Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

Avicenna, 980-1037.

[Sefer ha-Ḳanon] ... [etc.] [manuscript].

Qānūn fī al-ṭibb. Hebrew

[Yemen, ca. 1400-1525]

147 leaves : paper ; 210 x 153 (142 x 100) mm. bound to 220 x 160 mm.

Hebrew translation of Avicenna's medical encyclopedia; its division into 4 books is customary for Hebrew translations, but it also has unusual additional sections on drugs, the liver and intestines, and heart diseases. Short medical works in Judeo-Arabic precede Avicenna's work, and a Judeo-Arabic commentary on Galen follows it; these were written by Saʻīd Danūkh, who also wrote marginal notes alongside the Avicenna.

Ms. codex.

Title for manuscript supplied by cataloger from title for predominant work.

Collation: Paper, i + 147 + i; 1⁴ 2-5⁸ 6⁶ 7-15⁸ 16⁴ 17-19⁸ 20⁸(-3); [1-294], modern pagination in pencil, usually lower center.

Layout: Predominant work written in 27 long lines (p. 19-234); Judeo-Arabic works written in 29-32 long lines.

Script: Predominant work written in 15th-century Yemeni semi-cursive Hebrew script with rubrics in square script (p. 19-234); Judeo-Arabic works written in a second 15th- or early 16th-century Yemeni semi-cursive Hebrew script in the hand of Saʻīd Danookh, with marginal notes by other hands as well.

Binding: Contemporary (15th-century) or very early morocco, blind-stamped, over pasteboards; remnants of 2 pairs of leather loops (lower cover) and toggles (upper cover).

Origin: Written in Yemen in the 15th century, with additional works and glosses added in the 15th or early 16th century.

UPenn LJS 299.

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania LJS 299