Kitāb al-khawāṣṣ al-kabīr كتاب الخواص الكبير Jābir ibn Ḥayyān جابر بن حيان [‎89v] (187/212)

Content

Treatise attributed to the alchemist Abū Mūsá Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (أبو موسى جابر بن حيان), concerning the occult properties (خواصّ) of animals, plants and stones, chemistry and other related subjects. For a resumé of the diverse subject matter see Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Le corpus des écrits Jābiriens (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1943), pp. 149-52 and al-Hassan 'Industrial Chemistry in Kitab al-Khawass al-Kabir (The Great Book of Properties) of Jabir ibn Hayyan', in Studies in al-Kimya' (Hildesheim, Zürich, New York: Olms, 2009).

The text is divided into seventy-one books (كتب), six of which (as well as short extracts of others) have been edited by Kraus ( Jabir ibn Ḥayyan. Essai sur l'histoire des id ées scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 1. Textes choisis [Paris: Maisonneuve, 1935], pp. 224-332). This copy is defective at the end, but it can be presumed that only a small number of folios is missing, since the text on the last surviving folio ends abruptly in the seventy-first and final book of the work (Book Seventy-one begins on f. 99, line 11).

The manuscript was collected by Eduard Glaser (1855-1908) during his third visit to Yemen in 1887-88 (see Rieu, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts [London: The British Museum, 1894], p. vii).

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

المقالة الأولى من كتاب الخواص الكبير لجابر بن حيان الصوفي

الحمد لله كما هو أهله ومستحقه الكريم الجواد الفعال لما يريد تعالى عما يقول المبطلون

علوًا كبيرًا من كان حافظًا لقاعدة كتبنا هذه ترتيبها وما عليه موضوعها فسيعلم

علمًا يقينًا أنا وعدنا أن نذكر في جملة كتبنا شيئًا مفردًا في علم الخواص ...

Ends (f. 99v, lines 23-25 [damaged and semi-legible; transcription conjectural]):

... واعلم ذلك واعرف موضع مبنى ورجف ستر [؟] وإني يتم لك من الخسرين

[... أر]بعة ومن خمسة ومن ستة ومن سبعة ولا يكون أكبر من ذلك في الـ[...]

[...] أقل من نير [؟] فاعلم ذلك و [...] من ...

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+99+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern wove paper

Dimensions: 190 x 120 mm leaf [150 x 91 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; mid- quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. marks (mostly quinions) visible at the following openings: ff. 11-12, 19-20, 27-28,35-36, 43-44, 51-52, 66-67, 73-74, 88-89, and 96-97

Ruling: No ruling visible; 25 lines per page; vertical spacing 17 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black

Binding: British Museum red, half-leather binding

Condition: Minor water damage towards gutter at head and tail; minor insect damage; some wax marks; verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. side of final folio [f. 99] badly rubbed and text there semi-legible; one or more folios missing at end

Marginalia: Many, mostly marginal headings by same hand, but not that of main scribe

Seals: None

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

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