Abstract: This map from Ptolemy’s Geographia was published in 1578 and reprinted on many occasions between 1584 and 1704. It is much more finely engraved than maps in previous Ptolemy editions. The map mentions several places in present-day Qatar (Abucei, Leaniti, Themi, Asateni, and Aegei). Names added to this edition of the map include Mesmites Sinus, Idicar, and a second Idicar, located in present-day Kuwait. This name is similar to the island of “Ichara” found near Magorum Sinus. Contemporary research has confirmed that Kharj is the island known to the ancients as “Icara.” One of the major peninsulas shown on the map is named “Chersonesi Extrema,” near Catara. Modern scholarship has identified Chersonesos as Ras Rakn in present-day Qatar. Ichtyophagorium Sinus is the gulf inhabited by the people identified in ancient histories as the “Fish Eaters.” Claudius Ptolemaeus, known in English as Ptolemy, was an ancient mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and astrologer who was born sometime after 83 A.D., most likely in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou in Roman Egypt. He lived in Egypt and died in Alexandria around the year 168.Physical description: 1 map : copperplate engraving, color ; 31 x 46 centimeters
Abstract: Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (also known by Latinized versions of his name, Rhazes or Rasis, 865–925 AD) was a Persian polymath, physician, and philosopher. He was born in Rayy, south of present-day Tehran, Iran. After studying philosophy, at around the age of 30 he began studying medicine under the supervision of Abu Al-Hassan al-Tabari. He became the head of a Rayy hospital and later headed a hospital in Baghdad. Al-Razi was known in the fields of medicine and chemistry, which he combined to prescribe medications for numerous ailments. The author of 200 books and commentaries in various fields of knowledge, al-Razi was the first to use surgical threads and wrote an important treatise on smallpox and measles. Al-Razi’s Kitab al-Mansouri (Book of medicine dedicated to Mansur), a short, general textbook on medicine in ten chapters, was translated into Latin and became one of the most widely read medieval medical manuals in Europe. The ninth chapter, on therapeutics, frequently circulated by itself under the title Liber nonus ad Almansorem (Chapter nine of the book of medicine dedicated to Mansur). Numerous editions of the book were printed in Renaissance Europe, with commentaries by prominent physicians of the day. This 1483 edition was printed in Venice by Bernardus Stagninus (flourished circa 1483–1536). It includes a commentary by Sillanus de Nigris and an essay by Petrus de Tussignano (Pietro da Tossignano), eminent physicians who were active around 1400.Physical description: 280 items
Abstract: Yúhānnā Ibn Serapion was a ninth-century Nestorian physician known in the West as Serapion. He wrote two medical compendia (al-kunnāsh, in Arabic) in his native language of Syriac, the first in seven sections (al-kunnāsh al-ṣaghīr) and the second in 12 sections (al-kunnāsh al-kabīr). The larger of the two compendia is preserved in Istanbul as MS Ayasofya 3716. The shorter work was translated into Arabic by the secretary Mūsā b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥadīthī on behalf of the physician Abu ’l-Ḥasan b. Nafīs. Al-kunnāsh al-ṣaghīr was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona under the title Practica Joannis Serapionis aliter breviarium nuncupata. The Latin in turn was translated into Hebrew by Mōshē ben Mazliaḥ. The seven treatises of al-kunnāsh al-ṣaghīr deal with diseases of the body and nerves; diseases of eye, mouth, lung, breast and heart; diseases of stomach, intestines, and those caused by worms; diseases of liver, spleen, kidneys, and bladder, and gout; skin diseases, wounds caused by a bite, and gynecological diseases; fever; and composite medicines (aqrabādhīn). The Latin edition presented here is a paraphrase and adaptation of Gerard’s translation by Albano Torino (Alban Thorer, 1489–1550). Although it has seven parts, these parts do not correspond to those in the original. The first treatise, for example, is a collection of medical aphorisms, while the second deals with the various types of fevers. Appended to the main work is a Galen-inspired work by Albano Torino that provides an alphabetized list of pairs of medical ingredients that can be exchanged for each other when necessary. Al-kunnāsh al-ṣaghīr was printed in multiple Latin editions. It was published in Venice in 1479 under the title Breviarium medicinae and in Milan in 1473 and Venice in 1479 under the title Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus. Albano Torino dedicates this edition to William IV, duke of Bavaria (died 1550). It was printed in Basel, in March 1543, in the shop of Heinrich Petri (Henricus Petrus, 1508–79).Physical description: 516 pages ; 29 centimeters
arabicè olim exarata à Georgio Elmacino ... et latinè reddita operâ ac studio Thomae Erpenii. Accedit & Roderici Ximenez ... Historia Arabum, longè accuratius, quam antè, è manuscripto codice expressa.Arabic text and Latin translation in parallel columns.
