Arabic)
منافع الطير وعلاجات دائهم
Manāfiʿ al-ṭayr wa-ʿilājāt dāʾihim
date
Not dated, presumably either during the second half of the second decade or the second half of the fourth decade of the 19th century; this is when Georg Heinrich Bernstein visited Oxford.
Place/s of Origin
Presumably Oxford
Introduction
This booklet contains the beginning of one text and the end of another. The two passages were copied from a manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. The first one is the first chapter of the book of Adham and al-Ghiṭrīf.
Typically, the two versions of this book begin with an anecdotal introduction that positions falconry and scholarly exercises connected with falconry at courts. In the case of the Iskandar version, the interest is medical and the court is that of Alexander the Great.
In the case of the al-Ḥajjāj version, the interest is antiquarian (i.e., the history of falconry literature) and the court is the late Umayyad/early Abbasid court. The beginning of the actual text is historical/literary and deals with the first who hunted with birds of prey. There are a classification of birds of prey and issues of training, but the bulk of the text is medical.
The individual chapters follow the same structure. The title identifies the disease, the corresponding chapter begins with diagnosis and continues with one or several treatments. The second text included here by way of its final passage is titled Fī tadbīr al-buzāt wa’l-kilāb. This text is very similar in nature, except that it also covers dogs, and was probably produced in a similar, albeit perhaps slightly later context. The common attribution to a Greek philosopher has not yet been accounted for in scholarship.
Contents
Author
Patron of text
Scribe
Not known, unless this was Bernstein himself.
Patron of manuscript
If he did not produce this copy himself, it was commissioned by Georg Heinrich Bernstein (1787-1860).
Description of physical object
12 folios in total; this part only contains four pages of Arabic text plus a description in Latin on a separate page.
Bibliography
W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Fünfter Band (IX.-XIV. Buch) (Berlin, 1893), 481.
Detlef Möller, Studien zur mittelalterlichen arabischen Falknereiliteratur (Berlin, 1965), 24-25, 28 (for Adham and al-Ghiṭrīf), 45-47 for Fī tadbīr al-buzāt wa’l-kilāb, although Möller did not mention that Berlin 6199/3 contains excerpts of both texts.
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).
Provenance
Location of manuscript
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Location Of Original Digitised File
Rights Holder
© STAATSBIBLIOTHEK ZU BERLIN - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung
File names
Original file names are retained
Item Description
Manuscript
00000001
Item Location Of Original Digitised File
Item Location Of Manuscript
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Item Rights Holder
© STAATSBIBLIOTHEK ZU BERLIN - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung
