AL-QAMUS AL-MUHIT WA’L QABAS AL-WASIT: ARABIC DICTIONARY
MAJD AL-DIN ABU’L-TAHIR MUHAMMAD IBN YA’QUB IBN MUHAMMAD AL-SHIRAZI AL-FIRUZABADI (D. 817 AH / 1415 AD)
Possibly Iran, 16th century

Arabic manuscript on lined paper. Composed of 278 leaves. Incomplete at the end. 31 lines to the page written in naskh script. At the beginning of the text, the fadl (lemmas) are marked in red, later on in the manuscript, they turn darker and bolder. The script also becomes narrower and smaller as the book unfolds. Catchwords in the margins. Two dated inscriptions on the manuscript, 1068 AH (1657 AD) at the beginning and 951 AH (1544-45 AD) on the flyleaf, providing a terminus ante quem in the attribution of the manuscript. The first page is fitted with ownership inscriptions of ibn Muhammad Husain al-Tuni Sultan Mohammad and dated 1068 AH (1657 AD), and al-Shaykh Kazem ibn al-Shaykh Shams al-Din al-Karbala’i. Ottoman brown reddish leather binding at the front, not matching, with the cover of the back which is brown leather decorated in the Ottoman style with central medallion.

31cm x 21cm (folio)

For related examples on the subject: Christie’s London, Arts of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 23 October 2007, lot 113; Sotheby’s London, Arts of the Islamic Worlds, 24 April 2013, lot 30.

Condition: First leaf is detached. The edges are crinkled and there is extensive water damage. The first three sections are detached from the spine. The last three sections from the back of the manuscript are detached. Several areas and rubbed off and stained.

Provenance: From the Georges Antaki Collection