Lot 13: NASIR AL-DIN AL-TUSI (ATTRIBUTED), KITAB AL-KHUSUS, ARABIC ASTROLOGICAL MANUSCRIPT DATED 869 AH (1465 CE)

This 15th-century Arabic manuscript is an astrological treatise titled Kitab al-Khusus fi al-qadaya wa-l-ahkam ‘ala al-mawalid wa-irtibatiha bi-l-nujum wa-l-kawakib (The Book of Particulars on Judgments and Rulings Concerning Nativities and Their Connection to Stars and Planets). The text is attributed to the celebrated polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274) and reportedly composed for the treasury of the last Abbasid Caliph, al-Musta’sim billah. The manuscript is written in a clear Naskh script in black ink, with section headings and astrological subjects highlighted in red. The layout features a single column of approximately 21 lines per page on toned, burnished cream paper. A colophon states the copy was completed on 1 Sha’ban 869 AH (April 1465 CE) from the author’s original draft. The volume is bound in a later brown morocco leather binding, likely from the 18th or 19th century, decorated with a central gilt-stamped mandorla (shamsa) featuring floral motifs and stylized cloud bands. The covers are framed with triple gilt-ruled borders. The interior contains 19th-century Western-style marbled paper endpapers in a combed nonpareil pattern. Visible markings include a modern inventory sticker on the front cover and blue ink notations on the initial flyleaf.

500 pages

Approx. 22.5 cm x 15.5 cm.