Collection ID: 0021 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Compilation of texts on logic and astrology

Authors

• Caspi, Joseph, ca. 1280-ca. 1340 (http://viaf.org/viaf/89151898)
• Ibn Danan, Shemuel ben Sa'adyah

Other related names

• Ibn Tibon, Mosheh, active 13th century, translator (http://viaf.org/viaf/64172358)
• Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/9985420)

Call number

Hebrew MS 30
(Manchester, United Kingdom, University of Manchester, University of Manchester Library, Hebrew Manuscripts)

Publisher

University of Manchester Library

Language

Hebrew

Origin

Place

Fez

Summary

Codex in Sephardi script containing a compilation of texts on logic and astronomy, written and partly authored by Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan in Fez in 1576.

Notes

• Marginal notes 24b-25b, 26b, 27b-28a, 29b-31a, 33a-b, 34b-36b, 47a, 49a, 75b, 95b in different hands. Occasional interlinear notes. Paper with visible chainlines and laid lines.
   

Watermark

Grapes watermark on f.89.

Extent

103 ff. (i+103+i); 270 x 200 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals at the top outer corner of side a of each folio.

Support

Paper

Binding

Brown leather binding with cardboard boards and handwritten in ink on spine רמבם / Maimoni / Dis / Logica / Hebraicè / et / Arabicè / Etc. / MS / פאס / 5336 = 1576.

Layout

Long line with 17 written lines.

Decoration

Many initial words are executed in red, yellow or green ink. Especially, the last twenty pages have many initial words that contrast in colour, providing a colourful whole.

Script

Sephardi cursive script, doubled in size for titles and initial words. Possibly several hands (see especially folios 1a-2a, 8a).

Provenance

• Acquired by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall, and later bequeathed to the John Rylands Library.
   

Subjects topical

• Astronomy--Early works to 1800
• Jewish philosophy--Early works to 1800
• Philosophy--Early works to 1800
• Jews--Folklore
• Astrology--Early works to 1800
• Palmistry
• Magic
• Medicine--Early works to 1800

Keywords

• 16th century
• Jewish
• Maghreb
• Sephardi
• Annotated
• Colophon
• Watermark
• Astronomy
• Astrology
• Magic
• Philosophy
• Science -- Medicine
• Fortune-telling
• Paper

Licenses

• Text

  Images are ©2017 The University of Manchester Library Special Collections 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

• Text

  Metadata is ©2017 The University of Manchester Library Special Collections 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

