Tadhkirat uli al albab (Pharmacological compendium: an abridgment of Tadhkirat uli al albab, with talismanic material). Dawud ibn Umar Antaki (David of Antioch). Middle East, incl. Arabian Gulf: History, Travels, Falconry and Horses

Small 4to (140 x 185 mm). 57 ff. Arabic manuscript on polished paper. Maghribi script in black ink with rubrication in red and occasional yellow highlights. Contemporary full brown goatskin, blind-tooled with a central mandorla and pendants within a double-line border. A concise pharmacological manual, preserved in parts II-X and arranged in ten sections subdivided into chapters, written in a clear Maghribi hand, plus interleaving medical matter with talismanic content. - The work states that it abridges the Tadhkirat uli al albab of Da ud al Antaki (d. 1599), a cornerstone of early modern pharmacology.The selection and lemmata follow al Antaki while compressing and adapting his material for ready use.The opening folio further cites a book styled Sharh al Aqaqir (Commentary on Medicines), presently untraced, from which the compiler explains and translates drug names from Greek, Latin, and Persian into Arabic; this lexical exercise frames the entries and signals the pedagogical aim of the copy. Entries combine simple and compound remedies with therapeutic indications and cross references, recording Greek and Latin derived names (asarun, oenomel) alongside Persian terms (shah balut), situating the text firmly within a post classical Islamicate pharmacological tradition informed by Greco Arabic learning and by Ibn al Baytar s legacy. Local practice is likewise reflected in items such as babunij, sakbinakh, kundur, suqutri, mulukhiyya, kishk, and janah al shami, suggesting an Egyptian or Syrian milieu and everyday usage. - Talismanic features, including a numerical square and invocations against the plague by Sheikh Shihab al Din Ahmad al Bulqini (1324-1403) and Sheikh Abd al Qadir al Jilani (1077-1166) punctuate the medical content and illustrate the interweaving of medical, devotional, and apotropaic practices of the period. A rare witness to the early modern transmission of al Antaki s encyclopedia and to the coexistence of pharmacology and talismanic practice in everyday healing practice. - Lacking part I and the opening of part II; a first leaf bound in before the text to give the impression of completeness. Light soiling and waterstains to margins; otherwise well preserved and in good condition. - Two illegible stamps on one page. - GAL II, 364.