Geniza Lab

Letter from Abu al-Hayy b. Barhun Khalila, in al-Mahdiyya, to Barhun b. Musa Tahirti, reporting several losses of ships and merchandise. (Information from Gil)

Complete business letter from Nissim b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tahirti, probably in Mahdiyya, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy Khalila in Fustat. Dated September 1051. (Information from Gil)

End of a calligraphic business letter copied by Masliah b. Eliyyahu. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Barhun b. Yishaq al-Tahirti, from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1050. Information about shipments of goods and about the account of the partners. Abu al-Kasim Abed al-Rahman mentioned favorably. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #385) VMR

Letter of business from Yisrael b. Yosef b. Banuka to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The letter was written when Nissim, Nahray's father, was still alive. The letter is about a deal that was made to sell beads. Circa 1040 (Gil estimate). VMR

Fragment of a letter from Yusuf b. Eli Kohen Fasi, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions dinars that should be exchanged, and that several letters for Nahray arrived in Alexandria from Tripoli after 25 days. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #403) VMR

Letter from Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī and his brother Yiṣḥaq b. Barhūn, in Qayrawān, to the senior Tustari brothers (Abū l-Faḍl Sahl (Yashar), Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef, and Abū Sahl Saʿīd the sons of Yisraʾel), in Fustat. Dating: probably first decade of the 11th century. Written on parchment. Though the address lists all the brothers (the members of the respective family firms), the letter is principally from Mūsā al-Tāhirtī to Sahl al-Tustarī. The letter deals mainly with trade in expensive textiles, including some which the Tustaris had shipped for Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef, the leading Jewish merchant of Qayrawān (active 990s–1030s). (Information from Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, pp. 73–79.)

Three sundry accounts written by Avraham Ibn Yiju. Yemen, apparently 1140-44, 1149-1152.

Business letter, sent from Qayrawan by Nissim b. Berekhya to Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti in Fustat, dealing with the marketing of Egyptian merchandise in the Maghreb. (Information from Gil)

Letter sent from Qayrawan by Yosef b. Khalfa to Khalluf b. Farah b. al-Zarbi, probably in Fustat (Gl) (from Yosef b. Khalluf b. Farah to his brother Khalluf b. Farah‚ Ben-Sasson) dealing with goods and their prices in Palermo. Dated ca. 1030 (Goitein) or ca. 1050 (Gil) or uncertain (Ben-Sasson) (Information from Gil)

Letter from Marduk b. Musa in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat asking him to find a Jewish maidservant for the writer, ca. 1045-1096

Letter from Salama b. Musa ha-Sfaqusi from Alexandria probably to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1068. Mentions several people including Avraham b. Farah and Yosef b. Eli ha-Kohen. The writer returned from Sicily to Alexandria and deals with business matters and buying goods. Also mentions the situation in Sicily. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 477-483, #753) VMR

Letter sent from Alexandria by Farah b. Yosef to Abu Sa'd Khalaf b. Sahl in Fustat, dealing with buying and selling some goods. Dated October 1056. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Farah b. Yosef from Alexandria to Abu Sad Khalaf b. Sahl, Fustat. October 1056. The letter has another fragment (T-S 8 J 21.7). Regarding purchases and sales of several goods: pepper, fabrics, bonnets, and rice. Mentions that the army’s entrance to the city (it is not clear which city) improves trade. Also mentions that a ship arrived from Tyre, and the writer’s nephew who came from there in a different way. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #518) VMR

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 31 March 1059 CE, according to Gil. Deals with various business matters. He thanks Nahray for burning his last letter. He asks for news of 'al-kabīra' Sitt Murruwa, who had been sick.

From Nahray b. Nissim (Misr) to Farah b. Isma'il Farah (Busir).

Last page of a letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to a public figure, in Fustat. Identification is based on handwriting and style. The first page of the letter is missing. Dated: 9 Tammuz, apparently of the year 1141 CE (so the 8th of June). The letter contains information on ships that frequented the port of Alexandria. It mentions an attack of Bedouins on the passengers of the Sultan's ship in Tobruk (this note was added from Goitein) as well as general news and instructions of a commercial nature, dealing with spices, perfumes, books, pearls and gold. The letter reports the great distress in which the Jews of Alexandria found themselves. The leaders of the community, among them Abu Nasr himself, were under house arrest due to unpaid debts from previous years. The matter created 'hatred' (Heb. sinʾut) and general anarchy. The recipient is asked to intervene in the matter and petition a few Muslim public figures which might assist. (Information from Frenkel and Goitein's note card.)

Business letter from Yiṣḥaq Nīsābūrī to ʿUlla Dimashqī. Mentions Alexandria, Ashqelon, shipments of rhubarb, and a business dispute brought to court. (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 209, 452.)

Business letter from Yosef b. Avraham, in Aden, to Avraham Ibn Yiju, on the Malabar Coast of India. Dating: ca. 1137–40. The letter goes into detail regarding the various dealings between the two merchants. The letter contains, among the mention of many other copper items, a very detailed description of a copper lamp that Yosef asks Avraham to make for him in his copper workshop in India.

Letter sent from Fustat by 'Ayyash b. Sadaqa to Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, dealing with money matters and the selling of merchandise, and mentioning goods and their prices. The verso contains the address and a series of accounts in the same hand. Dated ca. 1045. (Information from Gil)