Ibn Iyās ابن إياس Nashq al-azhār fī ʻajāʼib al-aqṭār نشق الأزهار في عجائب الأقطار

Content

A geographical compendium with a particular emphasis on Egypt (see f. 1v, lines 9-13), by Abū al-Barakāt Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ibn Iyās (أبو البركات محمد ابن أحمد ابن إياس; died c. 1524).

The text was completed on 14 Shaʻbān 922/11 September 1516 (see f. 293v, lines 17-20 transcribed below), and the present copy was completed on 20 Ramaḍān 1065/24 July 1655 by Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Rūmī (قاسم ابن محمد الرومي; see Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 294r, lines 3-5, transcribed below).

Begins (f. 1r, lines 2-3)

الحمد لله الذي عرف وفهم وعلم الإنسان ما لم يكن يعلم هدى

أقوامًا إلى اقتناص شوارد المعارف والعلوم...

Ends (f. 293v, lines 17-20)

...وهذا آخر ما انتهى إلي مما جمعته في هذا الكتاب

ووقع عليه الاختيار من الأخبار والآثار وأعاننا الله سبحانه وتعالى على

جمعه إلى أن فرغ في يوم الجمعة المباركة رابع عشر شعبان المكرم سنة

اثنين وعشرين وتسعمائة...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 294r, lines 3-5)

وكان الفراغ من كتابته نقلًا على يد أفقر العباد الي رحمة ربه قاسم

ابن محمد الرومي في عشري رمضان المعظم يوم السبت المبارك

سنة خمسة وستين وألف من الهجرة النبوية...

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. ii+294+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 220 x 144 mm leaf [147 x 93 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 21 lines per page; vertical spacing 14 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is Qāsim ibn Muḥammad al-Rūmī (قاسم ابن محمد الرومي; see f. 294r, lines 3-5)

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

Decoration: None

Binding: Both boards covered with red leather with blind-tooled frames enclosing a repair made of varnished Eastern laid paper; repaired spine

Condition: Waterstains to upper edge in first half of the volume and lower edge in the middle; some ink transfer and smudges

Marginalia: Very few, some scribal corrections

Seals: f. 1r; British Museum seals: ff. 1r, 16r, 31r, 43r, 76r, 93r, 111r, 123r, 147r, 173r, 183r, 211r, 228r, 273r and 294v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 7503

History of this record

Date(s)

20 Ramaḍān 1065 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Provenance

• Claudius James Rich (كلاديس جيمس رچ, b. 1786-d. 1821), Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Baghdad (1808-21): his seal (in Arabic), dated 1812, with legend (from the preface to the Gulistān of Sa‘dī) بلغ العلى بكماله كشف الدجى بجماله حسنت جميع خصاله صلوا عليه وآله (f. 1r);
• Anonymous ownership inscription, dated Jumādá 1196/1782 (f. 294v);
• al-Faqīr al-Sūdānī Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Fulānī al-Kashināwī (الفقير السوداني محمد ابن محمد الفلاني الكشناوي, d. 1154/1741-2), Mālikī scholar of Katsina (in modern Nigeria), resident at Cairo: his ownership inscription, dated 1141/1728-29 (f. 1r);
• Ḥasan al-Ḥibrīnī [?] (حسن الحبريني): his ownership inscription (f. 1r);
• Aḥmad al-Ḥamawī (أحمد الحموي): his inscription (f. 1r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Mary Rich (née Mackintosh), widow of Claudius James Rich (1786-1821), Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Baghdad (1808-21), 25 March 1825

Related material

Finding aids

Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 385, pp. 185.

Select Bibliography

Edition and French translation (partial):

• Ibn Iyās, 'Nubdhah min nashq al-azhār fī ʿajāʾib al-aqṭār. Extraits de l’odeur des fleurs dans les merveilles de l’univers, (Cosmographie) de Mohhammed ben-Ahhmed ben-Ayâs', Louis Langlès (tr.), Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale et autres bibliothèques , 8,1 (Paris: De l’imprimerie impériale, 1807).

Study:

• Chalyan-Daffner, Kristine, Natural Disasters in Maml ūk Egypt (1250-1517): Perceptions, Interpretations and Human Responses , Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Heidelberg (2013)

Subjects

Geography--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Abū al-Barakāt Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ibn Iyās

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Ibn Iyās ابن إياس Nashq al-azhār fī ʻajāʼib al-aqṭār نشق الأزهار في عجائب الأقطار, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 7503, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100092865308.0x000001> [accessed 27 August 2024]

Link to this record

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