Geniza Lab

Page from a Judaeo-Arabic work giving instructions for what to do with various metals and chemicals, presumably alchemical.

Four pages from a literary treatise containing instructions for treasure hunting and recipes, perhaps alchemical. There are numerous fragments probably in the hand of the same scribe or even from the same work; see FGP Joins Suggestions.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Giving alchemical recipes, occult correspondences between celestial objects and metals (called ʿaqāqīr), and handy recipes for getting stains, e.g. saffron stains, out of clothing.

Bifolium from an Arabic literary treatise, including the pious opening and, on the other two pages, several (al)chemical recipes.

Several alchemical recipes written at all angles to each other.

Folio from a late treatise containing alchemical recipes in Judaeo-Arabic, including for "water of lead" that will dissolve anything. ASE

Recipe or instructions in Arabic script. Likely alchemical. Mentions lead (three lines from the bottom) and "it becomes elixir" (iksīr) in the next line. On verso there are Arabic letters accompanied by their numerical values.

Alchemical instructions in Arabic script. On one side of the paper, at 90 degrees, there is another undeciphered list in Arabic script.

Recipes in Arabic script mentioning lead and fire. Possibly alchemical. Needs further examination.

Recipe in Judaeo-Arabic involving iron, sal ammoniac, cotton, silver, and other items. Alchemical?

Recipes in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably alchemical, but possibly medical. Magnesia (מגניסיא) is mentioned. This is not a legal document related to business, as it is listed on FGP.

Recipes in Judaeo-Arabic. Alchemical: dhahab kāmil in shā' allāh.

Recto: two alchemical recipes, the first on the use of a water derived from a preparation of tutty (an oxide of zinc), which is left overnight to congeal into a stone; the second deals with a preparation with tartar (potassium tartarate) white sal ammoniac (in transliteration from Arabic here), copper, sulfur, salpeter (nitre, mineral of potassium nitrate), sea salt, and white copper, mentioning the use of a waterproof glass container and another vessel isolated with the clay of the sages (Ar. Ṭīn al-ḥikma, Lat. argilla philosophorum, lutum sapientiae). Verso: instructions for the production of an amulet for a barren woman, with magical characteres and two small Stars of David, and instructions for the production of an amulet for avoiding dangers on the road. All this is written in a late Ashkenazi hand. (Information mainly from CUDL.)

Recto: Bill of gift, in which a house in Qaṣr al-Šamʿ is given by [Isaa]c b. Abraham to his daughter, the wife of Mevasser b. Ḡalib. The house is described as abutting the houses of Abū Yaḥyā (אבו יחיי) the uncircumcised, Yošaʿnaʾ (יושענא) the uncircumcised (both Christians), and Abdah Zerah Šalalʿabʾad (עבדה זרה שללעבאד). Witnessed by [...] b. Ṣemaḥ. Dated 126[.] of the Seleucid Era (= 948-958 CE). Verso: alchemical text mentioning a cooking pot and the following ingredients: lead, arsenic, urine, silver, egg white, salt, and blood. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Alchemical or medical recipe containing both organic and metal substances, followed by a short history of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus written in Judaeo-Persian. Both texts are written in the same hand. On recto there are also 2 lines from the end of an Arabic legal document in large, calligraphic script. On parchment. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recipe in the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Headed "al-qalʿī." For אקאמה אלפלקי (this may not be the 'celestial sphere,' as that would be פלכי). Mentioning substances such as ammonia, white alum and zubd al-baḥr (possibly mercury). (Information in part from Goitein's note card and CUDL.)

Fragment of a bifolium with recipes in Judaeo-Arabic, probably alchemical.

Recipe, alchemical. (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Recipes (alchemical?) mainly in Hebrew with many Romance words mixed in (mercury, sal natri). Late.

Hebrew instructions for producing silver and gold, followed by Hebrew writing exercises in a different hand. At the bottom of recto there is a draft of an Arabic deed of acknowledgment (iqrār), in which ʿAwfar(?) b. Mufadḍal acknowledges a debt of 130 nuqra dirhams to his wife Kharīfa(?) bt. ʿAbdallāh the convert (al-muhtadī). In the right margin there is a draft of a petition in Arabic script in which the sender describes his distress. (Information in part from CUDL)