Geniza Lab

Letter from Nahray b. Natan b. Nahray, in Alexandria, to a certain Abū Saʿīd. Fragment (upper part only). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century. The sender and his father, both residents of Alexandria, are known to have exchanged letters with their relative, Nahray b. Nissim. (Gil mistakenly identified the sender as Nahray b. Nissim himself.) In this letter, Nahray b. Natan writes that he has received a letter with a list of merchandise sent to Fustat by Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd Ibn al-Lebdī. The list of merchandise is valuable for the study of the Indian Ocean trade. The sender says that he has sent two purses of 100 dinars each with two different messengers and asks the addressee to buy several items for him. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book I.)

Letter from Nissim b. Benāyā (Alexandria) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Fustat), ca. 1085 (Gil). Nissim b. Benāyā brought a sum of money for ʿArūs b. Yosef from the Maghreb and had to send it to Fustat in cash. He would have preferred to exchange the money in Alexandria for a bill of exchange from Fustat but this was not possible. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 1009.) The letter was composed shortly after Nissim b. Benāyā’s return from the Maghreb around 1100 (Goitein) and is full of gratitude for the receiver. (Information from Goitein index cards linked below.)