Geniza Lab

Accounts, mentioning different quantities of silk and sums of money, and the name […] b. Isaac. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of lading by Nahray b. Nissim specifying goods sent from the Maghreb and Sicily to Egypt, mainly textiles and silk. (Information from Gil)

Accounts, mentioning names such as Abū l-Faḍl and Sitt Abū l-Surūr and commodities such as silk. (Information from CUDL)

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)

Beginning of a court record (last will and testament?) for Shelah b. Yefet the silk tax-farmer in Sammanud.

A legal deed regarding division of money between partners involved in the silk industry. AA

Account for Nahray b. Nissim. 1058. The account includes nine shipments of flax, as well as shipments of sumac, cloths, and white silk. Several of those were sold in Ashkelon and others in Tinnis. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #837) VMR

Accounts in Hebrew, mentioning silk and olives among other goods.

Recto: Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting and spellings. The sender reports that they have dyed the silk. The addressee shouldn't stay away any longer. Jalīla, Manṣūr, and the sender's mother are well; the mother sends greetings.

Letter from Yehuda b. Ismāʿīl al-Andalusī, Sicily, to Nissim b. ʿAyyāsh, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060. Mentions a shipment of shelled almonds and lāsīn silk sent from Sicily in the ship of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ and its distribution to its owners in Fustat. Also mentions selling pepper that was sent to Sicily. Ismāʿīl, Yehuda’s father, is mentioned in the blessing for the people who passed away. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #577) VMR

Public letter in the hand of Avraham Maimonides (d. 1237 CE). The cantors of Fustat are instructed to read it aloud in the synagogue on Monday, Thursday, and Monday, as well as Saturday morning. A ban of excommunication is declared against the women who continue dyeing silk privately ('in the houses'), because the tax farmer who had the license for silk dyeing had complained to the dīwān that he was losing revenue. Information in part from Goitein's note card. The CUDL description identifies the hand as belonging to Joshua b. Abraham Maimonides (active 1310-1355 CE), but Amir Ashur, who wrote that description, has now revised his view and identifies this hand as belonging to Avraham (I) Maimonides.

Recto: Bottom of a letter (official letter?) in Arabic script. Verso: Tax receipt issued by ʿArafāt(?) b. al-Naqīb the silk tax farmer (ḍāmin al-ḥarīr) to Abū l-Ḥasan the dyer (al-Ṣabbāgh) for a payment of 36 dirhams (for one year? li-shuhūr X).

Letter fragment from Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī. Mentions details about money exchange and shipments of pepper and silk to and from Palermo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #352) VMR

Summary of a power of attorney. Levi b. Ibrāhīm appointed Abū ʿAlī b. Barukh to obtain for him the implements of a silk weaving workshop in the Egyptian village Dahshūr from Maʿālī b. al-Ruqūqī. See Bodl. MS heb. a 2/9, where Levi b. Avraham signs the will of the silkweaver Abū l-Faḍl who leaves silk weaving equipment (l. 12) to his eldest son. Same expressions apear in this document in l. 3.(Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter, fragmentary and calligraphic, regarding business. Mentionins dealings in corals, storax, and zaituni (silk), and merchants of the second half of the eleventh century (Joseph b. Farah Qabisi). On verso is a medical prescription in Arabic letters. Most likely the receiver of the business letter was a physician. Information from Goitein's note card. Possibly the same scribe as T-S NS J194.

Letter from Malīj containing a detailed description of a legal case involving a fabric manufactured while evading the tax due on it and sold to an acquaintance who did not keep the secret. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 116)