Kitāb al-ṭabīkh كتاب الطبيخ Ibn al-Karīm, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ابن الكريم، محمد بن الحسن

Content

A manual on cookery in ten chapters (أبواب), composed by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Karīm, known as al-Kātib al-Baghdādī (محمد بن الحسن بن الكريم الكاتب البغدادي, d. 1239/40) in 623/1226.

The present copy lacks a colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , however an inscription in gold ink outlined in black records that the volume was commissioned for the Ottoman Sulṭān Muḥammad Khān ibn Murād Khān (برسم مطالعة السلطان [...] محمد خان بن مراد خان, f. 2r), identifiable as Muḥammad II Fātiḥ (The Conqueror, r. 1444-46; 1451-81), son of Murād II (r. 1421-44).

The Kitāb al-ṭabīkh was popular at the Ottoman court in the mid- to late-15th century, as testified by the translation (with additions) into Turkish made by Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Shirwānī [Şirvani] under Murād II, [ Kitabü't-Tabih: Abbasi Bağdat'ından yemekler, tatlılar, çeşniler (İstanbul: Kitap Yayınevi, 2009)].

The page containing the sultanic dedication (f. 2r) also bears a marginal inscription referring to the text; one of two occurrences of the ṭughrā seal of Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512), successor of Muḥammad II (it is found again on f. 98v), and an inscription mentioning an Inspector [of Endowments of Mecca and Medina] (المفتش) and oval seal at the bottom of the page.

These features are now obscured by another (re-used) leaf bearing a waqf inscription, pasted on top. Its text records the volume's endowment by Sulṭān ʿUthmān Khān ibn al-Sulṭān Muṣṭafá Khān (عثمان خان ابن السلطان مصطفى خان), identifiable with ʿUthmān [Osman] III (r. 1754-57), son of Muṣṭafá II (r. 1695-1703), and also accompanied with ʿUthmān III's seal containing his ṭughrā and an extract from Qurʾān 7:43. Numerals decorated with gold dust, apparently inventory numbers, are found in the margin.

The text contains 160 recipes organised into ten chapters, each concerned with different gastronomic and culinary categories such as sour (الحوامض), plain (سواذج), fried and dry dishes (القلايا والنواشف), oven-cooked dishes (المطجنات), fish (السموك), pickles (المخللات), puddings (الأخبصة), sweets (الحلاوات), and dough-based sweet dishes (قطائف).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-6):

الحمد لله منشئ الأيام ومقدّر الأوقات ومنشر

الأنام ومسبّب الأقوات خالق الحيوان ومنبت

النبات الذي عمّ البرية بنعمه المتظاهرات وأنزل لهم

من السماء ماء فأخرج به من كل الثمرات وأحلّ لهم

الطيبات وأباح أنواع المأكل والمشارب غير المحرّمات

Ends (f. 97v, line 8- f. 98r, line 3):

... ثم يخلط

السكر والحب رمان وتجعل تلك الخرقة فيه حتى تخرج

خاصيتها فيه ثم تلقى عليه نصف ما عندك من ماء ورد

ومسك مذوب وتوعيه الكيزان الصادتة ثم تختم كل كوز

بماء بقي من ماء ورد ومسك وتحلي فيه قليلا فهو غاية

تم كتاب الطبيخ

والحمد لله دائمًا

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. 1+i+97+iii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 202 x 132mm leaf [125 x 66mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 11 lines per page; vertical spacing 9 lines per 10 cm

Script: Vocalised naskh with some rayḥānī characteristics

Ink: Black ink, with chapter headings and recipe entries in gold ink outlined with black

Decoration: Text areas enclosed within gold-ruled frames; illuminated opening in blue, gold, green, white and black

Binding: Modern red cloth binding with envelope flap

Condition: Excellent condition, minor wormholes in head margin

Marginalia: None

Seals: ff. 2r and 98v

British Museum stamps: Ff. 2r, 31r, 60r and 98v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 5099

History of this record

Date(s)

1451-81 (CE, Gregorian)

Provenance

• Unidentified oval stamp in black ink, overlaid with replacement paper (f. 2r, tail margin);
• al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm Ḥanīf (الحاج إبراهيم حنيف), Inspector of Endowments of Mecca and Medina (المفتش بأوقاف الحرمين المحرمين): his seal, without date, and inscription without date, stating that this manuscript was endowed (وقف) by Sulṭān ʿUthmān [Osman] III (عثمان خان ابن السلطان مصطفى خان, r. 1754-57) (f. 2r);
• Sulṭān ʿUthmān [Osman] III (عثمان خان ابن السلطان مصطفى خان, r. 1754-57): his ṭughrā seal (f. 2r);
• Sulṭān Bāyezīd II (r. 1481-1512): his pointed oval seal, without date (ff. 2r and 98v; see Chester Beatty Library Islamic Seals Database no. 2);
• Sulṭān Muḥammad Khān ibn Murād Khān (محمد خان بن مراد خان) known as Muḥammad II Fātiḥ (r. 1444-46; 1451-81): dedicatory inscription naming him (f. 2r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Dikran Khan Kelekian (1868-1951), 11 May 1897

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. 56

Select Bibliography

Editions:

• Al-Kātib al-Baghdādī, Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh , edited by Dāwūd al-Jalabī (al-Mawṣil: Maṭbaʿat Umm al-Rabīʿīn, 1934); reprint, edited by Fakhrī al-Bārūdī (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadīd, 1964)

Translations:

• al-Kātib al-Baghdādī, Kitāb al-ṭabīkh , translated by A. J. Arberry, 'A Baghdad Cookery-Book', in Islamic Culture , 13, 1 and 2 (1939), pp. 21–47, 189–214
• al-Kātib al-Baghdādī, Kitāb al-ṭabīkh , translated by Charles Perry, A Baghdad Cookery Book (Blackawton: Prospect Books, 2005)
• al-Kātib al-Baghdādī, Kitāb al-ṭabīkh , translated (with additions) by Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Shirwānī [Şirvani], Kitabü't-Tabih: Abbasi Bağdat'ından yemekler, tatlılar, çeşniler (İstanbul: Kitap Yayınevi, 2009)

Studies:

• Arberry, A. J. et al., Medieval Arab Cookery: Essays and Translations (Totnes: Prospect Books, 2001)
• Zubaida, Sami, 'Review: A Baghdad Cookery Book by Charles Perry', in Gastronomica , 7 (2007), pp. 131-32

Subjects

Cooking -- early works to 1800

People & organisations

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Karīm

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Kitāb al-ṭabīkh كتاب الطبيخ Ibn al-Karīm, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ابن الكريم، محمد بن الحسن, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 5099, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100110634919.0x000001> [accessed 16 February 2025]

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