מכתב: T-S 8J24.7

תיאור

Fragment of a beautifully written business letter, dealing with the sale of various items. The sender reports on his arrival to Alexandria, where he purchased an unbleached robe and gave it to the addressee's grandfather. He then urges the addressee regarding the tragacanth (kathīrāʾ) which should be sold little by little for 11 dirhams a mann. The addressee's brother Abū l-Surūr arrived, who reported that the addressee had (or had not?) sold 3 manns for 30 dirhams. He tells the addressee to split the tragacanth with Zayn b. Abū l-Khayr al-Ger and give him 40 manns of it. On verso mentions the addressee's maternal uncle Abū l-Qawām; Abū l-Hasan b. Ayyūb the sender's partner; Abū Saʿīd the son of the addressee's maternal uncle; silk and tamarind that was held in partnership between Abū Saʿīd and the sender's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Hārūn, but which had turned to dust and is now worthless. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 592 and from Goitein's index cards)