Lot 8
  • 8

Izz-al-Din ‘Ali al-Jildaki (d.1342-43), Ghayat al-surur fi sharh diwan al-shudhur (a commentary on al-Andalusi's Diwan shudhur al-dhahab, a treatise in verse on alchemy and kindred matters), Vol.II, North Africa, 18th/19th century

Estimate
8,000 - 10,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

Arabic manuscript on paper, 224 leaves plus 5 flyleaves, written in Maghribi script, significant words picked out in green, red and blue, catchwords, headings in gold, contemporary gilt-stamped green morocco binding, with flap

Condition

In good overall condition, a few minor stains, pages generally clean and illumination bright, as viewed.
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Catalogue Note

Izz-al-Din ‘Ali Ibn Muhammad Aydamir ‘Ali al-Jildaki was a Persian alchemist from Khurasan who fled his native country due to the Mongol invasion. His other known scientific works are al-Misbah fi ‘ilm al-miftah and Kitab al-burhan fi asrar ‘ilm al-mizan. He died in Cairo in 1342-43 AD.

Another eighteenth-century copy of this work in two volumes, undated, is in the Chester Beatty Library, see A. Arberry, A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, Dublin, 1963, p.2, no.4504 (i, ii). See also Brockelmann: GAL, I, 496, S I, 908. For more information on the Diwan shudhur al-dhahab by Burhan al-Din Abu’l Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Musa Ibn al-Qasim Ibn ‘Ali al-Ansari al-Andalusi see A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, 1934, pp.524-527.