The earliest known manuscript: sexual medicine from 17th century Morocco

Dari, Ahmed ibn Saleh ibn Ibrahim al-. Kitab al-darar al-mahmulat wa al-hadiat al-maqbulat [...].

€ 45,000.00

The earliest known copy of this Moroccan medical manuscript on the science of sex. Predating the other known extant copy by two years (cf. Brockelmann), this was likely copied in the author's lifetime. Its author, Ahmed ibn Saleh al-Dari, was a physician from North Africa who lived and wrote in the 17th century. His work covers not only sexual matters but a range of medicine, split into four parts. It is the final section which addresses sexual intercourse, and goes into particular detail on female physiology and medicine. Preceding this is a general medical review in three parts: the first covers the use of cupping, usually for the sake of drawing blood or disease from the body. The second covers the benefits of certain diets, with prescriptions for certain foods and meats, and the third discusses drinks, and especially the medicinal benefits of water and fruit juice.

Only one comparable manuscript can be found in institutions, dated 21 years after the present copy and currently held in the National Library of Morocco. The scarcity of this work, and its focus on sexual medicine, mark it as an important survival, and an important piece of Arab medical history.