Kitāb al-Majisṭī.
كتاب المجسطي.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Ptolemy, active 2nd century.

Contributor:

Ibn al-Qursunah al-Isrāʼīlī, associated name.

Aḥmad ibn Mubārak Luṭf Allāh, former owner.

Muḥammad al-Raʼīs, former owner.

Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Ḥayy ibn ʻAbd al-Kabīr al-Kinānī al-Ḥasanī, former owner.

Regnault, Eugène, -1933, former owner.

Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

ابن القرسنة الاسرائيلي،, associated name.

احمد بن مبارك لطف الله،, former owner.

محمد الرأيس،, former owner.

محمد عبد الحي بن عبد الكبير الكناني الحسني،, former owner.

Standardized Title:

Almagest. Arabic

Language:

Arabic

Subjects (All):

Astronomy--Early works to 1800.

Astronomy.

Genre:

Manuscripts, Arabic.

Manuscripts, 14th century.

Manuscripts, Medieval.

codices (bound manuscripts)

diagrams

treatises

Tables (Data)

Annotations (Provenance)

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Aḥmad ibn Mubārak Luṭf Allāh, Muḥammad al-Raʼīs and Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Ḥayy ibn ʻAbd al-Kabīr al-Kinānī al-Ḥasanī (series of notes, f. 1r).

Formerly owned by Imam Aḥmad ibn Mubārak Lutfullāh, Muḥammad al-Raʼīs and Imam Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Kathīr al-Kinānī (note by Misjo Rinijo or Misiyo Riniyo, probably Monsieur Regnault, a French ambassador, note dated 1922, f. 1v).

Offered in A.H. 1330/1912 (‘547 〈lunar〉 years after the date of copying’) by ‘the Sharīf’, probably Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥayy b. ʿAbd al-Kabīr al-Kittānī al-Ḥasanī, an Idrīsī sharīf, as a present to Eugène Regnault (d. 1933), French plenipotentiary minister in Tangier, probably on the signature of the Treaty of Fez (30 March 1912) as a result of which Morocco became a French protectorate, or on his departure in 1913 from his position in Morocco (front endleaf recto, back endleaf verso) (José Bellver).

Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1998.

Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.

Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2016.

Physical Description:

i, 174, i leaves : paper ; 280 x 215 (220 x 145) mm bound to 280 x 225 mm

Production:

[Spain], A.H. 783 (1381)

Other Title:

Majisṭī

مجسطي

Language Note:

Arabic.

Summary:

An extensive treatise on Aristotelian astronomy, considering the motion of the stars and planets in a spherical, geocentric universe.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title from title page (f. 1r).

Foliation: Paper, 174; [1-37, 50-101, 124-145, 145-152, 101-124, 154-185]; modern foliation in pencil, correcting previous foliation in pencil, lower center recto.

Layout: Written in 36 long lines.

Script: Written in maghribī script by Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Salāmah al- Sinhājī al-Muhājirī?, an astronomer (colophon, f. 185r).

Decoration: Diagrams, tables, titles, headings, and selected words in red throughout.

Watermark: Similar to Piccard, Axe, no. 788 (Florence, 1379).

Binding: Red leather with flap (Type II); blind-stamped central mandorla and double frame of straight rules; gold-tooled around the central stamp and small, gilt-stamped corner decorations; plain paper doublure.

Origin: Copied in Saragossa [Sarqusṭah] Spain in Jumādá al-Ākhirah A.H. 783 (September 1381 CE) for Ibn al-Qursunuh al-Isrāʼīlī, astronomer to Pedro IV of Aragon (colophon, f. 185r).

Many edges and corners of leaves mended with paper.

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. 52-53 (LJS 268).

Publications about:

Kunitzsch, Paul. "A hitherto unknown Arabic manuscript of the Almagest." In Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 14 (2001):

Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 46, 210-11 (cat. 61).

Van Dalen, Benno, et al. "A hitherto unknown Arabic manuscript of Thābit b. Qurra's version of the Almagest." In Journal of the American Oriental Society 144.3 (July-September 2024): 627-632; LJS 268 cited in 627-628 n3.

José Bellver, ‘MS Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania – Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, LJS 268’ (update: 22.09.2024), Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus. Manuscripts (http://ptolemaeus.badw.de/ms/713).

Cited as:

Ptolemy, Kitāb al-Majisṭī (LJS 268). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

122638121

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.

Online:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page