Manuscript, on vellum, incomplete, in a single hand, of John Lydgate's and Benedict Burgh's Middle English verse translation of the twelfth-century Latin treatise Secretum Secretorum, itself a translation of the Kitab sirr al-asrar. In addition to this text, the volume also contains several prose pieces in Middle English and Latin, including one with illustrated diagrams and a Latin tract on the interpretation of dreams
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Several medical recipes added on blank leaves and portions of leaves in a sixteenth-century? cursive hand., Signature of John Bowen? in a seventeenth-century hand. Signature of Thomas Bowen in a seventeenth-century hand., Layout: various single-column., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: 15 illuminated borders; other decorated initials, some gilt., and Binding: disbound, but with some original sewing intact; modern case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Astronomy, Astronomy, Medieval, Education of princes, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, and Medicine, Medieval
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225 بوني، أحمد بن علي، -1225
Call Number:
Hartford Seminary Arabic MSS 93
Image Count:
700
Abstract:
Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif (also called "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá" to distinguish it from the author's two other smaller treatises: al-wusṭa "the middle one" and al-ṣughrá "the little one"), a treatise on magic, alchemy, astrology, devination, Islamic occultism, the name of God and the magical use of the Arabic alphabet by Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī (d. 1225), a famous sufi scholar from the city of Būnah (Bône) now ʻAnnābah (Annaba, Algeria), died in Cairo, Egypt. Name of copyist and place of copying are not mentioned; the date of copying is mentioned enigmatically in the 12th century H (18th century M).
Alternative Title:
Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá and شمس المعارف الكبرى
Description:
In Arabic., Incipit: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyidinā wa-Mawlānā Muḥammad wa-ṣaḥbihi wa-sallam. al-Ḥamdu lillāh alladhī aḥāṭa bi-kull shayʼ ʻilman wa-ʻallam al-insān mā lam yaʻlam wa-ashhadu an lā ilāh illā Allāh waḥdah lā sharīka lah wa-ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūl Allāh ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallam, shahida Allāh an lā ilāh illā huwa shahādat azal, fa-min nūr hādhihi al-shahādah ightaraf al-muṣṭafūn ʻilman, fa-ifham dhālika. Wa-al-tartīb al-abadī fī al-shahādatayn al-muttaṣilatayn bi-al-malāʼikah al-kirām wa-ulī al-ʻilm fa-hādhihi shahādat al-abad, fa-man fahima sirra hātayn al-shahādatayn shāhada al-malakūtayn ...", 20 x 29 cm; written surface: 14 x 22 cm, ca. 30 lines per page., Bound., In fair naskh script, on yellowish paper; keywords and markings in red; some notes and corrections on the margins; magic squares and illustrations; text within double red frames; catchwords., Includes table of contents at the beginning of the manuscript: "al-Faṣl al-awwal fī al-ḥurūf al-muʻjamah wa-mā yatarattabu fīhā min al-asrār wa-al-iḍmārāt. al-Faṣl al-thānī fī al-kasr wa-al-basṭ wa-tartīb al-aʻmāl min al-awqāt wa-al-sāʻāt. al-Faṣl al-thālith fī aḥkām manāzil al-qamar al-thamāniyah wa-ʻishrīn al-falakīyah ...", and Colophon: "... Wa-Allāh asʼalu an yulhima li-fahm mā ramaznāh wa-kashf mā satarnāh akh ṣadīq wa-khill ḥaqq [i.e. akhan ṣadīqan wa-khillan ḥaqqan]. Wa-fī hādhā al-qadr kifāyah li-man waffaqahu Allāh taʻālá wa-lā ḥawla wa-lā qūwata illā billāh al-ʻAlī al-ʻAẓīm wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyidinā Muḥammad wa-ṣaḥbihi ajmaʻīn wa-jamīʻ al-anbiyāʼ wa-al-mursalīn wa-al-ḥamdu lillāh Rabb al-ʻĀlamīn. al-Tārīkh: Fī niṣf awwal min khums thālith min thulth awwal min niṣf thānī min suds thālith min niṣf awwal min khums thānī min ʻushr awwal min qarn thānī ʻashar min hijrat khayr al-bashar ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallama taslīman kathīran. Tamma wa-kamula."
Subject (Name):
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Arabic alphabet, Astrology, Divination, God (Islam), Name, Islamic magic, Islamic occultism, and Magic
Speculum perspicuum uranicum, Almanack for the year of our redemption, 1687, Coelson, 1687. The second part of this almanack, and Second part of this almanack
Description:
BEIN 2013 1188: Armorial bookplate: Bryan Fausset. Inscriptions: Simon Hughes. Scant manuscript annotations on rear free endpaper. No. 4 of 12 titles bound together., Title page and calendar in red and black., The words "the death of our Saviour, ... was burned, 21 years." are bracketed together on title page., Signatures: [A]⁸ B-C⁸., and "Coelson, 1687. The second part of this almanack" has separate dated title page with "printed by Ralph Holt" in imprint; register is continuous.
