44

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.342)

Cod.Or. 12.342 Ma ‘alimü l-yakinfi stret seyyidi l-miirselfn ■ >* 3 j_> ia jjS Jl aII * o

An incomplete, early 18th-century copy of an elaborate translation of Abü 1- ‘ Abbas b. Abl Bakr al-Khatlb al-Qastallam ash-ShafiT s Mawahib al-laduntya bi-l- minah al-Muhammadiya, a history of the Prophet completed in 899/1494 (cf. GAL II, p. 73; S II, p. 78). The translation and elaboration - Shafiïte points of view had to be converted to Hanafite ones - was made by ‘AbdulbakI, better known as the poet Bakï (d. 1008/1599), who used more than a hundred new sources for the work (cf. Körprülü’s article). The title and author of the original work are mentioned in f. la: 15-7 - the title is also found in the calligraphic heading preceding the text. Bakï mentions himself in f. lb:4-5; the title, partly erased, is found in f. 2b:4. The work was commissioned by the Grand Vizier [Sokollu] Mehmed Pa§a, mentioned in f. lb:21. The work is preceded by an introduction in florid rhymed prose alternated by verses (up to f. 2b) and consists of ten chapters called maksad; only the first four maksads are found in this copy. Marginal additions and indications of content, partly in red, by the copyist. Calculations in pencil occur in the margin of f. 140b. The inscription ‘yefii baggede kara bay...' is found on the second flyleaf (recto). Bound in embossed black leather with insets in Oriental style on the outer front- and back-covers; glazed cream paper; a number of leaves are stained at the outer margins or stuck together as a result of moisture damage; the title of the original work is written on the lower edge; 3+322+2 folios, crude, original numbering; 298x193 mm and 210x115 mm, varying; 25 lines; catchwords; nesih' headings, rubrics, Arabic quotations, dots and lines in various shades of red; completed on the forenoon of a Sunday in Safer 1116 (June-July 1704); without, seemingly, the name of a copyist (unless the mostly illegible calligraphic florish preceding the colophon is a signature of the copyist); owners’ inscriptions of ‘Abdurrahman (in pencil, second flyleaf, recto)-, Ibrahim b. Hasan el-Mar‘a§T (with seal), his son (not named, who inherited the MS from his father), es-Seyyid ishak Cinanïzade (or Cenamzade), 14 Ramazan [1]250 (14 January 1835), Hasan Efendi, ‘Abdulfaris (received it as a present from his father, 7 Muharrem [12]62, 5 January 1846), and (Jocazade Hafiz ‘Abdullah Efendi (in pencil in nk'a script) (third unnumbered leaf, recto - see plate); the inscription ‘Franz Taeschner Ms. Nr. 12’ by the owner himself occurs on the second flyleaf, recto-, a pencil note