Letter: T-S AS 146.175

Description

Letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), probably in Qalyūb, probably to his father Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The section preserved here begins with orders for books. He asks to be sent Kunnāsh al-Duyūra (better known as Kunnāsh al-Adyira, a medical treatise on home remedies for monks, by the Christian physician Ibn Buṭlān (d. 1066)) after checking the copy against the original (baʿd muqābalatih). He wants (Kitāb) al-Khalq if they have not already sent it, and a book called (Kitāb) al-Mayl wa-l-Hijrān, which Moshe left in storage in Fustat. He wants the bag (kharīṭa) containing a sewing kit (ʿuddat khiyāṭa). He wants a commentary on the simple meaning of something (tafsīr . . . peshaṭ), and he urges them to get him a copy of al-Faraj baʿd al-Shidda quickly. After all this, Moshe should still have 3 dirhams of credit (1/2 from Saʿāda and 2 1/2 from Abū l-Riḍā); with this money they should buy aromatic wood (ʿūd rīḥ) for 14 or 15 an ounce. In the margin of recto, he mentions speaking to Abū Saʿd b. Yaʿaqov on his behalf concerning "al-Mayl" (probably the same book mentioned earlier, al-Mayl wa-l-Hijrān). On verso, he continues with orders: red lead (sīlqūn), litharge (martak), and probably a couple more that are difficult to read. ASE