Item Summary

A thesaurus of Arabic words. It contains 29 verses of poetry, after the letters of the alphabet, explained word by word, giving the synonyms and antonyms of each. There are also eight chapters at the beginning and four at the end of synonymous and similar words.

Descriptive Information

Title
کتاب الف با.
Transliterated Title
Kitāb Alif bāʼ.
Call Number
Oversize Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 139Hq
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dc8w32rj50f
Publisher
15 Rabīʻ al-Akhir 1113 [September 19, 1701]
Language
Arabic
Date Created
1701
Format
Manuscript
Extent
531 leaves : paper ; 283 x 160 (200 x 96) mm bound to 282 x 165 mm.
Provenance
Acquired from Brill, Leyden, 1900.
Source Acquisition
Gift ; Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; 1942.
References
Hitti, P. Garrett Coll., 203.
Ḥājjī Khalīfah, Kashf al-ẓunūn (1835-58), I, pp. 405/6.
Ahlwardt, Verzeichnis der arabischen Handschriften, 6965.
Catalogus codicum arabicorum Bibliothecae Academiae Lugduno-Batavae, 474.
Bibliothecae Bodleianae codicum MSS orientalium, I, 465.
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Notes
Ms. codex.
Title from preface (fol. 2a).
Marginal notes. Four verses of poetry by al-Shāfiʻī [767-820 M] and another verse said to have been a part of the inscription on the seal of Kisra [Khusraw], probably Khusraw Nūshirwān [531-578 M], with obscured ownership signatures (fol. 1a).
Collation: Paper ; fol. ii + 531 + iii ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil using Western numerals.
Layout: 33 lines per page in one or two columns ; frame-ruled in red.
Description: Rubricated ; some pages very lightly tinted ; watermarks (crown with grapes; three hats; countermark initials "PA" with trefoil; three circles containing a cross, roman-alphabet letters "CO" and "3") ; MS in very good condition.
Decoration: Elaborate illuminated headpiece of blue, red, black and gold. Opening spread frame-ruled in gold (fol. 1b-2a).
Origin: According to colophon copy completed 15 Rabīʻ al-Akhir 1113 (fol. 531b).
Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وسلم. قال الشيخ الفقيه المحدث الزاهد الحاج ابو الحجاج ... حمد لله تعالى نفسه قبل ان يخلق جنه وانسه ... اما بعد دام لنا ولكم السعد فانى عزمت بعد استخارة ذى الطول ...
Colophon: وکان الفراغ من کتابة هذا الکتاب الرفيع الجناب البديع المثال المنيع المنال في خامس عشر شهر ربيع الآخر سنة ثلاثة عشر بعد الماية والالف من هجرة من له العز والشرف محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم م
Binding Note
Later type II (with flap) binding in red leather. Blind-stamped mandorla with pendants and wide blind-stamped and blind-tooled border on covers. Similar decoration on flap and flap fore-edge. Gold-sprinkled orange paper pastedowns. Multi-colored endbands.

Discovery Information

Subject
Arabic language—Synonyms and antonyms—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Arabic—New Jersey—Princeton
headpieces (layout features)
illuminated manuscripts
Blind tooled bindings
Headbands
Sprinkled papers
Watermarks

Physical Characteristics

File Count
1086

Institutional Information

Collection
Manuscripts of the Islamic World
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/b6e1fd36-a899-4d52-b126-ddd49eeeb985/manifest