‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد

Content

The London Qazwīnī. Encyclopaedic work on cosmology by Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī (زكريا بن محمد بن محمود القزويني, d. 1283). The text is lavishly illustrated with 368 paintings.

In the undated colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 135v, lines 7-8; transcribed below) the anonymous scribe claims to have copied the text from an autograph copy (i.e. a copy written by the hand of the author).

Title page reads (f. 1r):

كتاب عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب

الموجودات

ألفه زكريا بن محمد بن

محمود القزويني تولاه الله

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-5):

العظمة لك الكبرياء الجلائك الله يا قائم الذات والفيض الخيرات واجب والوجود ورا ‫[…]‬

العقول وفاطر الأرض والسموات مبدي الحركة والزمان ومبدع الحين والمكان وجا عن ‫[...]‬

النور والظلمات ‫...‬

Ends (f. 135v, lines 5-6):

‫[…]ـستان بشرهما وإذا بعد عنه الصقهما بالحـ[…]‬

‫[…]‬ الطيار فإن الثعالب كانت طيارة في ‫[…]‬

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 135v, lines 7-8):

هذا آخر الكتاب والحمد لله وجلّه وصلى الله على ‫سـ[…]‬

نقل هذا الكتاب من خط المصنف

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. 135

Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 300 x 192 mm leaf [248 x 165 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ?; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings

Decoration: Illuminated title page (f. 1r); 368 paintings

Binding: None

Condition: Many leaves damaged and repaired; each leaf individually encased in plastic sheeting, framed in card and held in eight boxes

Marginalia: Very few

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff

Archive reference

Or 14140

History of this record

Date(s)

c 1300 (CE, Gregorian)

Context of creation

Mosul?

Related material

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• al-Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad, Kitāb ‘ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Miṣr: Maṭba‘at al-Taqaddum)

Study:

• Carboni, Stefano, The 'Wonders of Creation'. A Study of the Ilkhanid 'London Qazwini' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015)

Subjects

Cosmology -- early works to 1800

People & organisations

Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad Qazwīnī

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‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad قزويني، زكريا بن محمد, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 14140, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/9477> [accessed 5 November 2024]

Link to this record

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023586788.0x000001

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