On astronomy and the planetary motions
Al-Tuhfat al-Shahiyya fi'l Hay'ah [The Gift to the Shah on Astronomy].
8vo (110 x 184 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished oriental paper. 314 leaves. 19 lines of black naskh script within gilt, black, and blue rules, important words and titles picked out in red. With a number of very fine astronomical diagrams; first leaf has pretty gilt and polychrome 'unwan headpiece. Some marginal glosses throughout. Bound in 18th century light brown morocco with blind-tooled borders.
€ 65,000.00
An early, well-illustrated copy of the "Gift to the Shah on Astronomy", by Qutb al-Din Mahmud b. Mas'ud b. Muslih Al-Shirazi (1236-1311), on astronomy and the planetary motions. Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi completed this work in 1285 in Sivas and dedicated it to Taj al-Din Mu'tazz bin Tahir, the vizier of Amir-Shah Muhammad bin al-Sadr al-Sa'id (cf. IRCICA, p. 668). The colophon states that this manuscript was copied by the scribe Muhammad 'Ali ibn Mahmud al-Tabrizi, and is dated Du-l-Hijja 991 AH (December 1583 or January 1584).
Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi was a prominent astronomer who worked under Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in the Maragha Observatory. Expanding on his teacher's work, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, who is considered al-Tusi's best student, improved the calculations of the movements of the planets, particularly those of Mercury. He was active at the courts of Ghazan Khan (1295-1304) and Öljaitü (1304-17). Having been driven away by a jealous al-Tusi, al-Shirazi turned to Turkey and then to Iran, where he founded a new astronomical observatory in Tabriz. Al-Shirazi's works on physics are known for his detailed explanation of the rainbow.
Some waterstaining throughout; a few leaves show early repairs to marginal worming or remarginings (mainly at the beginning and end of the volume). Old ink notes to pastedowns. Provenance: Christie's, London, October 2017, lot 102.
Cf. IRCICA, Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (Istanbul, 2003), p. 668.