Letter: BL OR 12369.7 + BL OR 12369.8

Description

12369.7 and 8 are drafts of several Judaeo-Arabic letters and documents by Yisrael al-Gevili (אלגוילי) writing in Cairo it seems circa 1755/6 CE (the lower segment on recto mentions the year [5]516; the second digit could also be a ר, making the date 1855/6, but it is closer to his ק and the fonducli - an Ottoman coin - would be more likely to be circulating in Egypt in 1756 than 1856.) Upper segment of recto: Some sort of testimony, perhaps that the Shaykh al-Islām Naṣr al-Dīn Abū Zayn al-Dī al-Iskandarānī pledges to pay a sum of 120 to al-Ḥajj Muṣṭafa in the Gamaliyya neighborhood. Lower segment of recto: Documentation that Yūsuf al-Ḥarīrī who is living in the wakāla of al-Fayyūmī has paid the price for the courtyard and the apartment, and then something to do with six months of payments involving al-Ḥajj Muṣṭafa al-Ramlāwī. Verso: Draft of a letter to his brother regarding business matters. Yisrael reports on the status and likely price of the goods that his brother had sent to him with Murād al-Jawharji. He orders Indian textiles because the demand this year is very high, as none of the ḥajj pilgrims brought any textiles with them. Verso of 12369.8 is another draft of the same letter. ASE.