Abstract: Ugo Benzi (also known as Hugo of Siena) was born in Siena about 1370. Educated in the liberal arts, he later developed an interest in medicine and undertook formal studies at the University of Bologna. He became a renowned physician, scholar, and teacher of medicine at several universities in Italy. He prepared commentaries on the medical classics of the time, works by the Greek Hippocrates, the Roman Galen, and the famous Islamic scholar Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā (980–1037), commonly known as Avicenna. These texts formed the basis of medical education in the West from about 1300 to 1600. Benzi’s extensive studies and reputation as a man of learning and scholarship helped to shape the growth of medicine as a respected profession based on a repository of authoritative knowledge. This early printed book is a commentary on al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb (The canon of medicine), Avicenna’s encyclopedic masterpiece summarizing all of the medical knowledge of the time. The commentary deals with the most important sections of Avicenna’s work. These concern the fundamental concepts of medicine and general symptoms of disease in: Book One, “Things in the overall knowledge about medicine;” Treatise One, “Medicine and the themes of nature;” and Treatise Two, “Diseases, causes, and symptoms.”Physical description: 125 leaves; 29 centimeters (folio)
Abstract: Muhammad ibn Ahmed ibn Rushd (also known by the Latinized version of his name, Averroes, 1126–98) was a Muslim jurist, physician, and philosopher from Cordoba, Spain, best known in the West for reintroducing Aristotle to Europe and in the East for his medical works. He studied theology, law, and medicine, and wrote important works in all of these fields. He served as the religious judge of Seville in 1169–72 and as the chief judge of Cordoba in 1172–82. In 1169, Ibn Rushd began writing a series of commentaries on Aristotle, whose works he probably read in Arabic and Syriac translations from the original Greek. Over a period of nearly three decades, he produced commentaries on nearly all of Aristotle’s writings. His method was to produce short, medium, and long commentaries on the same work, aimed at readers with different levels of understanding. Largely forgotten in the Latin West since the sixth century, Aristotle underwent a revival in the 12th and 13th centuries, when his works were translated into Latin and studied by Christian and Jewish philosophers and theologians such as Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) and Maimonides (1135–1204). From then until the 17th century, European scholars read Aristotle in editions that included commentaries by Ibn Rushd and a school of thought known as Averroism flourished in leading universities. Presented here is a 1521 edition of Ibn Rushd’s commentary on De Anima (On the soul) published in Pavia, Italy. Also included is Theiser (Facilitation of treatment) by Seville physician Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr (also called Avenzoar, 1090–1162) and a commentary on Averroes (Ibn Rushd) by Marco Antonio Zimara (1460–1523), an Italian Aristotelian who edited the works of Aristotle, Averroes, and other philosophers.Physical description: 80 pages ; 29 centimeters
Abstract: This map of the Arabian Peninsula, published in 1720, shows Arabia Felix, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Petraea. Other regions included are Palestine, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Persia, Aegyptus, and Aethiopia. A large number of towns are shown. The title cartouche includes nine vignette coins. The tribal and town names on the map are those used by Ptolemy. Some are used more than once, with variations. Thus “Indicara,” “Iacara,” “Ichara,” and “Aphana” all could indicate the same place: the spot where Alexander the Great intended to build a capital on an island in the Arabian Gulf, enabling him to control the trade of the region and extend his empire (a scheme that he was unable to accomplish before he died). Archeological research suggests that this place was Failakah Island in present-day Kuwait, although some historians place it at Abu Ali Island. The map shows a peninsula near present-day Bahrain. The islands of “Arathos” and “Thylaso” indicate Muharraq and Bahrain islands, respectively, which are actually located north of Qatar. On this map, they are placed on the Persian coast side, probably because the cartographer confused them with “Hormuz” and “Qishm.” Qatar is mentioned on the map as “Catara,” but its shape and location are not accurate. The map is by Christoph Weigel, a German engraver, art dealer, and publisher.Physical description: 1 map; color; 35.90 x 29.30 centimeters
