Geniza Lab

Recto: Fiscal accounting. In Arabic script. Mentions the treasury (bayt al-māl al-maʿmūr). Dating: Probably late Ayyubid or Mamluk. Needs examination.

Order of payment signed by Abū Zikrī Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment of an unidentified letter. (Information from CUDL)

Document concerning the manumission of slaves. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower left corner). Mentions Armenian bole, Abū ʿImrān, Marāzībī tutty, and greetings to various people. Verso: Legal jottings in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One is for a document involving Sitt al-Ahl bt. Avraham ha-Levi and her husband Manṣūr b. ʿEli. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: Fragment of a letter from a group of people ("his slaves") to an unidentified dignitary. in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Verso: Accounts, probably, in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yosef ha-Kohen, in Alexandria, to the well-known merchant Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early to mid-12th century. Most of the substance of the letter is missing, but it opens (after the eloquent greetings) with a reference to the "inflation and famine" that occurred the previous year. Writing exercises have been added on verso. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Accounts, written in two columns on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: rhymed letter in Hebrew. Verso: unidentified Judaeo-Arabic text (possibly a letter). (Information from CUDL)

Note to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew. Concerning the items that have gone missing from a female orphan’s inheritance (or possibly trousseau, qumāsh). The Nagid is urged to 'act in solidarity with her for the sake of Heaven.' (Information in part from CUDL)

Opening of a letter from a man to his son, headed with על שמך. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Mordechai. Dating: probably 16th century. It is headed by an ornate בע''ה. Verso and the margin on recto contains jottings (signature practice) in a different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a perfumer, submitting an account to the addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably late 12th or early 13th century. Numbers are given in Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions people such as al-Melammed and al-Shaykh al-Makīn. Mentions goods such as bamboo chalk (ṭabāshīr) and vessels (qawārīr and zanābīr). The first sum named is nearly 2000 (dirhams?); the final sum at the bottom of the page is torn away. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably in Qalyūb, to a family member, in Fustat. Fragment: left side of recto, right side of verso, tapering as they go down. The remaining piece is so narrow that it will not make a lot of sense until the join is found. He mentions: two knives, two notebooks; Ṭāhir; Ibn al-Sabʿ; Hiba; Ibn Yaʿaqov; the holidays.

Letter from Avraham Kolon (קולון) to Yosef Ardiʿa (ארדיעה). In Hebrew. Dating: Thursday, 12 Kislev [5318 AM], which is 1557 CE (see A. David's article for explanation of the date). Mentions a huge shipment of merchandise. "They say" that apart from the 200,000 peraḥim (which typically refers to Venetian ducats) there are 74 cases of coral, 14 cases of קארבה(?), a thousand copper ingots of one kind and 400 of another, 60 cases of hats, 60 cases of silk garments, and 100 packages ("balas") of clothing. Also mentions Francisco Grisolin (פרנסיסקו גריסולין). Address on verso. (Information in part from CUDL)

Draft of a ketubba from Fusṭāṭ, dated 1301, written under the authority of the Nagid Abraham b. David b. Abraham Maimonides. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter in Ladino. Verso: accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: Abū l-Ḥasan; Ibn Ṣalḥūn; good buttons (azrār); walnut; an ointment (mirham). Regards to various people including Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Shofeṭ and Hiba. There is a postscript on verso. Mentions Ibn Yeḥezqel; Abū l-Faḍl b. al-[...]; green walnut; two pillows and two dabīqī somethings; and ʿEzra b. Shuwayʿ. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from a certain Yishmaʿel. Written on the 7th of Av. The writer says he will bring the mat or chessboard (naṭʿ) with him when he comes with his father and al-ʿAfīf. They were only delayed due to the wedding of a woman in the family (al-ṣaghīra, spelled אלצגיגה). They received the marriage payment from Abū l-Badr b. al-Ḥakīm (‘Son of the Doctor’) ʿImrān (alternatively, he could be Abū l-Badr the son of the doctor ʿImrān. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter fragment from Yefet b. ʿAmram b. Moshe ha-Mumḥe known as Ibn al-Jāzfīnī/Ghāzfīnī, in the Rīf, to the elder and cantor Yakhin b. Avraham, presumably in Fustat. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: second half of the 11th century. Same sender as T-S 20.28, and the addressee appears in T-S AS 204.163 and T-S 8J4.11. Most of the content is lost. (Information in part from CUDL.)