Letter: T-S NS 225.3

Description

Mercantile letter. On parchment. Dating: Early 11th century. The address is only partially legible and written in a confusing way. The sender appears to be al-Faḍl b. Yūsuf. The addressee is Abū l-Surūr Faraḥ b. Yehuda al-Kīnānī(?) known as ṣāḥib (the friend of?) al-Baradānī; underneath is written "to Abū l-[Faraj] Yūsuf b. Yaʿqūb Ibn ʿAwkal" (the most prominent merchant in the Geniza documents of this period). The letter was sent to him "either in Fustat or al-Ramla." The sender may be in Tripoli. He is angry about something to do with a huge shipment of 581 cases of "that damned tutty" (tūtiyāʾ, zinc oxide) and a financial loss that is "beyond repair. . . you have destroyed us." He bemoans his loss of reputation among "the Tripolitans, the Sicilians, the Maghribīs, and the Levantines, let alone among the Baghdādīs." Mentions the arrival of a group of traders who had been in Egypt, among them Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Yaḥyā Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥāla. Mentions the (arrival of?) the ship of ʿArūs. The letter concludes with something about a woman named Sitt ʿAlam. Uncited in the literature & should be edited. AA. ASE