Qānūn fī ʻilm al-ṭibb

492 leaves, bound, (31 lines) (leaves 157a, 300a, 368a, 455a blank) : 26 cm Manuscript Arabic Title given at end of first book (fol. 85a) and on fol. 86a; title given at beginning of fourth and fifth books (fols. 368b and 455b), and in colophon (fol. 492b) as: Kitāb al-Qānūn Author's name given at beginning of book four (fol. 368b line 2) Two owners' notes, one dated Jumādi I 1225 (June 1810), are on fol. 1a, property of servant of the poor, master of the sufis Mulīnā Hifẓ Allah al-ʻAlawi al-Hāshimī (malikah khadīm al-fuqarāʼ masiḥ al-ʻārifīn Mulīnā Hifẓ Allah al-ʻalawi al-Hāshimī), property of the servent of the scholars Sayyid Pir Muḥammad, may he be pardoned; in the month of June 1225 (mutmalikāt khādim al-ulamā Sayyid Pir Muḥammad ʻafī anah; māhi Jamādi awwal 1225) and paper has been pasted over other notes on that folio; fol. 85a has an owners' stamp dated 1286 (1869-70) and a note dated 1290 (1873-4), both badly effaced, and similar effaced notes are on fols. 156a, 299b, 367b, 454b, and 492b; another undated owner's stamp is on fol. 233a, and two defaced stamps on fol. 245a and 267a Purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda who acquired it from a dealer in Lucknow; (ELS no. 1640) A complete copy of the Canon in one volume; only four other complete copies are recorded: Florence (Laurent) no. 211, Wellcome Hist. Medical Library, London (MS. Or. 155, dated 1042 (1632), and two in the British Library Text is written on a thin brown paper with no visible laid or chain lines; except for the first two folios, all the text has been cut out and set within white watermarked paper; a frame of blue, black and red ink and gilt has been drawn around the text which measures an area of 15 cm. x 10 cm.; a larger frame of a single blue ink line is also on the bordering frame of each folio; the catchwords and marginalia of the original text have also been cut out and pasted onto the more recent border Paper has worm holes, some water damage and some repairs; folios have been numbered in Arabic numerals after having been set into frame; folios recently renumbered in western numerals Catchwords, rubrications, red overlinings; some later black overlinings with headings added casually in margins The script is a very fine Nasta'liq; the paper forming the frame is probably 17th century paper; that on which the text is written is probably fifteenth century Illuminated openings begin each book; an extra one in the middle of the third book (fol. 300b) has been added later, probably in the seventeenth century; two of the illuminated headings (fol. 368b and fol. 86b) were done by the same master illustrator and are in keeping with a Timurid workshop of the fifteenth century; the others (fol. 1a, 157b, and 455b) were probably done by other members of the same workshop Small diagrams in red ink of the cranial sutures appear on fol. 11b and 12a and a talismanic design for use in fevers is drawn on fol. 404b Older marginalia giving corrections have been cut out and pasted onto the more recent borders; other recent marginalia occur occasionally; fols. 368b-378b contain many Persian marginal notations and interlinear notes Folios 85b and 156b are blank except for two Persian quatrains; fol. 1a is blank except for owners' notes; fol. 43 (recent numbering) should be placed between folios 49 and 50; folio 477 (new numbering) should be placed after 491 (new numbering) Bound in modern tan leather library binding over paper paste board; modern marbled pastedowns and end papers Described in: Schullian & Sommer. Cat. of incun. & MSS, 1950, A53; Hamarneh, S. "Arabic MSS. NLM." J. Hist. Arab. Science (1977), p. 90 Consists of five books: [1] (beginning fol. 1b) on the general principles of medicine, [2] (beginning 86b) on materia medica, [3] (beginning fol. 157b) on diseases discussed head to foot, [4] (beginning 368b) on diseases not specific to any one part of body, [5] (beginning 455b) on compound remedies Microfilm. Washington, D.C. : army Medical Library, 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm Condition reviewed 20171121 digitized. 2018