Geniza Lab

Receipt for the price of sugar collected from a certain ʿAbdūn by the messenger Aḥmad al-Ḥawlī. The document is dated Tuesday, 13th RabīʿII 859 H. Similar receipt on verso issued on the 8th of the same month mentioning goods and prices, sugar being one of them.

State document, Ottoman, dated 1238 H. Ledger page connected to the Dīwān Anwāl al-Ḥarīr in Alexandria (most of the institutional title is in the second line of the heading). In a more general sense, this document is regarding the state's oversight of the production and import/export of silk (anwāl here likely means silk looms). Faded seal on the bottom of the document. Requires further examination.

Probably a medical prescription or a recipe in Arabic, mentioning hiera picra (a cathartic powder made of aloes and canella bark), chebulic myrobalan (iḥlīj Kābulī), lavender (isṭarkhūdus), sugar, and ghārīqūn (agaric).

Letter from Ṣedaqa al-Yahūdī to Umm al-Khayr bt. Nūr al-Dīn al-Ḥakīm b. [...], possibly in Bilbays (the address is damaged). In Arabic script. Dating: No earlier than 1415 CE, since it refers to the currency 'nuṣf' (half-silver). The sender tells the addressee to deliver the 'qumāsh' immediatelly, or if she hasn't done anything, the 20 half-silver pieces.

Recto: A passage from an Arabic treatise on love and lovers (ʿishq, ʿāshiq, maʿshūq). Verso: Scattered Arabic text, possibly list or accounts. Needs further examination.

Recto: Bifolio, mainly containing an Arabic literary text, probably a fable, beginning with "yā qawm ismaʿū maqālatī" and continuing with the promised proverbs, followed by pen trials. Verso: draft of a letter beginning with a basmala and common honorifics surrounded by pen trials of the same line and other words on the entire bifolio.

Verso (original use): Fragment of a petition in Arabic script. Dating: Probably Fatimid-era. The beginnings of 4 lines are preserved. Moderately wide line spacing. Includes the beginning of a taqbīl (al-mamlūk yuqabbil al-arḍ) and a request clause (wa-yasal...).

Recto (secondary use): Order from ʿĀzim al-Bayyāʿ (the grocer) to hand over 1/2 wayba of rice to the bearer of the note. Headed by a basmala. Underneath there is a taṣliya and above that (in a different hand) an ʿalāma (al-ḥamdu lillāh waḥdah). The layout is somewhat reminiscent of state receipts, which is not necessarily surprising as everyday receipts and documents had similar layouts. YU, MR, ASE.

Recto: The opening three lines of a state document or formal letter starting with a basmala and containing mainly honorifics. "al-ḥaḍra al-Sāmiyya al-Ajalliyya al-Shaykhiyya al-Najībiyya adāma-llahu ʿizzahā...ḥirāsatahu wa naʿmāhu wa-min ḥusn tawfīqihi lā akhlāhu". Verso: Two more lines in Arabic, probably a date [Rabī] al-Ākhar 4(.)7? and a sum of money 12 dirhams preceded by a commodity (?). Needs further examination.

Letter of complaint, calling on the harassment of Abū l-Najm the filthy "al-Khabīth". Abū l-Najm broke the writer's trust, disobeyed their friendship (lit. sold off their friendship/companionship "abāʿ l-ṣuḥba wa-thiqatahu"), and will be traveling to Damascus. Also mentions Abū l-Faraj the owner of the shop. Regards to his cousin (ibn khālatī) Ibrāhīm and a bunch of other people towards the end.

Several medical recipes in Arabic by the title "صفة معجون نافع للارواح".

Possibly an official document in Arabic script, but the hand is crude. Could also be an IOU with a layout reminiscent of state documents. Concerns a debt (two qirats?) owed by Abū Saʿīd al-Ḥarīrī on account of something to do with an account for a diwan. Dated: Jumādā I 594 AH = 1198 CE. ابو سعيد الحريري ما عليه... الديوان عن عجل حساب... في ... المستخدمين(؟) قيراطين وكتب بتاريخ جمادى الاول سنة اربع وتسعين وخمسمائة

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). Addressed to a certain Fakhr al-Dawla (al-shaykh al-ajall, 'the esteemed elder'). The sender met with Muḥyī al-Dīn and delivered a qirṭās (can mean paper or bag), possibly containing 200 dirhams. Verso: Fragment of a different document in Arabic script. Wide line spacing. The beginnings of three lines are preserved. Possibly official correspondence. Needs further examination

Receipt of payment for the rent of three stores (ḥawānīt) from a man called Khiḍr Zaytūn in ḥarat al-yahūd, near the waqf of Muḥammad al-Raḥlāwī (?). The total amount was 180, half of which is 90. Signed by Ṣāliḥ al-Laqānī. Dated 1220 H. On verso, in Hebrew script: "[...] Abū Ḥabīb."

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 14 Jumādā II 634 AH (=1236/37 CE). Certifying that Yaʿqūb al-Yahūdī b. [...] al-Māwardī and possibly one other person have received (qabaḍa) a sum of (61?) dirhams from Abū Saʿd al-ʿAtṭār. Needs examination.

Mercantile letter, complete, in Arabic script from Bundar b. Eliya al-ʿAṭṭār to Abū ʿAlī Ismaʿīl b Ḥananya al-Baṣrī (in Fusṭāṭ). Sent with ʿAlī b. Ṭalḥa b. al-Ḥusayn. This is a usual business letter mentioning commodities and their purchase and selling. Bundar urges Ismaʿīl to not delay in sending him cash after the goods have been sold off as he is in urgent need of cash: "fa-ḥājatī ilaihima māssa māssa". Among the commodities mentioned are sugar, musk, and honey. Names of several trade vessels and the province of Damietta are also mentioned. Placing the names of the ships in chronology could help in dating the document.

Legal document, late, running transaction sheet with (related?) sequential transactions, probably a bill or a receipt of goods and services. Mentions a wage - "ujra", probably the rent of transportation of the goods in rīyāl and the price of soap (ṣābūn). The document is dated. 23rd Dhu l-Qaʿda 1222 H. The name of the beneficiary is al-Khawāja Ibrāhīm ʿAdda al-Marājīnī (the coral merchant). See AIU XII.86 for another Arabic letter to the same recipient, from five years earlier. Merits further examination.

Letter in Arabic script, mentions a cloth (thawb) and the names of a few people. Needs further examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Only the witness signatures are preserved, e.g., ʿAlī b. ʿAbdallāh and Bū Bakr [...] b. ʿAbdallāh. Verso: love poetry also in Arabic script, ending with the rhyme ʿaīn(rawī).

Letter in Arabic script. Dating: Uncertain, maybe late Mamlūk/early Ottoman. The name Abū Ḥamza (?) can be read in the place of the tarjama. Mentions al-Rayyis Yūsuf, a vessel (markab), and the condition of young boys/children. "I inform you, do not ask me what the boys/children are going through everyday....for their sustenance..very little, a piece of bread in the morning and another (in the evening?)." Seems like a plea for the children for not getting enough to eat. On verso there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Needs further examination