41

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.340, cont., 12.341)

(79b); instructions by the Prophet to his daughter, Fatima (87b); the ‘beautiful names of God’ and their meaning (89a); and, curiously, a recipe for ma'cün which rejuvenates both men and women - they will feel as if they were 15 to 20 years old again - and cures them of all kinds of illnesses, and stimulates women to beget male children; it was first successfully used by Sultan Mehmed (94a). The recipe is followed by two Arabic prayers (95b-96a), the last of which is accompanied by a Turkish explanation of its usefulness. Bound in boards covered in brownish marbled paper with red leather backing and edges; glazed cream paper with watermarks of uncertain pattern; 96 folios; 239x163 mm and 175x108 mm; 15 lines; catchwords up to f. 94b; bold, somewhat irregular nesih; headings, rubrics and Arabic quotations in red; blue borders; gold borders within black lines on ff. lb-2a; a simple headpiece with floral patterns in gold occurs on f. lb; without a date and the namp of a copyist; the inscription ‘Franz Taeschner Ms. Nr. 9’ by the owner himself occurs on f. la. Begins (lb, after a besmele): ^ 3 3 L» (jJLt fiLaJI i a>LaJI s t_jj 4Ü jl«J 3 tjVjl (JSLt jJk aS 4J3I aj 11 a v. j , ^ . « 3^-1 Ends (96a): Jiij C*»l jIjjJ jL a-ju L ... aS ... *j5l J>u/j f 3 ±ij3 La

Cod.Or. 12.341 Tuhfe-i Hamdf w A, probably early 17th-century, copy of a handbook on dogma and religious ethics by Ebü Sa Id Hasan Hamdf; the title is found in a heading preceding the text on f. lb (see plate). Title and author are also mentioned in f. 2b:8-10. No other copy of this work seems to be documented and the author is not mentioned in secondary literature. The book consists of an introduction (lb-2b), four parts {kism) and, according to the introduction, a conclusion {hatime). The parts are entitled (1) Ff ‘aköyidi ehli s-smnet (2b); (2) FiWibOdat (22a); (3) Ftt-takva (92b); (4) Ff l-'ibadat (125a). The work ends in a listing of God’s ‘beautiful names’ (146a-150a).