Moor B., Rezvan E. Al-Qazwīnī’s ‘Ajā’ib al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharā’ib al-Mawjūdāt: Manuscript D 370 // Manuscripta Orientalia. Vol. 8. No. 4. December 2002. P. 38—68.
The collection of illuminated manuscripts at the St. Petersburg
Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies has in its
holdings a lavishly illustrated copy (D 370) of a cosmographic
work ‘Ajā‘ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā’ib al-mawkūdāt (“The Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of
Existence”) by Zakarīyā’ b. Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī (ca. 1203–1282). The manuscript is dated by
988 / 1580. Al-Qazwīnī’s cosmographic composition is an
example of what happens when scientific knowledge is combined
with a sense of adventure and of a creative imagination.
Indeed, the book lives up to its title. Anyone with an
interest in nature, dreamers with fantasies about far-away
places and the rare creatures who live there, anyone interested
in astronomy, the planets and the sky above, or even in
angels all will find much to enjoy in al-Qazwīnī’s work. It
is, therefore, no wonder that such a composition of great variety
has been copied over the centuries, beginning in the
mid-thirteenth century. Furthermore, as one would expect of
a treatise that deals with vivid literary images, its rich and
varied illustrations bring to life wonderful creatures and odd
beings. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce in full
the manuscript and its illustrations to the reader...
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