Letter: ENA 2716.10 + ENA 2716.11

Description

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or nineteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the possibility that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 1v, 6v, 14v, 7-8r, 12r). On the recto, the same letter is practiced five times and discusses maritime trade in Beiruti silk with prices in reales (which is more likely the immaterial unit of account of 1:90 medin rather than Spanish coinage). The spelling shifts between the instances of "אל רייס מחמד" and "אל ריס מחמד" (l. 5-6r, 11r, etc.) yet it seems possible that this could be referencing "the captain Muḥammad" of the maritime vessel "מרכב" mentioned in each draft (l. 2r, 8r, etc.). In the closing of each draft the phrase "נרסלהם לכם צוחבתו ושלום" appears which is drawing on the Ottoman Turkish "ṣohbet" or "friendly conversation" (l. 6r, 11r, etc.). On the verso, there is more evidence of drafting with the repeated phrase "בית אל קונסול וטאלבהם" (l. 3v, 8v, etc.) but the epistolary passages vary in length and content ("בית אל קונסול" is likely a reference to European consuls in the Ottoman empire). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.