Early Nineteenth-Century Persian Medical Manuscript [WITH RECIPES FOR HERBAL REMEDIES]
1833. Contemporary morocco. Two parts, octavo (24.2 by 14.3 cm). 280 unnumbered leaves. Manuscript on polished cream paper. Persian text recto and verso in black and red ink; triple-ruled inner text borders (15.4 by 7.9 cm) in red and blue, single-ruled outer border (21.7 by 11.3 cm) in blue. The second part of the manuscript opens with an illuminated full-page double suite composition (Arab. unwan) in polychrome and gilt; marginal illumination appears on two other leaves in this section. Contemporary paneled tan morocco (lightly rubbed at extremities), elaborately tooled in blind. Some marginal annotations in black ink at several early leaves. Intermittent mild smudges (mostly marginal); bottom corner of first leaf excised, resulting in loss of several words. Very good.
Compendium of medical tracts used by prominent physicians of the Muslim world, written in superb Persian calligraphy by 'Ali Muhammad in A.H. 1249 (= 1833). Much of the work deals with herbal remedies used by famous Persian physicians, including Avicenna (980-1037). A treatise on anatomy is included, along with commentaries, penned between the two sets of borders, which discuss various matters, including diagnosis from urine; hygienic practices drawn from the treatises of famous physicians; prescriptions and recipes derived from the book Tuhfat al-mu'minin, a work on materia medica by Muhammad Muʼmin Husayni (d.1698) dedicated to the Safavid Shāh Sulaymān. Husayni was considered the greatest herbalist of the Mazandaran region of Persia. Four pages in the second part present various alphabets in black ink; comments and correspondences with the Arabic/Persian alphabet are noted in red ink.
Provenance: Stamps of "Mohd. Halim Salimi Library Kandahar-Afghanistan" in blue ink at opening and closing leaves. In the late 1950s Mohammed Halim Salimi of Kandahar worked in an administrative capacity for the International Cooperation Administration, a United States government agency and precursor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). A smaller elliptical owner's stamp in red with text beneath at blank recto of the opening leaf. Very good. Item #55769
Price: $12,500.00