Fragment of a Christian Arabic Miscellany

Content

Five quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. ( quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. 5-9) of a miscellany produced in a monastic context containing Christian prayers, recipes for incenses, calendrical, astronomical, astrological, agricultural, medical and weather lore along with information about Christian feast days.

Contents:

• 1) Fragment of a Christian prayer (f. 18r-18v [37r-37v Coptic foliation], defective at beginning);
• 2) Duʿā mustakhraj min Kitāb Dāwūd al-nabī (دعا مستخرج من كتاب داود النبي, ff. 18v-22r [37v-41r Coptic foliation]);
• 3) Duʿā allafahu ba‘ḍ al-mu’minīn al-muḥiqqīn min al-Naṣārá (دعا ألفه بعض المؤمنين المحقين من النصارى, ff. 22r-28v [41r-47v Coptic foliation]);
• 4) Three recipes for incense (ff. 28v-30v [47v-49v Coptic foliation]);
• 5) Kitāb al-azminah (كتاب الأزمنة, ff. 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-10v, 17r-17v, 1r and 1v [49v-70v Coptic foliation, with two folios missing: 56 and 57]);
• 6) Astrological treatise (ff. 1v-2v [70v-71v Coptic foliation], defective at end).

The folios of the manuscript have been bound out of order, but an earlier foliation in Coptic numerals suggests a different running order as well as the placement of two missing folios. The Coptic foliation begins at 37 (f. 18r) and finishes at 71 (f. 2r), which indicates that 36 folios are wanting from the beginning of the manuscript. The manuscript is defective at the end, since the text at the end of f. 2r breaks off mid-flow. Quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. show that the surviving portion of the manuscript comprises 5 quaternions ( quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. 5-9).

The running order of the folios and placement of missing folios suggested by the Coptic foliation is as follows:

ff. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 11, 12, 13, [2 folios missing here], 14, 15, 16, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 1 and 2.

Greek majuscule quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. executed in red and sometimes also black ink are found in the upper edge corners and Georgian majuscule quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. in black ink are found at the centre of the lower or upper margins of the following folios:

• 5 (f. 25v [44v Coptic foliation], Greek red, Georgian lower margin);
• 6 (f. 26r [45r Coptic foliation], Georgian upper margin [beginning of quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. ]);
• 6 (f. 33v [52v Coptic foliation], Greek red, Georgian lower margin [end of quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. ]);
• 7 (f. 16v [60v Coptic foliation], Greek red and black, Georgian lower margin);
• 8 (f. 10v [68v Coptic foliation], Greek red and black, Georgian lower margin);
• 9 (f. 17r [68r Coptic foliation], Greek red, Georgian upper margin).

These quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. indicate an unbroken sequence of quaternions numbered quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. five through nine of which quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. seven is missing two folios (56 and 57 Coptic foliation) and quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. nine is missing the last five folios. The fact that the quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. marked seven and eight in the Greek signatures are marked eight and seven respectively in the Georgian signatures appears to be an error in the Georgian signature and not an indication that the quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. were bound in reverse order. This combination of Greek and Georgian quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. is indicative of, but perhaps not unique to, manuscripts produced at the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai (see Pataridze, 'Les Signatures des cahiers unilingues et bilingues dans les manuscrits Sinaïtiques (Georgiens, Arabes et Syriaques)', Manuscripta Orientalia 18.1 [2012], pp. 15-35).

Folio 22v has been left blank.

A much larger fragment (227 folios) of this manuscript is contained in Biblioteca Ambrosiana, X 201 sup. (see Löfgren and Traini, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 3 vols [Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1975–95], vol. 1, item XXXIII, pp. 33-35; a digital surrogate of the manuscript can be accessed at https://ambrosiana.comperio.it/opac/detail/view/ambro:catalog:113822). The Ambrosiana manuscript begins with quire A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. 13 and contains ff. 97-337 of the Coptic foliation.

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+33+i

It is grouped into

Fragment of a Christian prayer

2 images

Ref: Or 8857, f 18r-18v

Duʿā mustakhraj min Kitāb Dāwūd al-nabī دعا مستخرج من كتاب داود النبي

8 images

Ref: Or 8857, ff 18v-22r

Duʿā allafahu ba‘ḍ al-mu’minīn al-muḥiqqīn min al-Naṣārá دعا ألفه بعض المؤمنين المحقين من النصارى

14 images

Ref: Or 8857, ff 22r-28v

Three recipes for incense

5 images

Ref: Or 8857, ff 28v-30v

Kitāb al-azminah كتاب الأزمنة

39 images

Ref: Or 8857, ff 30v-33v, 11r-16v, 3r-10v, 17r-17v, 1r and 1v

Fragment of an astrological text

3 images

Ref: Or 8857, ff 1v-2v

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 201 x 125 mm leaf [105 x 155 mm written]

Foliation: Coptic foliation in black ink, British Museum foliation in pencil. Following the Coptic foliation, the order of the folios should be 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 11, 12, 13, [2 folios missing here], 14, 15, 16, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 1 and 2

Ruling: No ruling visible; 14 to 18 lines per page; vertical spacing 9 to 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: ʿAbbasid bookhand

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated titles

Decoration: Text division in red and black ink (f. 28v); Greek majuscule quire signatures Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating the correct order of the quires. in red and red and black ink are found on ff. 25v (red), 33v (red), 16v (red and black), 10v (red and black) and 17r (red)

Binding: British Museum binding

Condition: Some water damage to upper and lower gutter has caused ink to fade and in places become illegible; ff. 1, 10, 17, 18 have had damage repaired with no loss of text; all folios guarded

Marginalia: Very few (see ff. 8v, 23r, 24v, 26r, and f.30v)

Seals: British Museum seals (ff.1r and 33v)

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 8857

History of this record

Date(s)

ca 1000

Context of creation

Monastery of St Catherine, Sinai?

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from F. W. Bickel, 30 May, 1921

Related material

Select Bibliography

Catalogue record for other fragment of manuscript:

• Löfgren, Oscar and Renato Traini, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 3 vols (Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1975–95), vol. 1, item XXXIII, pp. 33-35

Study:

• Pataridze, T. 'Les Signatures des cahiers unilingues et bilingues dans les manuscrits Sinaïtiques (Georgiens, Arabes et Syriaques)', Manuscripta Orientalia 18.1 (2012), pp. 15-35

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Cite this record in your research

Fragment of a Christian Arabic Miscellany, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 8857, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/9691> [accessed 4 July 2026]

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