Abstract: This map shows the Ottoman Empire as it appeared in the early 17th century. It details Ottoman territories in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and includes Persia, Transcaucasia, Ethiopia, and other surrounding lands. Topographic features, place-names, and populations are definitively marked, although the nomenclature of the time differs markedly from that used today. The Red Sea is termed the Sea of Mecca, for example, and the Persian Gulf is called the Sea of Alcatif. The map sometimes has been identified as a part of Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati figura (Atlas of the world: finely engraved and drawn), produced by Jodocus Hondius following the work of Gerard Mercator. There is no evidence on the map itself to sustain that identification, nor is a date of publication supplied. Ottoman lands are hand-colored in red, except for the European territories. The vivid coloring is not contemporary with the production of the map and was probably added in the 19th century after Greece and the Balkan lands, which are not colored, were freed from Ottoman rule. Different lettering denotes different geographic and ethnographic features. Italics are generously used, and geometric shapes and shading are used to indicate mountain ranges and maritime littorals. The title cartouche indicates that Hondius, the supposed creator, based his map on Mercator’s projection. The cartouche itself is of interest for its cameo portrait entitled “Sultan Mahumet Turcorum Imperat” (Sultan Muhammad Emperor of the Turks), probably meant to represent Sultan Mehmed II (1432−81), known as Mehmed the Conqueror.Physical description: 1 map : hand colored ; 34 x 47 centimeters
Abstract: Ja‘far ibn Muḥammad al-Balkhī (787–886), known as Abū Ma‘shar (and as Albumasar in the Latin West), was one of the most-renowned astronomers of the Middle Ages. His fame in Europe rested upon numerous Latin translations of his astronomical works from the original Arabic. He was born in the Persian city of Balkh (present-day Afghanistan), on 20th of Ṣafar, 171 AH (August 10, 787). He most likely received his early education in Balkh prior to moving to Baghdad, as his works are often colored by a distinct Persian nationalism. According to Ibn al-Nadīm, the tenth-century scholar and bibliographer, Abū Ma‘shar abandoned the study of hadith to focus instead on astronomy and astrology when he was 47 years old. Ibn al-Nadīm lists more than 30 astronomical titles by Abū Ma‘shar. Shown here is Kitāb aḥkām taḥāwil sinī al-mawālīd (Book of the annual revolutions of nativities), translated by Johannes Hispalensis (John of Seville, flourished mid-12th century) under the title De magnis coniunctionibus et annorum revolutionibus ac eorum profectionibus octo continens tractatus, and first printed at Augsburg in 1489. The first five books were also translated into Latin in the 13th century from an earlier Greek translation and published in Basel in 1559. Presented here is a Venice edition of 1515, printed in the shop of Melchiorre Sessa the elder (active 1506–49), identifiable by his printer’s mark: the initials “MS” beside a crown above the image of a cat that has just caught a mouse.Physical description: 188 pages : illustrations ; 21 centimeters
Abstract: Opera medicinalia (Works of medical science) is a collection of pharmacological treatises by several authors. The main work, Canones (Canons), was attributed to an Arab physician in the 11th century and was later published in Europe under the name Johannese Mesue of Damascus. Also known as Mesue the Younger, the Pseudo-Mesue, and Yahya Ibn Masawayh, he was a monophysite Christian who died in Cairo in 1015, and who is said to have written pharmacological works. The first part of this book, Canones universalis (Universal canons), deals with treatment regimens. The second part, De simplicibus (On simple medicines), is about the properties of various drugs. The book also includes works by various authors of the 12th–14th centuries, such as Petrus de Abano, Nicolaus Salernitanus, and Mondino dei Luzzi. Canones was an influential medical text, used in Europe until the 17th century. This edition was printed in Venice in 1495 by Bonetus Locatellus, a priest from Bergamo, Italy, for the publisher Octavianus Scotus. Locatellus and Scotus formed an important partnership in the Venetian printing industry in the last two decades of the 1400s.Physical description: 332 pages; 32 centimeters. Bound in pigskin, stamped with fleurs-de-lis in oval fillets and scrolls lettered MARIA; clasps, restored; author's name in brown on top edges.