Syrups from the Apothecary's Shop: a Genizah Fragment Containing one of the Earliest Manuscripts of Minh
j Al-Dukkn*
Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit Cambridge University Library
Minh
j al-dukkn wa-dust
r al-a'yn f
a'ml wa-tarkb al-adwiya al-nfi'a lil-insn (‘The management of the [pharmacist's] shop and the rule for the notables on the preparation and composition of medicines beneficial to Man’) is a manual for pharmacists composed in the year 658/1260 in Cairo by the otherwise unknown Ab 'l-Mun Dwd b. Ab Na
r al-Khn al-'A
r al-Hrn al-Isr'l, from his name a Jewish druggist. Minhj al-dukkn was composed in the period covered by the Genizah, but hitherto no such manuscript has been identified. We were able to identify T-S Ar. 40.91 as a fragment of chapter two of Minhj al-dukkn. In this article we will present a transcription and translation of T-S Ar. 40.91, followed by a description of the sources and materia medica referred to. Finally, we will show that this fragment is a remnant of one of the earliest manuscripts of Minhj al-dukkn found so far.