v_charneau
Registered: December 2004
Posts: 4,164
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Author: ibn al-WardŁ, SirŠŹ al-DŁn abš €af• ‘Umar
Subject: Geography
Shelf Number: Geography 2947
Lines: 4
Folios: 141
Script: Nas˘
Dimensions: 31 x 21cm
Copying Date: Unknown
This is a book of cosmography which had been widely spread till the 19th Century, however, in spite of its extraordinary fame it represents a decline in the methods of study in this field more than a progress. We have some doubt about who was the real author, yet most of the theories in the recent years accept that he was [SirŠŹ al-DŁn abš €af• ‘Umar ibn al-WardŁ] who died in 861H/1457AD or in 850H/1446AD. This book had been considered the work of another author [Zayn al-DŁn ‘Umar ibn Mu›affar ibn al-WardŁ] who lived a century before the real author (died near 749H/1349AD). We have full information about the latter. We know that he lived in Syria, he was a judge in [€alab] (Dleppo), he wrote many books in [Fiqh] and literature, and that he had been a famous poet. On the other hand we know very little about the original author who seems to be a descendant of the same family. This book is composed of fourteen chapters, the first one occupies more than a third of its volume. In this chapter the author mentions the different countries and their different cities. He tends here to show the extraordinary and uncommon habits of the people, whence its title. The orientalists depended for a longtime on this book until the great treatises of Arabic Geography were discovered in the 19th Century, thus it got to be neglected. (Kratchkovsky : TŠrŁ˘ al-Adab al-uŽrŠfŁ al-‘ArabŁ pp. 539-549). This copy is written in [Nas˘] script, probably at the 19th Century, and illuminated with coloured paintings. The beginnings of the chapters are in red ink. There exists [TamallukŠt] (names and dates of previous copy owners) dating to 1153H and 1183H.
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