Fihrist (Kitab al-fihrist li-al-Nadim) by al-Nadim (d. 990)

Fihrist (Kitab al-fihrist li-al-nadim) by al-Nadim (d. 990). This is an important early copy of the renowned Fihrist, a comprehensive catalogue of all known authors whose books were available to readers in late tenth-century Baghdad. The author was the son of a book-dealer (warraq), and he compiled his encyclopaedic account over many years, gathering biographical information on authors and listing their known works, ordered by topic, over ten chapters. Al-Nadim completed this great bibliographic work in 987-988 (377H). This manuscript was checked against al-Nadim's original autograph manuscript, probably in Baghdad in the late tenth century. Centuries later, this manuscript was owned by the great historian Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), who acquired it in in 1421 (note on folio 1a, dated 824H). Codex, ink and gold on paper, 119 folios, Arabic text in naskh script, partial copy of al-Fihrist (the renowned bibliography of Arabic literature) by Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq, known as al-Nadim (d. 990), checked against the original autograph manuscript, Baghdad, Iraq, c. 987-1000