Kitāb mā lā yasaʿ al-ṭabīb jahluhu كتاب ما لا يسع الطبيب جهله Kutubī, Yūsuf ibn Ismāʿīl كتبي، يوسف بن إسماعيل

Content

Treatise on materia medica arranged in alphabetical order by Yūsuf ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Ilyās al-Khūwaīyī al-Baghdādī al-Kutubī (يوسف بن إسماعيل بن إلياس الخويي البغدادي الكتبي, d. 1353), and based on the Comprehensive Book on Simple Drugs and Foods (جامع لمفردات الأدوية والأغذية) by Ibn al-Bayṭār (ابن البيطار, d. 1248, see f. 2r, line 28ff, partially mutilated).

The composition of the text was completed at Damascus on 15 Jumādá I 711/29 September 1311 (see Ullmann, 1970, p. 285, as the end of the text is mutilated in this copy, and the author's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. is missing).

According to the title page, the scribe of this copy is Ibn al-Maylaṭ (ابن المَيلَط, see f. 1r).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-4):

الحمد لله الذي لا تكتنه حقيقة معرفته العلوم والأفهام ولا يحيط بكنه

ذاته العقول والأوهام ابتدع الأجرام العلوية وزينها بأجمل مورة

Ends (f. 336r, lines 12-17, defective at end):

يلنجوج اسم عربي للعود الهندي وهو عود البخورة ...

يمام اسم للسفتين وقد ذكر في السين

ينبوت هو خرنور ...

وقد ذكر في الخاء

ينتون ...

الجبل ...

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+336+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper (ff. 51-57, 70-89 and 283-304 are replacements on Western laid paper)

Dimensions: 215 x 145 mm leaf [155 x 85 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil, Eastern Arabic foliation ( quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. signatures?) occasionally visible in extreme upper edge corners of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. folios (e.g. ff. 30r and 121r)

Ruling: No ruling visible; 29 lines per page; vertical spacing 19 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is Ibn al-Maylaṭ (ابن المَيلَط, see title page, f. 1r)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings in red

Decoration: Text frames of double borders in red on ff. 1v-3v

Binding: British Museum binding with marbled paper on both boards

Condition: Ff. 51-57, 70-89 and 283-304 are replacements on Western laid paper; all folios are mutilated towards the tail with loss of text on many folios, extensive mutilation towards tail and edge on ff. 303-336 worse towards end of volume with much loss of text

Marginalia: Annotations by many hands, see especially the long note on f. 40v

Seals: f. 1r

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 5618

History of this record

Date(s)

15th century (CE, Gregorian)

Provenance

• Sayyid Mūsá Ḥakīm (سيد موسى حكيم): his inscription with date 1240/1824-5 (f. 1r);
• Sayyid Mūsá Ḥakīmzādah (سيد موسى حكيم زاده): his inscription without date, and his (?) seal with date 1261/1845(f. 1r);
• Mullā Aḥmad, secretary in the dīwān of Aleppo (ملا أحمد الكاتب في ديوان حلب): his incription with date 1014/1605-6, and his seal defaced (f. 1r);
• Ḥājjī Khalīl ibn Marmūsh (حاجي خليل بن مرموش): his inscription with date Rajab 1212/December 1797-January 1798 (f. 1r);
• Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي)?, mathematician, astronomer, religious scholar, 1547-1621: his calligraphic signature (f. 1r);
• Darwīsh (درويش): his seal with date 1229/1813-4 (f. 1r);
• Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ḥamūdah al-Mawṣilī (إسماعيل بن عبد الله بن أحمد بن محمد حمودة الموصلي): his annotation relating a remedy he learned from a Turkish source (perhaps called غاية البيان), which he translated into Arabic (f. 40v).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from J.J. Naaman, 11 July 1899

Related material

Finding aids

• Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 45
• Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 248, pp. 200-03

Select Bibliography

Studies:

• Iskandar, A.Z., A Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1967), pp. 126-27
• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 283 and 285

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Yūsuf ibn Ismā‘īl Kutubi

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Kitāb mā lā yasaʿ al-ṭabīb jahluhu كتاب ما لا يسع الطبيب جهله Kutubī, Yūsuf ibn Ismāʿīl كتبي، يوسف بن إسماعيل, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 5618, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100046552772.0x000001> [accessed 2 April 2025]

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