Publisher:
Printed by A. Grover [and Ralph Holt] for the Company of Stationers
BEIN 2013 1188: Armorial bookplate: Bryan Fausset. Inscriptions: Simon Hughes. Scant manuscript annotations on rear free endpaper. No. 12 of 12 titles bound together., Title page and calendar in red and black., and Signatures: A-C⁸.
Publisher:
Printed by Tho. James for the Company of Stationers
Subject (Geographic):
England
Subject (Topic):
Almanacs, English, Astrology, Ephemerides, and Markets
Date of publication from ESTC., Verse begins: "This noble relation which I am to write,"., In four columns with the title above the first two; the columns are not separated by rules. Comma at end of first line of verse., Mounted on leaf 24. Copy trimmed., and Bound in three-quarters red morocco leather with marbled boards, with spine title stamped in gold: Old English ballads, woodcuts, vol. 3.
Publisher:
s.n.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Seduction, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Parent and child, and Fathers and daughters
Verse - "You women in city and country I pray". - In four columns with the title above the first two; the columns are separated by ornamental rules., In four columns with the title above the first two and imprint below the last two; the columns are separated by columns of type ornaments., Dated from the address; see David Stoker, "Another look at the Dicey-Marshall publications: 1736-1806", The Library, ser. 7, v. 15:2 (June 2014), 111-157., Title ends with a comma., Mounted on leaf 50. Copy trimmed., and Bound in three-quarters red morocco leather with marbled boards, with spine title stamped in gold: Old English ballads, woodcuts, vol. 3.
Publisher:
Printed and sold in Aldermary Church-yard, Bow-Lane, London
Subject (Topic):
Husband and wife, Pregnancy, Adultery, Domestics, Men, Sexual behovior, Women, Sexual behavior, Sex, Farmers, Astrology, and Physicians
Manuscript, on paper, in a single hand, of a collection of astrological information and a treatise on the signs of the zodiac, including lists of activities appropriate for each sign, and descriptions of the characteristics of those born under the influence of different planets
Description:
In Middle English., Tipped in: astrological chart, on paper, for the years 1646-1664., Layout: single columns of 17-25 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: some capitals and words rubricated., and Binding: nineteenth-century half calf over marbled boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, Astrology, and English prose literature
Collection of treatises on magic, astrology, alchemy and Sufism: 1. On the magical qualities of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, their numerical values and their categorization into fire, air, water and earth letters, in Ottoman Turkish (folios1a-2a). 2. Talisman (folio 2a), in Arabic. The copyist (Tawakkulī Muṣṭafá) claims to have seen this talisman in the year 1162 Hijrī (1748/1749) and copied it in Jumād Thānī, 1175 Hijrī (1761/1762). 3. Miftāḥ Kitāb Sāmūr Hindī (Key to the book of the Indian Sāmūr" (folios 2b-22a), by Darwīsh Fatʹḥ Allāh Rūmī (could not be identified), in Ottoman Turkish, an elaborate work on numerology with magic squares. The alleged author "Sāmūr Hindī" (or "Shaykh Sāmūr") could not be identified (probably a fictitious name). Copied in Jumād Awwal, 1188 Hijrī (July/August, 1774). Name of copyist and place of copying not mentioned. 4. Chronology (Silsilah "Chain") of some Sufi order in Ottoman Turkish (folio 22b). 5. Sketch of the zodiac with several magical astronomical tables "zāyirjahs" (folios 23a-26b). 6. Alchemy recipes (27a-29b) on how to convert base metals into gold, in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. Copied in Shaʻbān 1187 Hijrī (October/November 1773) by Tawakkulī Muṣṭafá. Place of copying not mentioned. 7. Second collection of alchemy recipes (folios 30b-33a). The author wrote at the beginning of these recipes that they were given to him by Sharīf Sayyidī Ḥasan of Diyār Bakr (Diyarbakır, Turkey) in the year 1172 Hijrī (September/October, 1758), at the rate of two words a month. The alleged Sharīf lived after that for fourteen years and died in Muḥarram 1185 Hijrī (April/May, 1771) before being able to finish the alchemy process. 8. Taswīdah (folio 33b), a short alchemy recipe copied on 22 Rajab, 1230 Hijrī (30 June, 1815) by ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad Luṭfī.
