al-Shaqāʼiq al-nuʻmānīyah fī ʻulamāʼ al-dawlah al-ʻUthmānīyah, [1032, i.e. 1622].

Elegant copy of the celebrated biographical work by Taşköprüzâde (Taşköprî-zâde) İsam ed-Dîn Ahmet (d.1561), mainly addressing ʻulamāʼ and ṣūfī shaykhs under the Ottomans and organized in ten classes (ṭabaqāt) corresponding to the reigns of the first ten Ottoman sultans through Süleyman I (r.1520-1566). A contents listing (ṭabaqāt by sultan) is provided on the 'title page' (p.1).Origin: As appears in colophon on p.377, copied by Ahmet bin Mehmet bin Bâlî (Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Bālī ; احمد بن محمد بن بالي ) with transcription completed ("waqaʻa al-farāgh ʻan taḥrīrih wa-imlāʼih wa-tarqīmih ...") 3 Muḥarram 1032 [ca. 7 November 1622]. As appears in closing matter ('authorial colophon') on p.376, dictation of the composition by the author completed ("wa-qad faraghtu min imlāʼih ...") end of Ramaḍān 965 [July 1558] in Istanbul ( قسطنطنية ).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 'title page' (p.1) "IL 229" (likely supplied by Yahuda, see acquisitions slip).Binding: Boards covered in deep teal cloth ; Type II binding (with flap) ; board linings in olive green cloth ; sewn in dull pink thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in pink and yellow, damaged with losses to head and tailband, cores exposed ; overall in somewhat poor condition with upper board and spine cloth detaching, etc.Support: European laid paper ; mainly with 9 laid linse per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 29-30 mm. apart (horizontal), and crown-star-crescent watermark (see p.24, 34, 88, 89, etc.), sturdy, medium cream in color, well-burnished to glossy ; also toward in the latter part of the codex, another type with 11-12 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 25 mm. apart (horizontal), and crossbow in circle watermark (see p.268, 269, etc.), thin and crisp though still dense and sturdy, well-burnished to glossy.Decoration: Keywords, section headings, and notabilia rubricated ; textual dividers in the form of red inverted commas or discs.Script: Nastaʻlīq (talik) ; elegant Turkish hand, small and compact ; serifless with slight effect of tilt to the left and of words descending to baseline, some sweeping descenders, pointing (multiple dots) mainly in strokes or conjoined dots, free assimilation of letters.Layout: Written in 17 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: V-1 (9), 18 V(189) ; virtually exclusively quinions ; foliation in black ink, Hindu-Arabic numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization.Colophon: "Scribal," triangular, reads "وقع الفراغ عن تحريره واملائه وترقيمه بعون الله وانعامه على يدا [؟] عبده الفقير الى عفوه وغفرانه احمد [؟] بن محمد بن بالي في اليوم الثالث من محرم الحرام لسنة اثنتين وثلثين والف من الهجرة النبوية عليه افضل السلام والتحية هر كه خوند [خواند] دعا طمع دارم زانكه من بندهء كنهكارم"Explicit: "ومنهم الشيخ الصالح مصلح الدين مصطفى من خلفاء السيد احمد البخاري ... توفى رحمه قريبا من ستين وتسعمائة روح الله روحه ونور ضريحه هذا اخر ما تيسر لي بعون الله الملك العلام من تفصيل احوال علماء الاعلام وذكر مناقب المشايخ العظام وحين آن آوان الاختتام ... فليكن هذا اخر الكتاب وقد الميته على بعض من الاصحاب ... وقد فرغت من املائه يوم السبت آخر شهر رمضان المبارك بتاريخ سنة خمس وستين وتسعمائة بمدينة قسطنطنية ... واجب يا رب دعوتي وثبت حجتي وسدد لساني واهد قلبي واسدل [اسلل] سخيمة صدري سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم الكريم لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم م"Incipit: "الحمد لله الذي رفع بفضله طبقات العلماء وجعل اصولهم ثابتة وفرعهم في السماء وزين سماء الشريعة والاسلام بانوار افكار الفضلاء ... وبعد فاني منذ ما عرفت اليمين من الشمال والمستقيم من المحال كنت مشعوفا بتنبع مناقب العلماء واخبارهم ... ولما شاهد هذه الحال بعض من ارباب الفضل والكمال التمس مني ان اجمع مناقب علماء الروم فاجبت الى ملتمسه ... وضعت الرسالة على ترتيب سلاطين آل عثمان ولهذا سميت الرسالة بالشقائق النعمانية في علماء الدولة العثمانية ..."Title from opening matter (preface) on p.3.Ms. codex.Ḥājjī Khalīfah. Kashf al-ẓunūn,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Elegant copy of the celebrated biographical work by Taşköprüzâde (Taşköprî-zâde) İsam ed-Dîn Ahmet (d.1561), mainly addressing ʻulamāʼ and ṣūfī shaykhs under the Ottomans and organized in ten classes (ṭabaqāt) corresponding to the reigns of the first ten Ottoman sultans through Süleyman I (r.1520-1566). A contents listing (ṭabaqāt by sultan) is provided on the 'title page' (p.1).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.Glosses and marginal corrections ; notabilia (side-heads) marking each entry by scholar or shaykh's name ; possible former owners' marks on p.378