Letter: T-S H10.95

Description

Business letter dealing with spices. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is likely that of Yedutun ha-Levi. (Goitein, too, flagged the script as familiar.) The letter is addressed to a 'brother' (Moshe ha-Levi?); mentions Abū Saʿd and 'your paternal uncle Bayān.' The letter is damaged but is a valuable source of information for the business of a druggist (ʿaṭṭār). Commodities mentioned include storax (mayʿa) and saffron. The writer does not know precisely the weight of the saffron; the addressee should weigh the burniyya together with the saffron in it and subtract the weight of the burniyya. The writer is suffering an attack of ophthalmia (and Isḥāq is too), but he will try to "go out" (from Fustat) if he is able to. On verso there are piyyutim (not necessarily in the same hand as recto; needs examination). ASE