Arabic manuscript of the Sphaerics, with geometric astronomical diagrams
Kitab al-ukar [Sphaerics].
8vo (116 x 180 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 52 pp. on 28 ff. of very fine polished paper (8 ff. on pink paper), complete. Meticulous naskh in black ink with occasional red; numerous diagrams in red in the margins and occasionally within the text itself. Bound with an astronomical treatise in Persian. 50 pp. Black ink with occasional red; several diagrams in red throughout the text. Altogether 59 ff. 18th century red morocco, ruled in gilt and stamped in blind, modern rebacking.
€ 35.000,00
A 16th century Arabic manuscript of the "Sphaerics" by the Greek astronomer and mathematician Theodosius of Bithynia (ca. 169-100 BCE). Unknown in the West during the Middle Ages, the "Sphaerics" proved instrumental in the restoration of Euclidean geometry to Western civilization when the book was brought back from the Islamic world during the crusades and translated from Arabic into Latin.
The text is decorated throughout with geometric diagrams drawn in red ink+6 with a delicate and exacting hand. Each is labelled, and many are quite intricately detailed, showing the geometric qualities of the sphere and progress to astronomical diagrams exploring orbits and planetary movement. This present manuscript was copied by Muhammad Taqi bin Aqa Jalal al-Kilani, dated to Sha'ban 1000 H.
Bound with another astronomical treatise, in Persian, written on somewhat coarser paper stock. Covers worn and rebacked, some dampstaining, otherwise very well preserved. A fine piece in the history of mathematics.
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