Baha' al-Din Muhammad ibn Husain al-'Amili (1547-1622), Khulasat al-hisab, Essence of Arithmetic, also known as al-Kulasah al-hisabiya al-baha'iya, Persia, dated 25th Dhu' Hijja 1094/14th December 1683

Arabic manuscript on coloured paper, 51 leaves, 11 lines to the page written in naskhi and nasta'liq scripts in black ink, significant words and titles written in red ink, extensive commentaries written in nasta'liq script in outer margins and between lines of text, some diagrams and tables, catchwords, some waterstaining and discoloration, brown morocco, creased and worn, doublures of marbled paper, spine damaged, some repairs
176 x 100 mm.

This manuscript, dated 1682-83, can be considered an early copy of the work since it was written only sixty years after the death of the author in 1622. See the previous lot for a note on the author. The book contains an introduction and ten chapters. The work was completed circa 1600, and was dedicated to Prince Hamza, the grandson of Shah Tahmasp I (reg. 1524?1575).

See B.A. Rosenfeld & E. Ihsanoglu, Mathematicians, Astronomers & Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and their Works, Istanbul 2003, pp. 348?500, no. 1058. See also C. Brockelmann, GAL, II. 546 ? 547; Suppl. II. 595 ? 597. There are four copies of this work, the earliest of which is dated AH 1056/AD 1646, in the British Library, London: see P. Stocks & C.F. Baker (edd.), Subject?Guide to the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Library, London 2001, p. 370, M.4.