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Lot Essay
Ibn al-Baytar's great contribution to the history of medicine was in amalgamating the pharmacological heritage of antiquity with the contributions made by Islamic physicians. He was born in al-Andalus, where he was able to absorb the developments made by the great scientists of Islamic Spain such as al-Zahrawi. As his name shows, his father was a veterinarian doctor (baitar), but al-Malaqi turned his hand to botany. His studies of botany took him first to Seville, then around Spain and then to North Africa, where he continued to collect plants and meet with other people of knowledge. In 1223, he travelled to Anatolia and Greece, before arriving in Egypt the following year. After he arrived, he found employment with Sultan al-Kamil, taking advantage of the Ayyubid expansion into Syria to travel there too, where he died in 1248 (Ayman Yasin Atat, Ibn al-Baytar's al-Mughni fi al-Tibb, Montreal, 2019). In crossing from one side of the Mediterranean to the other, he built up an encyclopedic knowledge of important authorities, as well as direct experience of all manner of herbs and remedies.
Of his seven known works, kitab al-mufradat is one of the most important. It contains an alphabetical list of plants, animals, and minerals, and their medical application. Written between 1242 and 1248, the text lists over 1,400 different drugs. Modern medical developments have confirmed the efficacy of many of ibn al-Baytar's cures: his prescribed cures for urinary issues, for instance, contain many effective diuretics and analgesics (İ. İşlek et al., "Ibn al-Baitar: a 13th century botanical scientist and his suggestions", Archives of Hellenic medicine, 37(2), 2020, pp.148-55). The text is striking for its use of a wealth of authorities: over 150 authors are cited, in our text their names written in bold. They include Arabic writers like Ibn Sina and al-Razi, as well as classical authors like Aristotle and Dioscorides. The text's lasting influence is measured by its wide translation: in subsequent centuries it appeared in Latin, Turkish, German, and French. Wendy L Applequist also notes that up to 80% of plants still used in Amazigh traditional medicine are documented by Ibn al-Baytar (Applequist, "Persistence of use among Amazigh people of medicinal plants documented by Ibn al-Baytar", Plants, 14(3), 2025).
Large in size and with the terms to be defined picked out in red, this is an impressive manuscript prepared with some care. It also appears to be complete, with the text beginning with alef and continuing through to waw and ya. Copies of the manuscript are found in several major institutions, including the Bodleian Library, Oxford. However, a few are as early as ours. A manuscript written in a comparable hand also datable to the 14th century is in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France,(acc.no.Arabe 2980). This is a rare and early copy of this important text, copied only a few decades after the death of the author.
Of his seven known works, kitab al-mufradat is one of the most important. It contains an alphabetical list of plants, animals, and minerals, and their medical application. Written between 1242 and 1248, the text lists over 1,400 different drugs. Modern medical developments have confirmed the efficacy of many of ibn al-Baytar's cures: his prescribed cures for urinary issues, for instance, contain many effective diuretics and analgesics (İ. İşlek et al., "Ibn al-Baitar: a 13th century botanical scientist and his suggestions", Archives of Hellenic medicine, 37(2), 2020, pp.148-55). The text is striking for its use of a wealth of authorities: over 150 authors are cited, in our text their names written in bold. They include Arabic writers like Ibn Sina and al-Razi, as well as classical authors like Aristotle and Dioscorides. The text's lasting influence is measured by its wide translation: in subsequent centuries it appeared in Latin, Turkish, German, and French. Wendy L Applequist also notes that up to 80% of plants still used in Amazigh traditional medicine are documented by Ibn al-Baytar (Applequist, "Persistence of use among Amazigh people of medicinal plants documented by Ibn al-Baytar", Plants, 14(3), 2025).
Large in size and with the terms to be defined picked out in red, this is an impressive manuscript prepared with some care. It also appears to be complete, with the text beginning with alef and continuing through to waw and ya. Copies of the manuscript are found in several major institutions, including the Bodleian Library, Oxford. However, a few are as early as ours. A manuscript written in a comparable hand also datable to the 14th century is in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France,(acc.no.Arabe 2980). This is a rare and early copy of this important text, copied only a few decades after the death of the author.