Description:
In Arabic and Ottoman Turkish., Title of the codex supplied by cataloger., Romanization supplied by cataloger., Incipit of the Talisman : "Aqsamtu ʻalaykum ayyuhā al-arwāḥ al-ʻulwīyah wa-al-suflīyah al-mustakhrajūn min taksīr hādhihi al-ḥurūf al-sharīfah al-muwakkalūn wa-al-ḥākimūn ʻalayhā, yā Fakhāʼīl, yā Khaḍāʼīl ...", Incipit of Miftāḥ Kitāb Sāmūr Hindī: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. al-Ḥamdu lillāh alladhī aẓhara dhawāt al-ʻālimīn bi-amrihi al-qadīm, wa-nawwara al-ʻārifīn bi-tilāwat asmāʼihi al-ʻaẓīm, wa-al-ṣalāh al-dāʼimah ʻalá muẓhir al-dhāt Nabīyih Muḥammad Dhī al-wajh al-karīm wa-ʻalá ālihi wa-awlādihi alladhīna uẓhirū min ʻālam al-rūḥ ilá ʻālam al-jism bi-al-faḍl al-ʻamīm ...", Secundo folio of Miftāḥ Kitāb Sāmūr Hindī: amīdh darkah bayn., Incipit of Alchemy recipes: "Mabqalah qarībah. Taʼkhudh ʻalá barakat Allāh, taʼkhudh min shaʻr ithnay ʻashar ūqiyah wa-min wa-min [repeated] al-ṣābūn [ṣābūn] al-ḥukamā qadr thalāthīn, yaʻnī thamāniyah wa-tisʻīn dirham, tusḥaq farādah thumma tusḥaq maʻa baʻḍ saḥqan balīghan ...", Secundo folio of Alchemy recipes: fī muddat laylah., Incipit of Second collection of alchemy recipes: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyidinā Muḥammad wa-ālihi wa-ṣaḥbihi wa-sallam. Talaqqaynā hādhihi [hādhā] al-ʻilm min Sharīf Sayyidī Ḥasan min Diyār Bakr fī sanat1172, ibtidāʼ kull shahr kalimatayn. ʻĀsha baʻda dhālika arbaʻat ʻashar sanah ḥattá kamulat asmāʼuhā ramzan. Wa-lam kamulat kulluhā, yaʻnī tarkībuhā. ʻAinda al-tarkīb tawaffā [tuwuffiya] fī Muḥarram sanat 1185.", Secundo folio of Second collection of alchemy recipes: ʻalá kānūn ʻalá nār., Incipit of Taswīdah: "Khudh ʻalá barakat Allāh taʻālá min al-kibrīt al-mistakkāwī ūqīyah wa-min al-zinjafr ūqīyah ...", 15 x 20.5 cm; written surfaces: vary ; lines per page vary., Binding: In brown cloth modern binding., In good naskh script in different hands, in black ink on white paper; headings, keywords and markings in red; catchwords., Title of Miftāḥ Kitāb Sāmūr Hindī from folio 2b., On folio 34a an ownership statement: "Ṣāḥibī wa-mālikī Nuʻmān Afandī Madanī al-Ḥanafī, khādim al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf. 1246 Hijrī (1830/1831)., Colophon of the Talisman: "Tammat. Naqaltuhu min risālah taḥrīran fī Jumāda Thānī sanat 1175, wa-raʼaytuhu fī sanat 1162, thumma naqaltuhu fī Jumād Thānī [signature] Tawakkulī Muṣṭafá.", Translation of the colophon of the Talisman: "It is completed. I copied it from a treatise in Jumād Thānī, 1175 [December 1761/January 1762], having seen it in 1162 [December 1748/January 1749] and copied it in Jumād Thānī [signiture], Tawakkulī Muṣṭafá.", Colophon of Miftāḥ Kitāb Sāmūr Hindī: Colophon missing. Ends with numerical calculations., Colophon of of Alchemy recipes: Colophon missing. Ends with: "... wa-in kāna yafḍulu fīhi shayʼ udmushu marratan ukhrah [ukhrá] ḥattá lā yafḍula fīhi min al-māʼ shayʼ wa-yaṣīr mithl al-isfīdāj dawwim minhā ʻalá 6 qamar yaṣīr ibrīzan kāmilan.", and Colophon of Second Alchemy recipes. Colophon missing. Ends with: "... wa-in lam yaghūṣ shammiʻhu bi-waznah min al-miftāḥ, shayʼ fa-shayʼ jarribhu, wa-in waqf awḍiʻ ʻalayh min al-miftāḥ waznah wa-qaṭṭirhu wa-rudda al-qāṭir ʻlayh thāniyan wa-thālithan, wa-ammā thālith marrah lam yaḥmil qābilat qizāz yaṭlīh raṣāṣ aw ṣīnī hindī, hādhā nuqṭat al-ḥāriqah ʻalá al-dhahab wa-al-fiḍḍah."
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Astrology, Magic, Magic squares, Numerology, Sufism, and Talismans