Table of contents

• 1a — Hebrew MS 30/1 [ff.1a-2a]. Astronomical text. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. Fragmentary text on solar and lunar eclipses (לקות) and related geometrical and astronomical phenomena. The title in green is hard to decipher and partially visible only, as follows: [...] והשמשי ו[...]ן מולד אמיתי הירחי.
• 3a — Hebrew MS 30/2 [ff.3a-5a]. Maqala fi sina'at al-mantiq. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. Fragment (Chapters 6-7) only. For Moses ibn Tibbon's Hebrew translation of the work, entitled Millot ha-higgayon (מלות ההגיון, Treatise on Logic) see the next item in this manuscript. Herbert A. Davidson (in Moses Maimonides: The Man and his Works, OUP 2005) considers the ascription of the work to Maimonides, 1135-1204, as spurious. Language: Judeo-Arabic.
• 8a — Hebrew MS 30/3 [f.8a]. Text on logic. Fragment of 13 lines only on three types of syllogism (הקש). Sefer Ibn Kaspi and Be'ur ha-temunah ha-rishonah mentioned on respectively lines 1 and 2. Text cut off in outer margin. Written by a different hand to that of Samuel ibn Danan.
• 9a — Hebrew MS 30/4 [ff.9a-24b]. Millot ha-Higgayon, or Treatise on Logic. Translator: Moses ibn Tibbon, active 13th century. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. Herbert A. Davidson (in Moses Maimonides: The Man and his Works, OUP 2005) considers the ascription of the work to Maimonides, 1135-1204, as spurious.
• 24b — Colophon in Hebrew ending with an ornamental signature of the scribe.
• 25a — Hebrew MS 30/5 [ff.25a-81b]. Tseror ha-Kesef, by Joseph Kaspi, ca. 1280-ca. 1340. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. This compendium in the field of logic condenses existing works on Aristotelian logic under sub-headings Porphyry's Isagoge, Sefer ha-Maʼamarot (ספר המאמרות), Sefer ha-Melitsah (ספר המליצה), Sefer ha-Heqqesh (ספר ההקש), Sefer ha-Mofet (ספר המופת), and so forth. Unsurprisingly therefore, the work carries in some manuscripts the secondary title Qitsur sifre ha-higgayon le-Aristo (קצור ספרי ההגיון לאריסטו) / Abridgment of books on Aristotle's logic. Kaspi relies heavily on Ibn Rushd, not least on the latter's Middle Commentary.; incipit: אמר אבן כספי כי ראיתי קוצר ידיעת האנשים במושכלות
• 81b — Colophon followed by an ornamental signature of the scribe.
• 82a — Hebrew MS 30/6 [ff.82a-98a]. Perush Millot ha-Higgayon la-Rambam, or Commentary on Maimonides' Treatise on Logic. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. The authorship of this treatise is insecure. It cannot be ascribed to Mordechai Comtino (15th cent.), who wrote a treatise with the same title. Perhaps the commentary was composed by the primary scribe of the manuscript, Samuel ibn Danan, in which case it would be an autograph version of his commentary. The text has been executed particularly colourfully.
• 98a — Colophon in Hebrew ending with an ornamental signature of the scribe.
• 98b — Hebrew MS 30/7 [ff.98b-102b]. Sha'ar ha-Shirtutin, or Chapter on Lines [on the Palm of the Hand]. Scribe: Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan. 98b-102b comprise several magical fragmentary texts. Strictly speaking, the title Sha'ar ha-shirtutin only seems to relate to folios 98b-100a. Afterwards the following sub-titles are found: Yedi'at ha-shirtut (Knowledge of Lineation, f.100a) and Inyan aher bi-yedi'at ha-shirtut (Knowledge of Lineation – Another Interpretation, f.101a). The texts on folios 98b-100a and 102a-102b concentrate on what the features of someone's fingers can say about their fortune in life. The text in the middle deals with fortune telling on the basis of reading the palm of the hand.
• 103a — Hebrew MS 30/8 [f.103a]. Astrological text, by Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan [also scribe]. On the Hebrew and Arabic terminology for the seven planets (כוכבי On the Hebrew and Arabic terminology for the seven planets (לכת כוכבי) and the twelve zodiacal signs. Ibn Danan reports that he found the Arabic terms in an old book. He also refers to one of his teachers as a source of information.
• 103b — Hebrew MS 30/9 [f.103b]. Texts on medicine and logic, by Samuel ben Sa'adiah ibn Danan [also scribe]. Two very short fragments. The first, entitled ן' סינה חשבון ?לחולים ?שתקן , deals very briefly with a simple calculation, the outcome of which is indicative of the expected outcome of a disease. Ibn Danan claims to know from experience that Ibn Sina's method works ( ן' סינה בדוק). In the second he returns one last time to the field of logic by listing the Hebrew and Arabic terminology for the ten categories.
• 103b — Colophon in Hebrew ending with an ornamental signature of the scribe.

Decorations

• 1a — Pen-and-ink geometrical drawing consiting of two partially overlapping circles to explain aspects of the lunar and solar movements.
• 1b — Pen-and-ink drawing with a simplified geometrical representation of the geo-centric model of the solar system.
• 26a — Pen-and-ink tree-like structure: vertical line with words in circles right, left and in the centre, reflecting the hierarchical structure of forms of life with contrasting concepts.
• 98a — Pen-and-ink squares, dots and lines.
• Inside back cover — Bookplate of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana.