Geniza Lab

List of transportation expenses by Nahray b. Nissim, around 1045. Includes details about shipment from Fustat to the ship in Alexandria. Similar to T-S Arabic 30.123, this time the shipment is of varnish. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #271) VMR

Private account by Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī. Dating: ca. 1080. Concerning shipping goods from the Maghreb to Alexandria. Mentions different expenses in the ports and different goods: wool, scarlet material, perfumes, fabrics, and butter. Also mentions money exchange (with different types of dinars). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #324) VMR

Letter fragment from Barhūn b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tāhirti. The letter is addressed to someone who is younger than the writer (he calls him “my son”). Mentions a big loss in business because of goods that got wet. Also mentions his brother ʿAṭā, his cousin Yūsuf b. Mūsā, and the ship al-Laki. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #386) VMR

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef (the addressee of the letter on recto).

Goitein suggests that this letter was addressed to Arus b. Yusuf al-Arjawani because reference is made to 'Allan, his sister's son, and to his partner Siba. The writer is about to embark on an Andalusian ship to go to Spain. Wool is mentioned, the price of which is six dinars per qintar. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to Yosef b. Ṣāliḥ from his son Ṣāliḥ, containing many orders, such as for Iraqian purple; brazilwood for a quarter of a dinar; combs; mirwads; pepper; sarcocolla (ʿanzarūt); verdigris (zinjār); "marāzībī" tutty (according to the review by Theo Loinaz, this commodity is discussed on pp. 368-9 of Fabian Käs (2010), Die Mineralien in der arabischen Pharmakologie); ammoniac (kalakh); and many more. Mentions the arrival of Khalaf b. Qashīshāt (an Ibn Qashīshāt is also mentioned in ENA 2738.23) and other unusual names: Wahīb b. Safīq (?) and Ibn Maqḥaf. The writer sends regards to Abū Isḥāq and his business partner. ASE.

Instructions to an agent (in Alexandria) of Abi Ya'aqov (Yosef b. 'Awkal), May, 1038.

Continuation of a long business letter sent from Alexandria to Cairo. Dating: Ca. 1235 CE, based on the date of T-S Ar.54.66 which is by the same sender (and may even be the first two pages of the present letter). This is either the third folio of the letter, containing pages 5 and 6, or the second folio, containing pages 3 and 4; the Greek/Coptic numeral for "3" appears at the top of recto. The sender gives the prices of merchandise in Alexandria, such as indigo, olibanum, cinnamon, brazilwood and pepper and of the taxes and other dues that have to be paid to trade in the city. The sender's mercantile contacts extended into Marseilles and Genoa. The letter mentions Rabbenu Menaḥem, the son and successor of the judge of Cairo Yiṣḥaq b. Sason. The letter also contains the earliest known reference to Jews from the Touat region of Algeria; see S.D. Goitein, “R. Isaac b. Ibrahim Al-Tuʾātī (ca. 1235): The Most Ancient Reference to Jews in the Touat,” Revue des études juives, vol. 140, no. 1-2 (January-June 1981): 193.) (Information from Goitein, Letters, 56–62, and Goitein's notes.)

Note from a certain Ḥajjāj to Yosef Yiju, in Mazara, Sicily. In Judaeo-Arabic. Informing him about a consignment sent to him by one of his sons. Dating: October–November 1154 CE.

Letter from Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1053. The writer informs that he is in Jerusalem and is praying for Nahray at the Temple Mount and the Olives Mountain. He asks to pass a letter to the banker Mevorah b.David. Also mentions Avraham ha-Ḥaver b. Amram. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 306-308, #519). VMR

Letter from Ayash b. Sdaka, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Aruond 1050. Ayash buys goods in Alexandria for Nahray. The goods are being sent in six ships in the Nile to Fustat. )Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #477) VMR

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tāhartī, to Yeshuaʿ b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī (according to Gil) or to Nahray b. Nissim (Ben-Sasson) in Fustat. Mentions Abū Ibrāhīm (Isḥāq) b. Khalaf, who had written to tell al-Tāhartī that he had sent a pouch containing 500 rubāʿiyya (quarter-dinars) in Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ's ship (r, II. 10–11); also mentions details of maritime transport to and from the Maghreb, a ship accident, and the security and government situation in Sicily, whereas by contrast al-Mahdiyya under Tamīm b. Muʿizz is safe. Dated end of Shevaṭ; Gil notes that the same events are discussed in T-S 16.163, which is dated 8 Elul and mentions the year 453H, and so dates this letter to February 2, 1063. T-S 13J23.18 is the lower part; the upper part (lines 1-4) is T-S AS 145.81. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson)

Fragment of a letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti. Mentions business with pearls and the coming travel of two people to Ladikya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #351) VMR

Fragment of a letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria. Regarding trades. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #442) VMR

Fragment of a letter from Menashshe, maybe to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1063. Only the write’s first name in known. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #759) VMR

Letter from Menashshe to Nahray b. Nissim. Dating: ca. 1063. Menashshe warns Nahray that Uqban (b. Salman) who passed away has a daughter, and this has to be taken into consideration in regard to his estate. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #760) VMR

Short letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, Busir. February 8, 1053. Nahray asks Barhun, who is in Busir and deals with buying flax, to buy also for one of Nahray’s partners, Ya’aqov b. Nahum. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #250) VMR

Memorial list of a well-known family of merchants. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simha al-Naysaburi, in Alexandria, to 'Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef, in Fustat. Gil identifies the author of the letter by his handwriting. The letter deals with the trade of silk and pearls and involves Muslim trade partners. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Avraham b. Yiju reconstructed from four fragments (the last discovered after the publication of the English edition). The letter was written about a year before IB III, 1, 1136–39. Yosef had a partnership with a young man named Abu al-Faraj b. Musa/Moshe al-Baghdadi. As the investor, Yosef was supposed to receive two thirds of the profit. However, the young man tried to escape from India to Ceylon and from there to another location. Despite this, Yosef is careful not to expose the young man and is willing to provide him with funds to return to Aden, in order to preserve the young man's reputation. The letter also contains various details and instructions regarding Ibn Yiju's and Yosef's commercial dealings. (III, 4 = T-S 10J12.5 III, 5 = T-S NS J181 III, 6 = T-S AS 146.12 III, 6a = T-S AS 149.184)