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[Kitāb-i Ḥashāyish].
[کتاب حشايش].

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Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts Oversize LJS 278
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Format:
Book
Manuscript
Author/Creator:
Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos
Contributor:
Digby, Simon, former owner.
Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)
Standardized Title:
De materia medica. Persian. Selections
Language:
Persian
Subjects (All):
Botany.
Materia medica--Early works to 1800.
Materia medica.
Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800.
Botany, Medical.
Botany--Pictorial works--Early works to 1800.
Medicine, Greek and Roman.
Genre:
Pictorial works.
Manuscripts, Persian.
Manuscripts, 17th century.
codices (bound manuscripts)
herbals (reference sources)
watercolors (paintings)
Illustrated works.
Penn Provenance:
Formerly owned by British scholar, translator, and collector Simon Digby (1932-2010).
Offered for sale at David Carritt Limited (London) in the Artemis Group exhibition Indian painting 1525-1825, 1 April-30 April 1982, no. 17.
Sold by Simon Digby to Sam Fogg Ltd. (Sam Fogg).
Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, November 1998.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2016.
Physical Description:
172 leaves : paper, illustrations ; 400 x 260 mm
Other Title:
Ḥashāyish
Ḥashāʼish
حشايش
حشائش
Place of Publication:
[Iran?], [17th century?]
Language Note:
Persian.
Summary:
Bifolia and folia from a disbound illustrated herbal with detailed descriptions of the physical appearance and the medicinal effect of many plants, as well as some trees, minerals, and substances derived from animals. The manuscript is not complete and the leaves are not in order, and have been paginated out of order: it comprises text and illustrations from parts of Discourse 1, substantial parts of Discourses 2-4, and parts of Discourse 5. Many leaves have extensive repairs at the edges or corners.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Pagination: Paper, 172 leaves; [i, 1-35, 37, i, 38-116, i-ii, 117-217, i, 218-234, 237-240, 243-244, 247-266, 269-276, 280-303, 308-327, 330-335, 335-336, 336-338, 340, 340-355]; modern foliation in pencil, usually in the lower margin.
Layout: Written in up to 15 long lines (text block varies to accommodate illustrations); ruled in drypoint.
Script: Written in nastaʻlīq in black ink; pointed.
Decoration: 315 illustrations of 550 plants and several animals in opaque watercolor and ink, some incomplete with only ink outlines or early layers of color; rubrication and occasional text words in red ink (some rubrication lacking); text block outlined in faint black and red ink.
Origin: Possibly written in Iran in the 17th century (the colophon of a possibly related manuscript has an unclear date, Muḥarram A.H. 1004 (1595) or AH 1054 (1645), though the later date is more likely).
A partial reconstruction of the original order of the leaves, compiled by Marianna Shreve Simpson, is available in the library.
Local Notes:
Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.
Cited in:
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 106-108 (LJS 278).
Publications about:
Simpson, Marianna Shreve. "Dioscorides disordered: some notes on the University of Pennsylvania's fragmentary Kitāb-i Hashāyish." In Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 9.2 (Fall 2024): 354-394.
Cited as:
Dioscorides Pedanius of Anazarbos, Kitāb-i Ḥashāyish (LJS 278). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.
OCLC:
792741095

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