English: MU'AYYAS AL-DIN AL-'URDI'S (D. 1260 or 1266) RISALA FI KAYFIYYAT AL-ARSAD WA-MA YUHTAJU ILA 'ILMIHI WA-'AMALIHI MIN AL-TURUQ AL-MU'ADDIYA ILA MA'RIFAT 'AWDAT AL-KAWAKIB

IRAN, 15TH CENTURY

On astronomy and the observatory at Maragheh, Arabic manuscript on paper, 29ff. +2 with 22ll. of black naskh, with well-drawn diagrams in red, plus 6ff. from another early manuscript on astronomical and astrological problems, opening flyleaf with library inscriptions and seal impressions, later brown morocco binding with flap Folio 7½ x 5in. (18.8 x 12.5cm.)

This manuscript contains two texts. The more important first text is Mu'ayyas al-Din al-'Urdi's (d. 1260 or 1266) Risala fi kayfiyyat al-arsad wa-ma yuhtaju ila 'ilmihi wa-'amalihi min al-turuq al-mu'addiya ila ma'rifat 'awdat al-kawakib, in which he describes eleven instruments for astronomical observations built for the observatory in Maragheh where he worked since 1259-60 plus one of which he constructed in Damascus in AH 650 h for the ruler of Hims, al-Mansur Ibrahim (1239-45 AD). The text is known to be extant in five copies in Paris, Istanbul and Tehran. There exists a complete German translation by H. J. Seemann (1928-9) based on the manuscript in the BnF, Arabe 2544, an incomplete French translation by A. Jourdain (1810) and a Russian survey by G. Dj. Mamedbeyli (1961).

The diagrams compare closely with those in the Paris manuscript.

The second text is incomplete at the beginning and end. It is an extract from an elementary text on astronomical and astrological problems, written in a different hand from the preceding work.