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Catalogue: Alchemy

Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār (MS A 70, item 1): (The Book of the Secret of Joy and the Secret of Secrets); كتاب سر السار و سر الاسرار; attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (8^th-9^th century); جابر ابن حيان

A large number of earlier authorities are cited in this alchemical treatise, including Plato, Democritus, and Ostanes. It is a treatise often cited by later alchemical writers such as al-Ṭughrā’ī.

There are two copies at NLM: MS A 70, item 1 and MS A 33, item 7. The text preserved in these copies is equivalent to that in a manuscript in London, British Library, OIOC, MS Add. 23418, fols. 142a-148a.

For other copies, see Kraus, Jabir, pp. 136-7 no. 1072; and Sezgin, GAS IV, p. 262 no. 31.

Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār (MS A 70, item 1)

Illustrations

Folio 1b from MS A 70 which begins the alchemical treatise Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār (The Book of the Secret of Joy and the Secret of Secrets) attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. The biscuit, fibrous paper has a nearly matte finish. The text is written in a small, compact naskh script using black ink with headings and overlinings in red.

MS A 70, fol. 1b

The beginning of the Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār by al-Jābir ibn al-Ḥayyān. In this copy the title is given on the first line in the short form Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr. An impression of an owner's stamp can be seen at the top; the date may be 1123 (= 1711), though the middle numerals are not clear, and the name might be read as Abū Nur Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī. One of the authorities cited in the marginalia is the alchemist al-Jaldakī. The copy is undated but appears to date from the 17th or 18th century.

Physical Description

Arabic. 12 leaves (Fols. 1b-12a, line 5). Dimensions 21.3 x 16.8 (text area 15 x 10) cm; 20 lines per page. The title is given as Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr on fol. 1b line 1. The full title, Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār is given in the colophon (fol. 12a line 4). The author is given as Jābir ibn al-Ḥayyān on fol. 1b line 1.

The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 17th or 18th century.

The text is written in a small, compact naskh script using black ink with headings and overlinings in red. There are catchwords. All twenty-seven items in this volume were transcribed by the same unnamed copyist. On some leaves there are instructions written vertically in the margins to the person who later inserted the rubricated headings; most have been cut off as the edges were trimmed.

There are copious marginalia throughout in several hands, with some interlinear notes. A later hand has written the titles of various individual items in the volume in the upper left corners of the recto of some folios. One person adding marginalia to the volume frequently cites the alchemical authority al-Jaldakī.

Fols. 1-40 are composed of a biscuit, fibrous paper having a nearly matte finish, with neither laid lines nor chain lines. Fols. 41-67 are composed of paper dyed a light gray, of structure and finish similar to the first group. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. The volume is damp-stained and soiled through thumbing.

The volume consists of 67 leaves and one loose leaf. Fol. 1a is blank except for some later Turkish poetry and an owner's stamp. The loose leaf is smaller (ca. 18 x 11 cm) and of different paper from the rest of the volume; on it are miscellaneous and very casually written notes. Fols. 1b-12a (item 1) contain Kitāb al-Sirr al-sārr wa-sirr al-asrār by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān here cataloged; fols. 12a-13b (item 2) Kitāb Jannāt al-khuld by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 2 ); fols. 13b-20b (item 3) Kitāb al-Raḥmah al-kabīr by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 3); fols. 20b-22a (item 4) Kitāb al-Iḥqāq min sab‘īn [extracts] by al-Rāzī (MS A 70, item 4); fols. 22a-24a (item 5) an untitled treatise attributed to Hirmīs [Hermes Trismegistus] (MS A 70, item 5); fols. 24a-27b (item 6) Kitāb al-Tadābīr by al-Rāzī (MS A 70, item 6); fols. 28a-29a (item 7) Kitāb al-Rāhib by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 7); fols 29a-30b (item 8) Kitāb al-Āthar al-‘ulwīyah by Aristotle (MS A 70, item 8); fols. 30b-31b (item 9) Risālah al-Fahm al-thāqib ilá al-fahm al-murāqib attributed to Plato (MS A 70, item 9); fols. 31b-33b (item 10) Risālah Mufākharat al-aḥjār attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 10); fols. 33b-37b (item 11) extracts from writings of al-Ṭughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 11); fols. 38a-38b (item 12) untitled treatise attributed to Agathodaimon (MS A 70, item 12); fols. 39a-41a (item 13) Risālah fī ṣinā‘at al-iksīr by Aḥmad ibn ‘Imād al-Dīn (MS A 70, item 13); fols. 41a-45a (item 14) Risālah fī bayān tafrīq al-adyān wa-tafarru‘ al-‘ibādāt wa-al-diyānāt wa-al-i‘tiqādāt by Zosimos (MS A 70, item 14); fols. 45a-47b (item 15) Kitāb al-Fuṣūl attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 15); fols. 47b-48b (item 16) extracts from writings of al-Ṭughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 16); fols. 49a-52b (item 17) untitled risālah attributed to Khālid ibn Yazīd (MS A 70, item 17); fols. 52b-53b (item 18) Kitāb al-Mujarradāt [extracts] attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 18); fols. 53b-57b (item 19) Masā’il attributed to Khālid ibn Yazīd (MS A 70, item 19); fols. 57b-60a (item 20) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 20); fols. 60a-63a (item 21) extract (nubdhah) from the writings of al-Ṭughrā’ī (MS A 70, item 21); fols. 63a-63b (item 22) Aqwāl al-mutaffariqāt, anonymous (MS A 70, item 22); fols. 63b, lines 6-13 (item 23), alchemical note, anonymous (MS A 70, item 23); fols. 63b-64a (item 24) Kitāb al-Mawāzīn [extracts] by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 24); fols. 64a-64b (item 25) Kitāb al-Sirr al-Maknūn [extract] by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 25); fols 64b-67a (item 26) Kitāb al-Aḥjār ‘alá ra’y Balīnās by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (MS A 70, item 26); and fols. 67a-67b (item 27) untitled treatise attributed to Agathodaimon (MS A 70, item 27).

Binding

The volume is bound in a soft brown-leather binding. On each cover there is a blind-tooled design formed of straight lines. There are no pastedowns or endpapers.

Provenance

On fol. 1b there is an impression of an owner's stamp whose date might be 1123 (= 1711), though the middle numerals are not clear, and the name might be Abū Nūr Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī. On fol. 1a there is an unidentified library stamp.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda (ELS 1701 Med 120).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 70, p. 320, where says it a collection of 32 alchemical treatises.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-126 no. 3