Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

Secretum secretorum. Arabic.

[Sirr al-asrār] [manuscript].

[Mosul?, Iraq, between 1193 and 1211]

127 leaves : paper, col. ill. ; 190 x 127 (120 x 65) mm. bound to 190 x 140 mm.

Early copy of the long form of this popular treatise presented as a letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great on statecraft, astronomy, astrology, magic, and medicine. The ending of the manuscript is missing; the text breaks off during a discussion of magical alphabets.

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Paper, i + 127; 1-127, later foliation ink, upper left recto.

Layout: Written in 9 long lines.

Script: Written in naskh script, with headings in a larger naskh script and the basmalah in eastern cufic script (f. 1v); occasional marginal notes in a later hand.

Decoration: Illuminated name and titles of Nūr al-Dīn Arslān Shah (f. 1r); basmalah in blue ink outlined in red (f. 1v); open octagon in gold, red, and blue, with text running around the edge (f. 80r); geometric illustration in black, gold, and red (f. 108v); tables outlined in red ink with headings in red and green ink (f. 114v-117r); names of the planets in colored inks (f. 124r); significant words, phrases, and punctuation in red ink.

Binding: 15th-century blind-stamped morocco, lower cover with flap; repaired.

Origin: Probably written in Mosul, Iraq, between 1193 and 1211 (reign of owner named on f. 1r).

UPenn LJS 459.

Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Pennsylvania LJS 459