The Book on Alums and Salts of Pseudo-Rāzı̄: The Arabic and Hebrew Traditions

Gabriele Ferrario is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna. He works on the history of medieval sciences and on the transmission of scientific ideas across languages and cultures. His publications focus mainly on medieval Arabic, Hebrew, and Judaeo-Arabic alchemy. He held fellowships and post-docs at the Warburg Institute (London), the Chemical Heritage Foundation (now Science History Institute – Philadelphia), the Genizah Research Unit (Cambridge, UK), Clare Hall College (Cambridge, UK), and in the ERC project AlchemEast, in Bologna. Before moving to Bologna, he was a Visiting Assistant Research Professor in the History of Science Department at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore).

Acknowledgments SVII

Transliteration systems SIX

List of illustrations SXI

INTRODUCTION

§ 1. On Alums and Salts, a “classic of chemistry” S1

1.1. Preamble S1

1.2. Modern studies S3

§ 2. On Alums and Salts and al-Raz̄ı, a problematic attribution S6 ̄

§ 3. On Alums and Salts, the tradition of an Arabic alchemical handbook S11

3.1. A fluid title S11

3.2. Reconstructing the chemistry of On Alums and Salts S13

§ 4. The only surviving manuscript in Arabic: MS Sprenger 1908 S16

4.1. The frontispiece and al-Tug̣ ̇ra’̄ı̄ S17

4.2. Ms Sprenger 1908, a multiple-text alchemical manuscript S19

4.3. Alchemical authorities, books and places mentioned in the

Sprenger manuscript and in the Arabic On Alums and Salts S22

§ 5. The Hebrew tradition of On Alums and Salts S26

5.1. The Hebrew manuscript Orient. Oct. klein 514 of the

Berlin Staatsbibliothek S27

5.2. Evidence for reading practices in MS 514 S29

5.3. Drawings of apparatus as “visual annotations” in MS 514 S30

5.4. The place of On Alums and Salts in MS 514 S35

5.5. The Hebrew translation of On Alums and Salts S37

5.6. The language of the Hebrew On Alums and Salts S39

5.7. Alchemical authorities and sources in the Hebrew

On Alums and Salts S42

EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS

Criteria of edition and translation S49

MS Sprenger 1908, Berlin Staatsbibliothek (fols. 19 recto-30 verso) S52

MS Orient. Oct. 514, Berlin Staatsbibliothek (fols. 19 verso-36 recto) S100

APPENDICES

Appendix 1:

Table of contents of MS Sprenger 1908, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin –

Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung S166

Appendix 2:

Table of contents of the Hebrew MS Orient. Oct. 514, Staatsbibliothek zu

Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung S168

Appendix 3:

Comparative table of contents of the different versions of the

On Alums and Salts S173

Appendix 4:

Latin manuscripts of On Alums and Salts S177

Appendix 5:

Lexicon of alchemical terminology in the Arabic and Hebrew

On Alums and Salts S181

BIBLIOGRAPHY S199

INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND TITLES OF WORKS S205