Letter: JRL Series B 4089

Description

India Book, II,21a (JRL Series B 4089) and II,21b (T-S AS 151.222). Letter from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan, in Aden, to Avraham Ibn Yiju. Dating: ca. 1135 CE. Fragments of four or five different copies of this letter exist. II,21a and II,21b are labeled as Copy 4, although they may be two different copies. On II,21a, the recto text is not paralleled elsewhere, but the verso corresponds to II,23 (T-S 20.137), ll. 32-43 (PGPID 5448). On II,21b, the recto text overlaps somewhat with II,21 (T-S NS J241), but verso is not paralleled elsewhere. The letter describes commercial transactions and what the author describes as favors or 'gifts' to a fellow trader. The main commodities mentioned are copper and pepper; customs dues, freight charges, porters' fees, and safekeeping are also reported. The sender mentions a tax paid at al-Furda (the customshouse at the port city of Aden) and the names of Ali al-Nili ('the indigo trader') and Abu Ghalib al-Rubban ('the captain'), suggesting the letter's origin in the port city of Aden sometime in the 12th century. The letter continues on the verso. On the men mentioned by name see Goitein and Friedman, India Traders of the Middle Ages, 145, 603; and 153, 325-27; on al-Furda see Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, passim; and Margariti, Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade, passim. The copies of the letter are as follows: Copy 1 (the original by Maḍmūn): II,22 (T-S NS J240r), II,22a (Moss. IV,21.1); II,23 (T-S 20.137r). PGPID 5448. The verso of this copy has accounts written by Ibn Yijū (PGPID 5537). Copy 2 (first copy by the clerk): II,24 (T-S NS J1). PGPID 5479 Copy 3 (second copy by the clerk): II,21 (T-S NS J241); II,21c (T-S AS 158.393). PGPID 5455 Copies 4 [by?] and 5 [by?]: II,21a (JRL Series B 4089); II,21b (T-S AS 151.222); i.e. this page Copies 1-3 were identified and published in Goitein and Friedman (2008), India Traders. Copies 4-5, as well as a direct join for Copy 3 (II,21c), were found by ASE in 2023.