8vo. 477 pp., Arabic text within borders, edited & introduced by Abdallah al-Bustani, contemporary red cloth, slightly soiled and rubbed round edges, hinges weak, few wormholes not affecting text, otherwise copy generally in good condition, al-Matba’a al Adabiyya, Beirut, 1901.

Synopsis

Al-Batliyusi, Ibn al-Sid (1052-1127) was a leading Andalusian scholar who was known mainly as a grammarian, a lexicographer and less so, as a philosopher. He was also a prominent traditionalist with interests in jurisprudence and theology and enjoyed a career as a court-poet and secretary. Virtually all his work has survived. He wrote several books discussing and commenting on various linguistic texts by Ibn Malik, al-Ma’arri, Ibn Qutayba, abi al Abbas ibn al Mibrad, Yaqub ibn al Sikkitt and many others. His works were praised by medieval biographers and attracted the attention of modern scholars, and thus there is quite a number of critical editions and studies of his works. By contrast, we have less data on Ibn al-Sid’s life, and what we have is difficult to use. This is probably why there are so few studies devoted to his career, despite its importance to an understanding of his literary production.