Catalogue: Astrology/Divination/Magic

[On Talismanic Designs]   (MS A 6, item 2)

Anonymous

An anonymous untitled Persian treatise on talismanic designs (khatim).

No other copies identified.

Physical Description

Persian. 20 leaves (fols. 403b-422a). Dimensions 20.5 x 14.0 (text area 16.0 x 9.2) cm; 13 lines per page. No title or author is given.

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

The text is written in medium-small ta‘liq in black ink but with no headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. It was copied by the same hand as transcribed the first item in the volume.

The brown glossy paper has very indistinct horizontal laid lines and no visible chain lines. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. The paper is severely worm-eaten and repairs have been made to many of the leaves.

The volume consists of 422 leaves. Fol. 422b is blank. Item 1 (fols. 1b-403a) is Baḥr al-jawāhir by al-Harawī (MS A 6, item 1); item 2 (fols. 403b-422a) is the anonymous Persian treatise on talismans here catalogued.

Binding

The volume is bound in a modern library binding of dark-brown leather over pasteboards. There are modern pastedowns and endpapers.

Provenance

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda, who acquired it from dealer in Aligarh (ELS No. 1715; Med. 26).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A6, pp. 298-9. This item not mentioned.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-110 no. 6