Letter: T-S Ar.18(1).51

Description

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa ha-Levi al-Nīsābūrī to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Ṣāʿid aka ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1100 CE. The sender expresses concern about the lack of letters. He sent goods with Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā al-Fāsī. He heard that the addressee had arrived safely (in Fustat?) together with a group of other merchants in a letter he received from Abū l-Faraj Hiba al-Ḥamawī (whose letter was delivered by Wahb the relative of Naḥrīr). The lower part of the letter is missing. On verso there are jottings of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, mentioning fruit of the Syrian ash (lisān ʿuṣfūr), clove, saffron, and sugar among other items. Several other letters from Yiṣḥaq to ʿUlla are preserved in the Geniza, for example T-S 13J21.26, in which ʿUlla is asked by Yiṣḥaq to provide for al-Ḥamawī’s family while he is away on business. (Information in part from CUDL.)