Behcetü'l-fetâva, [1154, i.e. 1741].

Fine copy of the collection of legal decisions by Yenişehirli Abullah Efendi (d. 1742 or 3), compiled (with an Arabic preface) and annotated in Arabic by Muḥammad Fiqhī al-ʻAynī (fl. 1702). Table of contents provided at opening (pp.4-14).Origin: As appears at close on p.523, dated Rabīʻ II 1153 [June-July 1741] "في ربيع الاخر سنه ١١٥٤".Accompanying materials: a. Inventory cataloguing slip in hand of Winifred Smeaton Thomas -- b. Acquisitions slip from Yahuda.Former shelfmark: From interior of upper cover and spine label, "IL 35" (likely supplied by Yahuda, see acquisitions slip).Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark red leather ; Type II binding (with flap) ; board linings in now silvery laid paper ; upper and lower covers carry blind-stamped mandorla (filled with vegetal composition, compare Déroche class. OSd 8), pendants and corner pieces along with tooled accents (strokes and rosette stamp) and border (rules flanking a series of s-shaped stamps) ; sewn in red and yellow (from around p.144) thread, four stations ; worked chevron endbands in red and yellow, only headband remains ; overall in somewhat poor condition with abrasion, lifting and losses of leather (particularly at board edges), delamination of boards, etc. ; repairs to spine, fore edge flap and board edges in black leather, also damaged.Support: European laid paper with 12-13 laid lines per cm. (horizontal), chain lines spaced 20 mm. apart (vertical), and watermark of crown above cartouche with name and grapes (raisin) below (see p.16, 54, 246, etc.), sturdy and dense, beige in color, well-burnished ; some staining and tide lines.Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān) at opening on p.16, consisting of rectangular piece with empty gold cartouche flanked by floral accents in gold and red on a blue ground surmounted by scalloped semi-circular piece (dome) filled with somewhat crudely executed floral vegetal decoration in gold, white, yellow and red on fields of blue and gold with red accents ; entire piece set into a well consisting of a series of colored bands (in red, gold, yellow, and white) with crosses repeated in black ; written area of incipit page surrounded by a gold frame, elswhere central written area and margins surrounded by a red rule-border ; keywords and section headings rubricated ; textual dividers in the form of red inverted commas, discs, etc. ; some overlining in red.Script: Naskh ; two elegant Ottoman hands ; opening hand (through p.334) partially but irregularly seriffed with right-sloping head-serif on occasional lām or other ascender, marked effect of tilt to the left, curvilinear descenders, pointing (for two and three dots) in strokes or conjoined dots rather than distinct dots, some free assimilation of letters (dots) ; from p.335 to close (as well as table of contents, pp.4-14), another elegant naskh, seriffed with left-sloping wedge or barb head-serifs on most ascenders (vertical stroke of final kāf and even shaqq of medial or initial kāf also seriffed), effect of tilt to the left, curvilinear descenders, dramatic contrast of thickness between horizontal and vertical strokes, pointing (for two and three dots) in heavy strokes rather than distinct dots.Layout: Written in 31 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: III (6), 21 V(216), 2 IV(232), 3 V(262), i ; chiefly quinions ; catchwords present ; foliation in black ink, Hindu-Arabic numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes flyleaves and added leaves, mistakenly skips two pages between pp.423-424).Explicit: "اخره تفويض ايتمك استدكده زيد مجرد زراعت ايتدكلريمك حقوقلرينى ارا ايتمكله زراعت ايتمدكلرينك تفويضندن عمروى منعه قادر اولورنى الجواب اولماز"Incipit: "الحمد لله الذي احكم احكام الشرع على احسن الترتيب والنظام وجعل علماء الشريعة خلفاء رسوله في بيان الحلال والحرام ... وبعد فيقول الفقير الى رحمة ربه الغني محمد فقهى العينى لله در علامة زماننا ... مظهر الاحكام الربانية مفتي السلطنة العثمانية مولانا ابو الفضل عبد الله افندى اليكيشهرى فقد بذل جهده في الافتاء لذوي الحاجات ... واني لما استسعدت بخدمته [؟] العليا ... اردت ان ارتب هذا الكتاب المستطاب ليسهل الاطلاع على تفاريق الواقعات ... واثبت في الهامش نقل كل مسئلة ... فلما صار ذلك كتابا مرتبا ... سميته ببهجة الفتاوى ..."Title from opening matter (preface) on p.17.Ms. codex.Brockelmann, C. GAL,Fine copy of the collection of legal decisions by Yenişehirli Abullah Efendi (d. 1742 or 3), compiled (with an Arabic preface) and annotated in Arabic by Muḥammad Fiqhī al-ʻAynī (fl. 1702). Table of contents provided at opening (pp.4-14).Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in 1926 from the bookseller Isaac Benjamin S.E. Yahuda via purchase transacted on his behalf by Abraham Shalom Yahuda (1877-1951), his younger brother.Inheritance calculations on recto of opening added leaf carrying table of contents (p.3) ; on 'title page' (p.15) ownership statement in name of al-Sayyid al-Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad al-Fāʼiq (Mehmet Faik), mufti in ʻAyntab (Ayıntap, Antep, Gaziantep) accompanied by circular seal impression (dated 1239 [1823 or 4]), statement reads "مما اعاره الدهر الفقير الى رحمته سبحانه وتعالى السيد الحافظ محمد الفائق المفتي بمدينه عينتب حفظ عن العتب" ; extensive marginal glosses (supplied by the compiler)