Descrizione

8vo (154 x 208 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 267 ff. (final 6 leaves are supplied in a 19th century hand). Naskh script in black and red, with many numerical charts and calculations in text and margins. Rebacked contemporary red morocco, ruled and stamped in blind. Commentary on a work by the Egyptian mathematician Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ha'im (ca. 1352-1412), the "Murshidat al-talib ila asna al-matalib fi ilm al-hisab" ("A student's guide to the summit of learning on the science of mathematics"). Al-Ha'im is famous for his contributions to mathematics, especially in the field of early algebra. The author of the commentary, Baha al-Din Muhammad al-Shinshawri (d. 1590), finished this work in 1587. The present copy was completed by the scribes Abd al-Rahman bin Wali Allah and Shihab al-Din al-Wiqay al-Shinway al-Shafi' on Friday, the 18th of Rabi' al-Thani 1023 AH at Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque in Ottoman Egypt. - The text incorporates several small mathematical charts as well as marginal calculations, which provide a key insight into the development of mathematical notation and visual organization in the early 17th century. - Covers rebacked and spine replaced, along with final six leaves which were probably completed in western Asia in the 19th century. Several small waqf stamps. A few paper repairs and marginal wormholes, otherwise well-preserved. - Cf. GAL II, 125.