Tunisia, Tunis, al-Maktaba al-Waṭaniyya (Bibliothèque Nationale), 11821

Averroes' Long Commentary on De Caelo
Physical Description
  • Material: Paper
  • Pages: 117 leaves
  • Leaves Format: not available
  • Dimensions: 205 x 280 mm
Detailed Description
  • Foliation:
    Old foliation from the time when the copy was presented to al-Madrasa al-Aḥmadiyya
  • Collation:
    Leaves in disorder
    Two different (none original) bindings are evident: In a recent restoration, the manuscript was rebound in the old leather binding. The condition of its binding when it went to al-Madrasa al-Aḥmadiyya can be reconstructed according to the folio numbering which can be traced to this time: the text started with the fragment of Book II ( 1v- 47v ) and went on with the still present parts of Book I ( 48r- 75v ; 77r- 96v ; 97r- 117r ); therefore the appearance of a complete copy was pretended.
  • Condition Description:
    Worm-eaten and frayed
    Two leaves after f. 75 (old foliation) and one leaf after f. 96 (old foliation) are lost
  • Decoration:
    Brown ink Titles are given in a greater script
  • Layout:
    Text is set in one column

    25 lines to the page
  • Hand Description:
    One hand, neat maghribī script
    Body of text: 145 x 220 mm
  • Acquisition:
    The volume was endowed by waqf (ḥabūs) to the Aḥmadiyya library at the Great Mosque (al-Jāmiʿ al Aʿẓam) of Tunis in 1851/2 (1268 h.) - waqf record on f. 1r (old foliation)
History
  • Origin Date: not later than the 14th century
  • Origin Place: not available
Content
Averroes 1v - 117r
  • Note:
    This is the unique manuscript whith the original Arabic version of the treatise. Only a third of the Arabic text, however, has been preserved (numbers in square brackets refer to the Latin 1550 edition): I, 61 - 94 [95] (old ff. 48r - 75v; I, 96 [97] - 118 [119] (old ff. 97r - 117r; I, 119 [120] - 140 [141] (old ff. 97r - 117r; II, 1 - 42 (old ff. 1v - 47v) - for more details see Endress ( 1994 - Introduction), pp. 4 - 12.