'Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad Ibn 'Abi Muhammad 'Abdul-Salam al-Hasani al-Saqali (d.1433 AD), A Compendium of Medical Cures, Probably Egypt, Mamluk, circa 1400

Arabic manuscript on polished cream paper, 207 leaves plus 3 flyleaves, 19 lines to the page, written in a scholar's hand in black ink, keywords picked out in red, catchwords, headings in larger text in blue, red and gold, opening flyleaf with various ownership inscriptions and accompanying tughras, brown leather binding with stamped floral decoration with gilt embellishment

In fair overall condition, rubbing and abrasions to binding, spine repaired, some pages loose, occasional stains and smudges, some nibbles to leaf edges, as viewed.
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The present work is composed by Ahmad Ibn ‘Abdul-Salam al-Sharif al-Saqali al-Tunisi (1397-1433 AD). He worked at the court of the Hafsid ruler Abu-Faris al-Mutawakkil ‘Abdul-Aziz Ibn Ahmad II (r.1394-1434) in Tunisia. Thus the present manuscript can be considered an early copy of the worked written during the author’s lifetime or shortly after his death since the manuscript is datable on stylistic grounds to Mamluk Egypt, in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The opening page of tughras and seals and the repaired colophon indicate that the manuscript was in Ottoman Baghdad by 970 AH/1562-3 AD.

See Brockelmann, GAL, S.II, pp.367, Zu S. 257 for a list of four works by the same author: kitab al-Atibba’, kitab Hifz as-sihha, kitab at-Tibb-as-sari and Sharh alfiyat ibn Sina. See Arberry, The Chester Beatty Library – A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, volume IV, Dublin, 1959, p.2, no.3756. The library has one work by the author entitled al-Mukhtasar fi’l- tibb, a compendium of medicine. See also A.Z. Iskandar, A Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, London, 1967, p.206, WMS. Or.13. He lists one work entitled Mukhtasar al-tibb al-sharif Hifz-as-Sihha. Interestingly Iskandar publishes the beginning of the text which states that the first of the ailments of the body is headaches (see below), so this work could be another compilation by the author of above mentioned titles.

The purpose of the work is the treatment on ailments and diseases with simple as opposed to compound medicines since it is easier to prepare them. The text begins with recommended single medicines for headaches.