Catalogue: Medical Therapeutics
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Risālah fī al-mafāṣil (MS A 80.1) - (On the Joints)
- رسالة فى المفاصل
- by Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Umar Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (d. 1222/619)
- ابو حامد محمد ابن على ابن عمر نجيب الدين السمرقندى
This is a short treatise on regimen for treating pain in the joints.
The NLM copy is a complete copy of a very rare treatise by Najib al-Din al-Samarqandi. It is probably the same as the treatise by the title Fī mudawat waja‘ al-fāṣil (On the treatment of pain in the joints) preserved in three copies: Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, MS ṭibb 1, item 2; Rampur, Raza Library, MS 3206, item 1; and Rabat, al-Khizanah al-‘ammah , MS 2661 (see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 170 note 6; Ibrahim Shabbuh, Fihris al-makhtutat al-musawwarah (Ma‘had al-Makhtutat al-‘Arabiyah), juz' al-thalath, qism al-thani: al-ṭibb (Cairo, 1959), p. 340 nos. 116 and 117).
The treatise has not been published in a modern translation or edition.
Risālah fī al-mafāṣil (MS A 80.1)
Illustrations
The beginning of a short treatise on treating pain in the joints written by Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (d. 1222/619). The copy is undated, probably 18th century.
Physical Description
Arabic. 4 leaves (fols. 1b-4a) Dimensions 23.5 x 15.5 (text area 16.2 x 10.3) cm; 23 lines per page. The title is given in the first line of fol. 1b, where the author's name is also given as Najīb al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Samarqandī.
The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of about the 18th century.
It is a complete copy. The text area is frame-ruled. The text is written in a small naskh script tending to ta‘liq in black with with copious maroon/red overlinings. There are catchwords.
There is one marginal correction.
The soft beige, glossy paper is quite fibrous.
The volume consists of 4 leaves. Fols. 1a and 4b are blank, except for a penciled version of the title on fol. 1a.
Binding
The volume is bound in a modern library cloth binding with leather spine. There are modern endpapers and pastedowns.
Provenance
The volume was received by the Armed Forces Medical Library in September, 1954, from Dr. Claudius Mayer's office; its provenance before then is unknown.
References
Hamarneh, "NLM", p. 99, where it is erroneously described a general treatise on regimen.
[The volume is not described in Schullian/Sommer]
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 55-43 no. 5
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Natījat al-maṭlūbāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt (MS A 49)
- (The Result of Searchings for the Knowledge of Fevers)
- نتيجة المطلوبات فى معرفة الحميات
- by Būlus ibn Qusṭanṭīn al‑Malakī al-Shābūrī (? 18th cent.)
- بولس ابن قسطنطين الملكى الشابورى
This treatise on fevers was apparently written by al-Shābūrī in the 18th century. Nothing is known of the life of al-Shābūrī other than what can be gleaned from this, his only known treatise. He must certainly have lived after the mid 17th century because he cited as a source a treatise written by Ibn Sallūm, who died in 1669/1080. The treatise is in three chapters (fasls) and an addendum (khatimah).
Al-Shābūrī is known only by this treatise. He is not listed in the published bibliographical literature, and no further information is available on his life.
There is possibly one other copy preserved today (Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MS arab. 1983), copied in 1784 (2 Rabi‘ II 1198) with the same title but with no author specified. See Wilhelm Pertsch, Die Arabischen Handschriften der herzoglichen Bibliothek zu Gotha, vol. 3 (Gotha: Friedr. Andr. Perthes, 1881), no. 1983.
The text has not been published in a modern translation or edition.
Natījat al-maṭlūbāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt (MS A 49)
Illustrations
Sample pages from an Arabic treatise on fevers written by Būlus ibn Qusṭanṭīn al‑Malakī al-Shābūrī sometime after the mid 17th century. The copy is undated, probably early 18th century.
Physical Description
Arabic. 104 leaves (fols. 1b-104a). Dimensions 15.7 x 10.7 (text ares 12 x 7) cm; 13 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 3b lines 10-11; the title page (fol. 1a) has a short title: Risālah fī al-ḥummayāt (Treatise on fevers). The author's name is given on the title page (fol. 1a) as Būlus ibn Qusṭanṭīn al‑Malakī al-Shābūrī.
The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the early 18th century.
A complete copy. There is a table of contents on fols. 4b-7a. Among the sources from which he says he drew material (fols. 2b-3a) is the treatise Ghāyat al-itqān written by Salih Efendi (Ibn Sallūm), who died in 1670.
The copy was collated. A note at the end of the text (fol. 104a) states that a collation (muqabalah) was made against the copy from which this one was made, and a few marginal notations are found alongside the text.
The text is written in a medium-small, widely spaced naskh script, in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. The text area is frame-ruled. There are catchwords.
The ivory, semi-glossy paper has horizontal laid lines, single chain lines, and is watermarked. The paper is slightly yellowed near the edges and slightly water damaged.
The volume consists of 104 leaves. Fol. 104b is blank, and fol. 1a is blank except for the shortened, generic title and a defaced owner's note. The front endpapers have misc. notes and a recent penciled note repeating the title.
Binding
The volume is bound in black leather with tooled covers, badly deteriorated and repaired. There are paper pastedowns and endpapers which are contemporaneous with the text.
Provenance
There is a defaced owner's note on fol. 1a.
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda who acquired it in provincial Turkey (ELS 2355, Med. 87).
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A49, pp. 313-4.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-122 no. 1
