Item Summary

First two parts of a dictionary in four parts explaining unusual words mentioned in the Qurʼān and traditions, from al-hamzah maʻa al-bāʼ to rāʼ ḥāʼ (fol. 1a-225b) and from rāʼ khāʼ to the letter ʻayn (fol. 226a-450b).

Descriptive Information

Title
مجمع بحار الانوار في غرائب التنزيل ولطائف الاخبار
Transliterated Title
Majmaʻ biḥār al-anwār fī gharāʼib al-tanzīl wa-laṭāʼif al-akhbār.
Call Number
Oversize Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 733Hq
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dcfq9785271
Publisher
Patan [India], 11 Ramaḍān 976 [March 9, 1569]
Language
Arabic
Date Created
1569
Format
Manuscript
Extent
454 leaves : paper ; 324 x 212 (254 x 135) mm. bound to 330 x 228 mm.
Provenance
Acquired from Brill, Leyden, 1900, from the books of Amīn ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥulwānī al-Madanī al-Ḥanafī (Medina).
Source Acquisition
Gift ; Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; 1942.
References
Hitti, P. Garrett coll., 1406
Brockelmann, C. GAL, SII, 602/2
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Notes
Ms. codex.
Title from colophon of part 2 (al-safar al-thānī, fol. 451a).
Entries in black in the margin by the same hand. No. "24" and "255" in Western numerals on the upper cover pastedown and endpaper. Inscription on modern spine label: "jild-i awwal [...]".
Collation: Paper ; fol. a (blue endpaper) + v (endpapers) + 454 (fol. 451b-453b, blank) + i (endpaper) + a (blue endpaper) ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil using Western numerals.
Layout: 29 long lines per page ; ruled.
Description: Written in two scripts: fol. 1a-142b are written in medium small generic script with elements of taʻlīq ; fol. 143a-451a are written in thick shikastah nastaʻlīq ; rubricated ; Indian paper (flax).
Origin: Copied on 11 Ramaḍān 976 in Patan (colophon part 2, fol. 451a).
The date mentioned at the end of the text might be the date when the text was completed by the author, and not the date of copy (see lithograph Lahore, 1314 [1897]). P. Hitti suggests that this might be an autograph.
Explicit: بالبيان الذي هو التعمق في المنطق واظهار التقدم علي الناس مبالغة لذم البيان وان هذه النقيصة ليست بمضرة مثل ذلك البيان
Incipit: الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كن لنهتدى لولا ان هدانا الله لقد جاءت رسل ربنا بالحق ... اما بعد فان علم الحديث لا يخفى اثاره
Binding Note
Later type III (without flap) binding in brown leather over paper pasteboard with four sewing stations. Gold-stamped decoration on the spine. Blue pastedown and endpaper. Multi-colored endbands.

Discovery Information

Subject
Qurʼan—Dictionaries—Early works to 1800
Hadith—Dictionaries—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Arabic—New Jersey—Princeton

Physical Characteristics

File Count
938

Institutional Information

Collection
Princeton’s Holdings of the al-Madani Library
Manuscripts of the Islamic World
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/af833d0f-b061-45ab-b291-0443effee152/manifest