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Manuscript/Mixed Material Kitāb Mā lā yasaʻu al-ṭabīb jahluh كتاب ما لا يسع الطبيب جهله

About this Item

Title

  • Kitāb Mā lā yasaʻu al-ṭabīb jahluh

Other Title

  • كتاب ما لا يسع الطبيب جهله

Summary

  • A well-organized medical treatment manual explains the evolution of the healing art in the Middle Ages. It is an abridgement of Ibn al-Baytar's "Kitāb al-Jāmiʻ li-mufradāt al-adwiyah," with some additions dealing with nutrition and medicine.
  • This manuscript was copied in 1682 by Ibn ʻAbd al-Nabī Muḥammad Ibn ʻAbd al-Nabī, as noted in the colophon of the manuscript. It preserves a comprehensive pharmacological compendium by Yūsuf ibn Ismaʻīl ibn al-Kutubī, also known as Al-Jam' al-Baḡdādī (The compendium of Baghdad). Ibn al-Kutubī was born in present-day Azerbaijan, but he spent the productive years of his life at the Abbasid court in present-day Iraq. His work is an abridgement of the famous Kitāb al-jāmiʻ li-mufradāt al-adwiya (The comprehensive book on simple remedies) composed in the 13th century by the Andalusian scientist ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad Ibn al-Bayṭār (died 1248). Ibn al-Kutubī added information on nutrition and general medicine, in order to include, as the title claims, everything a physician should know. The result is a well-organized medical treatment manual explaining the evolution of the healing art in the Middle Ages. The lengthy introduction that begins the treatise touches upon the history of pharmacology, the ways in which simple drugs can be combined, and how the patient can benefit from their use. The core of al-Kutubī's work is organized alphabetically: for every vegetable or mineral drug mentioned, he provides an extensive description of its properties and the preparation required to make it medicinally effective. The degree of detail in the work is particularly apparent in cases where it describes substances found in different varieties. In the section on clay, for example, the author mentions ten different types and their peculiar features. The section on pepper describes five varieties sourced in different locations and with distinct medical properties. Some of the remedies sound strange to the modern reader, for example recipes that prescribe the use of tongues of different kinds of animals, including lamb, ox, camel, sparrow, lion, and dog. The margins of the manuscript are annotated in many places; these marginalia appear to be in the same hand as the main text and can thus be attributed to the copyist himself. World Digital Library.

Names

  • Ibn al-Kutubī, Yūsuf ibn Ismaʻīl, -approximately 1353
  • Ibn ʻAbd al-Nabī, ʻAbd al-Nabī Muḥammad, scribe
  • Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, -1248
  • Manṣūrī, Maḥmūd al-Imām, former owner
  • Mansuri Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • 7 Shaʻbān 1093 [1 August 1682]

Headings

  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Materia medica--Early works to 1800
  • -  Medicine, Arab
  • -  Pharmacology--Early works to 1800

Notes

  • -  Colophon states that the ms. was completed on the seventh day of the eighth month 1093 by ʻAbd al-Nabī Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Nabī.
  • -  Envelope binding; old leather in poor condition; flap reinforced.
  • -  Fol. 1b-347 a.
  • -  Library of Congress. Arabic manuscripts, SM-8.
  • -  Ms.
  • -  Naskhī script; 27 lines in written are 16.5 x 7.5 cm.
  • -  Paper: yellowed cream; some leaves at the beginning of the work have been repaired; some pages show serious termite damage; red borders on fol. 1b and 2a only, remainder of text is not framed; written in black ink with names of plants, animals, and minerals in red ink; catchwords on versos.
  • -  Some vocalization of rubrics, remainder of text unvocalized.
  • -  Title from colophon.
  • -  Fihris al-makhṭūṭāt al-ʻArabīyah fi Maktabat al-Kūnghris, 12.
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Arabic.
  • -  Purchase of Mahmud al-Mansuri collection, 1945.
  • -  Explicit: ينمه اسم بالمغرب لنبتة ورقها يشبه ورق الهند بازغبه إلا أنها أصغر ولها ساق يخرج من وسطها قدر شبر وأكثر ولها زهر أصفر كأنها الخندريلى وهى مجربة فى إلصاق الجراحات طرية ويابسة درا فافهمه والله تعالى أعلم بالصواب واليه المرجع والمأب.
  • -  Incipit: الحمد لله الذي لا يكتنه حقيقة معرفة العلوم والأفهام، ولا يحيط بكنهه ذات العقول والأوهام، ابتدع الأجرام العلوية وزينها بأجمل صورة، واخترع الأجسام السفلية وكونها على أكمل صفة. جعل العناصر سببا ماديا للكاينات الفاسدات والكون والفساد شرطا ذاتيا لحصول المتولدات ...

Medium

  • 337 leaves, bound : paper ; 23 x 14.5 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • R128.3 .I127 1682

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2010404040

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Ibn Al-Kutubī, Yūsuf Ibn IsmaʻĪl, -Approximately 1353, ʻAbd Al-Nabī Muḥammad Ibn ʻAbd Al-Nabī, ʻAbd Allāh Ibn Aḥmad Ibn Al-Bayṭār, Maḥmūd Al-Imām Manṣūrī, and Mansuri Collection. Kitāb Mā lā yasaʻu al-ṭabīb jahluh. [7 Shaʻbān 1 August 1682, 1682] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010404040/.

APA citation style:

Ibn Al-Kutubī, Y. I. I., Ibn ʻAbd Al-Nabī, ʻ. A. M., Ibn Al-Bayṭār, ʻ. A. I. A., Manṣūrī, M. A. & Mansuri Collection. (1682) Kitāb Mā lā yasaʻu al-ṭabīb jahluh. [7 Shaʻbān 1 August 1682] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2010404040/.

MLA citation style:

Ibn Al-Kutubī, Yūsuf Ibn IsmaʻĪl, -Approximately 1353, et al. Kitāb Mā lā yasaʻu al-ṭabīb jahluh. [7 Shaʻbān 1 August 1682, 1682] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2010404040/>.