8vo. 154 pp., Arabic text, modern hard back binding, some foxing mainly on end leaves, few ink annotations in margins, small cut on first page without loss, original wrappers preserved, Al-Sharq Printing, Cairo, 1342 A. H./ 1923.

Synopsis

Mafatih al-ʿUlum (“Keys to Sciences”), was compiled in 975–997 by the Persian scholar and statesman al-Khawarizmi, who was well aware of the content of the more important Greek writings. He divided his work into two sections: indigenous knowledge (jurisprudence, scholastic philosophy, grammar, secretarial duties, prosody and poetic art, history) and foreign knowledge (philosophy, logic, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, mechanics, alchemy).