1st Edition
The Book on Alums and Salts of Pseudo-Rāzı̄: The Arabic and Hebrew Traditions Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry: Sir Robert Mond Studies in the History of Early Chemistry
On Alums and Salts, sometimes attributed to the Persian polymath al-Rāzī, is one of the most influential treatises in the European alchemical tradition. This Arabic alchemical work, produced in twelfth-century al-Andalus, gained wide fame in its Latin translations, and is also represented by a unique and fascinating Hebrew manuscript that includes practical commentary added by its anonymous Jewish compiler. Gabriele Ferrario’s new edition presents both the Arabic and the Hebrew texts, each with a full translation into English. Together, the two editions of On Alums and Salts tell the story of the active acquisition of chemical knowledge, of lexical creativity and ingenuity, and of scientific engagement that crossed chronological, linguistic, cultural, and religious boundaries.
Acknowledgments SVII
Transliteration systems SIX
List of illustrations SXI
INTRODUCTION
§ 1. On Alums and Salts, a “classic of chemistry” S1
1.1. Preamble S1
1.2. Modern studies S3
§ 2. On Alums and Salts and al-Raz̄ı, a problematic attribution S6 ̄
§ 3. On Alums and Salts, the tradition of an Arabic alchemical handbook S11
3.1. A fluid title S11
3.2. Reconstructing the chemistry of On Alums and Salts S13
§ 4. The only surviving manuscript in Arabic: MS Sprenger 1908 S16
4.1. The frontispiece and al-Tug̣ ̇ra’̄ı̄ S17
4.2. Ms Sprenger 1908, a multiple-text alchemical manuscript S19
4.3. Alchemical authorities, books and places mentioned in the
Sprenger manuscript and in the Arabic On Alums and Salts S22
§ 5. The Hebrew tradition of On Alums and Salts S26
5.1. The Hebrew manuscript Orient. Oct. klein 514 of the
Berlin Staatsbibliothek S27
5.2. Evidence for reading practices in MS 514 S29
5.3. Drawings of apparatus as “visual annotations” in MS 514 S30
5.4. The place of On Alums and Salts in MS 514 S35
5.5. The Hebrew translation of On Alums and Salts S37
5.6. The language of the Hebrew On Alums and Salts S39
5.7. Alchemical authorities and sources in the Hebrew
On Alums and Salts S42
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
Criteria of edition and translation S49
MS Sprenger 1908, Berlin Staatsbibliothek (fols. 19 recto-30 verso) S52
MS Orient. Oct. 514, Berlin Staatsbibliothek (fols. 19 verso-36 recto) S100
APPENDICES
Appendix 1:
Table of contents of MS Sprenger 1908, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin –
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung S166
Appendix 2:
Table of contents of the Hebrew MS Orient. Oct. 514, Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung S168
Appendix 3:
Comparative table of contents of the different versions of the
On Alums and Salts S173
Appendix 4:
Latin manuscripts of On Alums and Salts S177
Appendix 5:
Lexicon of alchemical terminology in the Arabic and Hebrew
On Alums and Salts S181
BIBLIOGRAPHY S199
INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND TITLES OF WORKS S205
Biography
Gabriele Ferrario is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna. He works on the history of medieval sciences and on the transmission of scientific ideas across languages and cultures. His publications focus mainly on medieval Arabic, Hebrew, and Judaeo-Arabic alchemy. He held fellowships and post-docs at the Warburg Institute (London), the Chemical Heritage Foundation (now Science History Institute – Philadelphia), the Genizah Research Unit (Cambridge, UK), Clare Hall College (Cambridge, UK), and in the ERC project AlchemEast, in Bologna. Before moving to Bologna, he was a Visiting Assistant Research Professor in the History of Science Department at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore).
