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Book/Printed Material Commentary on the Little Canon.

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About this Item

Title

  • Commentary on the Little Canon.

Summary

  • The Qānūnjah (also commonly known by its Persian name, the Qānūncha), a medical book by Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Jaghmini, was written in the late-12th or early 13th century and, as the name indicates, was inspired by an encyclopedic work, al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb (The canon of medicine) by Abu 'Ali al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Sina (980--1037), commonly known in the Latin West as Avicenna. The author of this commentary, Mahmud al-Jaghmini, is generally identified with the writer of the popular astronomical text al-Mulakhkhas fī al-Hay'a (Epitome of cosmography), although the discrepant dates assigned to al-Jaghmini's life and death (he is said by some modern historians to have died during the Mongol invasions in the early 13th century, while others list his year of death as in the middle of the 14th century) suggest the existence of multiple authors named Mahmud from the Central Asian town of Jaghmīn (present-day Uzbekistan). Al-Jaghmini's concise Qānūnjah was hugely popular and inspired numerous commentaries. The present manuscript is a copy of a Qānūnjah commentary by an unknown author, containing a detailed discussion of all ten chapters of the original work. The author of this commentary does not identify himself, but he informs us in the colophon that the work was completed in Ṣafar 1099 AH (December 1687). That the date thus provided is rendered in Persian rather than the more standard Arabic is an unexpected feature of the work. Also notable are occasional marginal drawings relevant to the art of medicine, such as the depiction of the optic chiasma and other anatomical structures. The copyist, whose name appears to have been deliberately effaced, tells us that the manuscript copy was completed on the third of Shaʻbān 1271 AH (April 21, 1855). He concludes the manuscript with a short verse in Persian invoking blessings on the unknown author of the work.

Names

  • Avicenna, 980-1037 Associated Name.
  • Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad al-Jaghmīnī, died 1344 Contributor.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1855-04-21.

Headings

  • -  1687-12
  • -  Arabic manuscripts
  • -  Human anatomy
  • -  Medicine
  • -  Medicine, Arab
  • -  Medicine, Medieval
  • -  Ta'liq script

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 170 folios ; 258 x 153 millimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: Wellcome Library.
  • -  Content in Arabic and Persian.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021667351

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Avicenna, 980-1037 Associated Name, and Died 1344 Contributor Maḥmūd Ibn Muḥammad Al-Jaghmīnī. Commentary on the Little Canon. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -04-21, 1855] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667351/.

APA citation style:

Avicenna, 9. A. N. & Maḥmūd Ibn Muḥammad Al-Jaghmīnī, D. 1. C. (1855) Commentary on the Little Canon. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -04-21] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667351/.

MLA citation style:

Avicenna, 980-1037 Associated Name, and Died 1344 Contributor Maḥmūd Ibn Muḥammad Al-Jaghmīnī. Commentary on the Little Canon. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -04-21, 1855] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021667351/>.