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1. The Greater “Life of Animals”
- Description:
- Abstract: Kamal ud-Din al-Damiri (circa 1341–1405) was a tailor-turned-scholar. He was born in Cairo and spent most of his life in Egypt. Hayat al-Hayawan (Life of animals) is his best-known work. It is found in two versions, referred to as the greater and the lesser. Shown here is the greater version. It includes more than 1050 entries on animals, arranged according to the Arabic alphabet. Some of the entries are long, others are shorter or duplicates. The longest entry, for example, is for the lion, and runs to 11 pages. Other entries are only a few words. Many include a digest of information about animals mentioned in the hadith and other Arabic literature and conclude with Islamic law provisions relating to the particular animal’s use in medicine or as a source of food. Duplication occurs when animals have synonymous names, or when the female or the young of a particular species are named differently. Mammals and birds figure most prominently in the work. The book was one of the works that the Ottoman sultan, Selim I, ordered printed when he occupied Egypt in 1517.Physical description: 446 pages ; 30 x 20 centimeters
2. Selected Techniques in the Art of Agriculture
- Description:
- Abstract: The author of this book, Bishārah ibn Salwān Naḥūl al-Lubnānī, explains in the introduction how he had long desired to write an Arabic text on the agricultural sciences but was only able to do so after he obtained a series of agricultural texts that had been translated from French into Turkish. The book is arranged in two parts, the first on horticulture, and the second on animal husbandry. The part on horticulture opens with general topics, such as water, soil, and plant diseases. This is followed by sections on grains similar to wheat; nutritious roots; thick, rounded roots; legumes; plants that yield oils for lighting and other industrial uses; plants used for making rope, twine, and cloth; plants used as dyes; plants from which wine is extracted; sugar-bearing plants; fruit trees; trees that yield edible oils; trees with leaves that have industrial uses; annual and perennial herbs; and so on. The first part concludes with taxonomy; a temperature chart in Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Réaumur; and captions for the illustrations, all of which appear at the end of the book. Part two begins with Georges Cuvier’s classification of the animal kingdom (vertebrata, mollusca, articulata, and radiata). Practical topics discussed include: the raising of ungulates; domesticated birds; fish and fish farming; apiculture; sericulture; mammalian pests; avian pests; harmful insects; hunting; wine and beer making; and the operation of mills. The final sections of the book deal with the treatment of human diseases in the absence of a doctor.Physical description: 2 parts in 1 volume, 261 pages ; 22 centimeters