Geniza Lab

Recipe written on a spare piece of parchment. Simples included are for example Roman bole and horned poppy. Possibly belonging to a letter as the continuation sign typical for letters (which the PGP team calls "the glyph") is written on the top. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: beginning of an abridged version of al-Rāzī, Kitāb al-ʾasrār (‘Book of secrets’). Verso: a list in a cruder hand mentioning other works by al-Rāzī, including Kitāb sirr al-ʾasrār (‘Book of secret of secrets’). (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Arabic script. Nearly completely preserved. The address is faded, and the names are difficult to read. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century, based on hand and format. Reports on "the old man and the old woman" (al-shaykh wa-l-ʿajūz); reports on the price of silk in Fustat; the sender offers to come out to the addressee's location (recto, upper margin). Needs further examination.

Business letter in Arabic and Hebrew script from an anonymous trader from the circle of Yosef al-Tāhirtī

Receipt from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb. Written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirhams?) for the estates in al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Thiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, of the judge Abū ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. (Dated: 27 Ramaḍān 405 AH, which is March 1015 CE.

Fragment of a letter in New Persian mentioning a certain Kamāl al-Dīn; datable to the 11th-12th centuries. A citation of Deuteronomy 28:22 is given at the bottom part of the verso: בשחפת ובקדחת ובדלקת ובחרחור ובחרב ובשדפון ובירקון ורדפוך. The fragment is labeled "L22" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH

Recto: Bottom of a contract of debt. In Arabic script. One of the parties is Abū l-Ḥasan. Stipulates installments at the end of every month. Dated: Ramaḍān 425 AH = July/August 1034 CE. The signature of a qāḍī is preserved. Verso: Note in Judaeo-Arabic, unclear if it is related to recto. "Maḥfūẓ and Sālim shall pay the bearer [....] inshāllāh."

Small fragment of an official letter. A few words from the beginnings of two lines are preserved, wide space between the lines. On verso there is Hebrew text surrounded by a red and black border (similar to T-S AS 182.60 and T-S Misc.29.9 + T-S Misc.29.2 but not a join).

Small fragment of a petition (...wa-tadbīr umūrihā...). On verso there is one line in very large Arabic script with the word "al-dawāwīn" (a rescript for the petition on recto?).

Probably a fiscal account.

Order to Abu l-Najm to pay a certain number of nuqra dirhams. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably early 13th century.

Small fragment from the top of a legal document in Arabic script. Mentions Mūsā b. Yūsuf b. ʿAbdallāh. Dating: Maybe late Mamluk or Ottoman, based on the hand.

Account in Arabic script. On verso there is a draft of the opening of a petition.

Receipt of some kind.

Tax receipt for Nuṣayr b. Saʿīd. Dated: 5[..] AH (~12th century CE).

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a third and an eighth (dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, of the judge Abū ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 6 Ramaḍān 405 AH, which is February 1015 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt for Bū l-Majd b. [...].

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Looks early Ottoman era.

Small receipt for Maʿānī b. Ismāʿīl for a payment of 6 dirhams.

Accounts in Arabic script and eastern Arabic numerals. Dating: Probably 18th or 19th century.