Collection ID: 0001 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Sirr al-asrār.
سر الاسرار

Other related names

• Aristotle, attributed name
• Nūr al-Dīn Arslān Shah, former owner
  نور الدين ارسلان شاه،
• Schoenberg, Lawrence J, former owner

Call number

LJS 459
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9958033443503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/802371094
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/5803344

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

Arabic

Origin

Date

between 1193 and 1211

Place

Mosul?, Iraq

Summary

Early copy of the long form of this popular treatise presented as a letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great on statecraft, astronomy, astrology, magic, and medicine. The ending of the manuscript is missing; the text breaks off during a discussion of magical alphabets.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from introduction (f. 1v).
   

Extent

127 leaves : 190 x 127 (120 x 65) mm. bound to 190 x 140 mm

Foliation

Paper, i + 127; 1-127, later foliation ink, upper left recto.

Support

Paper

Binding

15th-century blind-stamped morocco with flap (Type II), different but coordinating stamps on each board and flap; repaired.

Layout

Written in 9 long lines.

Decoration

Illuminated name and titles of Nūr al-Dīn Arslān Shah (f. 1r); bismillāh in blue ink outlined in red (f. 1v); open octagon in gold, red, and blue, with text running around the edge (f. 80r); geometric illustration in black, gold, and red (f. 108v); tables outlined in red ink with headings in red and green ink (f. 114v-117r); names of the planets in colored inks (f. 124r); significant words, phrases, and punctuation in red ink.

Script

Written in naskh script, with some headings in a larger naskh and some in thuluth; opening bismillāh in Early Abbasid style script (f. 1v); occasional marginal notes in a later hand.

Provenance

• Formerly owned by Nūr al-Dīn Arslān Shah, Turkmen ruler of Mosul, 1193-1211 (illuminated name, f. 1r).
   
• Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd., Islamic Calligraphy catalog (2003), no. 25, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
   
• Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.
   
• Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2016.
   

Subjects topical

• Education of princes--Early works to 1800
• Kings and rulers--Duties--Early works to 1800
• Political ethics--Early works to 1800
• Astronomy--Early works to 1800
• Islamic magic--Early works to 1800

Genres

• Codices
• Illuminations
• Tables (documents)
• Treatises
• Manuscripts, Arabic--12th century
• Manuscripts, Arabic--13th century
• Manuscripts, Medieval

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts LJS 459: Sirr al-asrār. are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is © and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Decorations

• fol. 1r — Illuminated ownership inscription, f. 1r
• fol. 1v — Decorated basmalah, f. 1v
• fol. 7r — Illuminated text, f. 7r
• fol. 80r — Illuminated drawing, Octagon, f. 80r
• fol. 108v — Illuminated drawing, f. 108v
• fol. 114v — Table, f. 114v
• fol. 115r — Table, f. 115r
• fol. 115v — Table, f. 115v
• fol. 116r — Table, f. 116r
• fol. 116v — Table, f. 116v
• fol. 117r — Table, f. 117r
• fol. 124r — Illuminated text, f. 124r