Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter in Arabic to a certain Amīr [...] al-Dawla wa-[...]hā, perhaps reporting on business setbacks. The body of the letter begins in line 6 after the space. The writer may be discussing wool (al-ṣūf) and the wool merchants (al-ṣawwāfīn) in the margin. Verso: An unusual Judaeo-Arabic composition, giving recipes and instructions, purpose unclear. Perhaps for detergents and/or dyes and/or bleaches. ASE.

Legal document. Court ruling. Dated: July 1084. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Location: Fustat. Yaḥyā b. Samuel sues Amram b. Abraham for various commodities (wool, flax, and cinnamon in exchange for silk robes, silver scammony, and saffron) which represent the former’s investment with the latter. However, Amram seems to have placed the items in the care of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Tinnīsī, who seems to have assumed responsibility for them by means of a power of attorney. Apparently, Aaron sold the items and prepared an account sheet, remitting the balance to Amram, who then settled his account with Yaḥyā. At the time the matter is to be adjudicated, Amram has left Fusṭāṭ and Yaḥyā asks for a continuance. Yefet b. Avraham, counterparty in the sale of a quantity of silver to Abū al-Ḥusayn, also appears in a number of geniza documents. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 110). Verso seems to contain another legal discussion with the same partners over similar issues.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, to Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, probably in Qayrawān. Dating: around 1045. The letter mentions correspondence with the Maghrib, the anxiety in Fustat about the Nile flood, and items such as iron, wool, textiles, resin and spices. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #241)

Letter in which Arus b. Yosef mentions accounts of the export of five qintars of wool worth thirty dinars from Alexandria to Almeria in Spain. The trader had to pay six dinars for freight, half in Alexandria and half on arrival in Spain. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp.105, 344, 419)