Badīʻ al-ḥisāb
Contributors: Smith, David Eugene, 1860-1944, former owner; Muslim World Manuscripts (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Published: 1851
Place of publication: Lahore
Language: per
Number of pages: 76
Subjects: Arithmetic; Geometry; Persian Manuscripts
Description: Manual of arithmetic and geometry for merchants' use including how to calculate the area of a ship. According to the compiler, the work includes excerpts from the following texts: Muntakhab al-ḥisāb, Līlāvatī, and Dastūr al-ʻamal.
Notes: Manuscript codex.

Title from introduction (f. 2r).

Layout: 15 long lines with some geometrical figures and formulas written vertically in between the text.

Script: Written in rapid nastaʻliq in black ink; pointed, unvocalized.

Decoration: Overlines, headings, and textual divisions in red. Geometrical diagrams in black.

Inserted: A letter written by David Eugene Smith on behalf of the American Mathematical Society (founded 1888) asking for contributions to the library of the Society laid in (between f. 5v and 6r). The back of the letter holds a handwritten long division problem, copied from f. 5v, with an explanation by Smith.

Shelfmark: MS Or 36.

Origin: Copy completed on 25 April 1851; the corresponding date in Vikram Samvat, 1908, is also given (f. 76v).

Digital version available with no restrictions Unrestricted online access.

Electronic reproduction. New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Libraries, 2018. Digitized as part of the Muslim World Manuscripts Project, 2018-2020, funded by CLIR.

Author's name appears in the manuscript as Rajab ʻAlī Beg wald Fāz̤il Beg. The work is listed in Āghā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī as number 215 (3.73). Author's name also listed in Fihris aʻlām al-Dharīʻah ilá taṣānīf al-Shīʻah as Ibn Rajab, ʻAbd al-Qāhir al-Ḥuwayzī al-ʻIbadi (1.852).

Persian.

Islamic binding. Full brown leather with blind tooling.

Digitized. 2018 Columbia University Libraries committed to preserve