Geniza Lab

Business letter or official correspondence in Arabic script. Dating: 11th or 12th century (paleographic dating). Written in a chancery hand with very large space between the lines; two lines preserved. Folded into a tight square; folds have gone both ways to judge by the ink that has bled in mirror form; the mirror-writing could yield another word or two from a third line (more dates; something else that is difficult to determine). The document concerns dates (tamr) and dye (ṣibāgh); they will be (sent?) with the people designated to take care of them (ṣuḥbat al-mandūbīn ʿalayhimā). Verso is blank except for a few Hebrew letters. (MR. ASE.)

Account recording the receipt of various consignments of dates measured in wayba and irdabb. Some entries have been crossed through. People mentioned include al-Wakīl al-Kabīr; al-Sharīf; the ghulām of ʿAbdallāh. (Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalogue.)