Kitāb al-fawāʼid fī maʻrifat ʻilm al-baḥr wa-al-qawāʻid
Contributors: Ferrand, Gabriel, 1864-1935 associated name; Nedjm eddin, Bey, scribe; Malinjoud, J., Commandant, associated name; Minami Manshū Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha. Tōa Keizai Chōsakyoku
Published: 1926
Language: ara
Number of pages: 174
Subjects: Arabic Manuscripts; Early works to 1800; Navigation
Other titles: Kitāb al-Fawāʼid fī uṣūl ʻilm al-baḥr wa-al-qawāʼid
Work titles: Fawāʼid fī maʻrifat ʻilm al-baḥr wa-al-qawāʻid
Description: Ibn Majid was an expert on the navigation of the Indian Ocean and it is believed that Vasco da Gama consulted him with regard to the route to India.  The text covers all aspects of the navigation of the Indian Ocean, including routes, harbors, and landfalls.
Notes: Colophon of book in hand (fol. 174b) states that transcription completed 7 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1344 or (incorrectly) 29 June 1925; correct Western date is 18 June 1926.

Copied by Nedjm eddin Bey, professor at the l'Ecole Superieure d'Arabe in Damascus, on the instructions of Commandant Malinjoud, the director of l'Ecole Superieure d'Arabe, from a manuscript originally copied by Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Yaḥyá al-Jamāl on 17 Rabīʻ al-Thānī 984 [14 July 1576] and donated by Muḥsin al-Murādī to al-Ẓahirīyah Library in Damascus.

[Damascus?]

Paper:  yellowed cream, with watermarks, in good condition. Text is in black with some rubricated words.  Catchwords on rectos.   Includes other pages numbered 1-3, 172-3, 176, 241, 245, 341 and 346.

Note on flyleaf: Note. Ce ms a été copié par Nedjm eddin Bey, prof. à l'Ecole supérieure d'arabe de Damas sur les instructions du Ct̲ Malinjoud, Directeur de l'Ecole, à qui je dois cet exemplaire. Cette copie a été fait sur l'exemplaire de l'Academie Arabe de Damas qui est lui-même une copie.  Le ms de Damas est assez vétuste; la reliure en veau sans rabat, est abrimeé. Acune ornement. Ecriture orientale lisible (voir les photos que je dois à l'inlassable obligeance du Ct̲ Malinjoud). Non paginé, papier épais, grossier, en bon état; certaines fuilles sont aussi épaisses que du carton. 204 x 60; 174 fuillets plus 2 fuillets de garde au commencement et 2 autres à la fin; 23 lignes à la page."

Library of Congress. Arabic manuscript, SM-53.

99 names of God on title page. Text of Kitāb al-fawāʼid ends on fol. 99b, followed by poems in Rajaz meter on navigation:  Ḥāwīyat al-ikhtiṣār fī uṣūl ʻilm al-biḥār (fol. 100a-125a); al-Muʻarrabah (fol. 125a-129a); Qiblat al-Islām (fol. 129a-136b); Urjūzat barr al-ʻArab fī khalīj Fāris (fol. 136b-138b); Urjūzah fī qismat al-jammah ʻalá anjum banāt al-naʻsh (fol. 138b-143b); Urjūzat kanz al-maʻālimah (fol. 143b-145b); Urjūzah fī al-natakhāt li-barr al-Hind wa-barr al-ʻArab min al-Jāh (fol. 145b-151a); Mīmīyat al-abdāl (fol. 151a-152b); Urjūzah mukhammasah (fol. 152b-153a); Ḍarībat al-ḍarāʼib (fol. 154a-158a); Qaṣīdah Makkīyah (fol. 159b-163b); Nādirat al-abdāl (fol. 163b-164b); Dhahabīyah (fol. 164b-169a); al-Fāʼiqah (fol. 169a-170b); and al-Balīghah (fol. 170b-172a).

Naskhī script; 23 lines in written area, 20 x 10 cm.

Photographs of 4 pages of the original text inserted, namely:  title page pasted before fol. 1, last page (colophon of poems) inserted between fol 173 and 174; and 2 other pages, one (colophon of Fawāyid fī maʻrifat ʻilm al-baḥr wa-al-qawāʻid) between fol. 99 and 100, and the other between fol. 107 and 108.

Fol. 1a-174b.

Ownership stamps of South Manchurian Railway Company, Far East Economic Office, on fol. 1a and fol. 2a.

Binding:  Cardboard covered with leather.

Fihris al-Makhṭūṭāt al-ʻArabīyah fī al-maktabat al-Kūngris, 41.

Tolmacheva, Marina. "An unknown manuscript of the Kitab al-Fawa'id," Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 114, no. 2 1994, p. 259-262.

Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.

Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.

Arabic.
Table of contents: title: Kitāb al-fawāʼid fī maʻrifat ʻilm al-baḥr wa-al-qawāʻid; title: Ḥāwīyat al-ikhtiṣār fī uṣūl ʻilm al-biḥār; title: al-Muʻarrabah; title: Qiblat al-Islām; title: Urjūzat barr al-ʻArab fī khalīj Fāris; title: Urjūzah fī qismat al-jammah ʻalá anjum banāt al-naʻsh; title: Urjūzat kanz al-maʻālimah; title: Urjūzah fī al-natakhāt li-barr al-Hind wa-barr al-ʻArab min al-Jāh; title: Mīmīyat al-abdāl; title: Urjūzah mukhammasah; title: Ḍarībat al-ḍarāʼib; title: Qaṣīdah Makkīyah; title: Nādirat al-abdāl; title: Dhahabīyah; title: al-Fāʼiqah; title: al-Balīghah.