Four works in one volume by Mu’ayyad-ad-Din Ibn Barmak al-‘Urdi al-Dimashqi (d.1266), Giyath al-Din Mansur Ibn Muhammad Sadr al-Din Ibn Ibrahim al-Husaini al-Shirazi (d.1541-42) and Kamal al-Din Ahmad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn Sa’id Ibn Sa’adah, Syria or Egypt, Mamluk, 15th century

Arabic manuscript on paper, 66 leaves plus 3 flyleaves, 17 to 25 lines to the page in two different hands in black script on polished cream paper, 18 astronomical diagrams, first work with catchwords and keywords picked out in red, later brown leather binding with tooled decoration

In good overall condition, pages slightly trimmed, minor repairs to some leaf edges, pages generally clean and fresh, one or two minor stains, spine repaired, as viewed.
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Born in Damascus, Mu’ayyad-ad-Din ibn Barmak al-‘Urdi al-Dimashqi was an astronomer, architect and engineer who constructed an astronomical instrument in Damascus for al-Mansur Ibrahim, ruler of Homs (1239–1245 AD). He also taught geometry to Ibn al-Quff. After 1259 AD he worked in the Maragha observatory of al-Tusi; he constructed instruments for this observatory and built a mosque and a palace in Maragha.

The first work in this volume (ff.1b-22a), Risalat fi kayfiyat ‘amal alat al-rasd bi mahrusat Maragha is a treatise on the workings of the instruments for observation in the observatory in Maragha. Although this work does not appear to be listed in Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, they do list a treatise which gives the description of eleven instruments in the observatory (which may be related to this work): mural quadrant, armillary sphere, solstial armilla, equinoctial armilla, Hypparchus’ dioptre (alhidade), instrument with two quadrants, instrument with two limbs, instrument to determine sine and azimuths, instrument to determine sine and invers sines, the “perfect instrument” and a parallactic ruler. See B.A. Rosenthal and E. Ihsanoglu, Mathematicians, Astronomers and other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and their Works (7^th – 19^th c.), Istanbul, 20023, p.224, no.629. See also Brockelmann, GAL, II, 869-870. The three further works in this manuscript are as follows:

2. (ff.22b-38a) Giyath al-Din Mansur Ibn Muhammad Sadr al-Din Ibn Ibrahim al-Husaini al-Shirazi (d. 1541-42), Samt al-qiblah (a treatise on the azimuth of  the qibla), copied in the lifetime of the author in 947 AH/1540-41 AD.

3. (ff.39b-50a) Giyath al-Din Mansur Ibn Muhammad Sadr al-Din Ibn Ibrahim al-Husaini al-Shirazi (d. 1541-42), Anamuzaj al-’ulum (treatises on different subjects including fiqh, hadith, tafsir, logic, philosophy, medicine, engineering, geometry and astronomy, also copied in the lifetime of the author in 947 AH/1540-41 AD.

4. (ff.50b-66a) Kamal al-Din Ahmad Ibn ‘Ali Ibn Sa’id Ibn Sa’adah (d.circa 1225-50), Masalat al-‘ilm (on philosophy), copied by ‘Abdu’l-Sami’ Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Isfahani, also dated 947 AH/1540-41 AD.