Bidspirit auction | ARABIC MANUSCRIPT ASTRONOMICAL TABLES, AL-TANTAWI,

ARABIC MANUSCRIPT ASTRONOMICAL TABLES, AL-TANTAWI, MUHAMMAD BIN MUSTAFA AL-AZHARI, 1290 AH. - A 19th-century handwritten Arabic astronomical manuscript titled Zij al-Tantawi (Astronomical Tables of al-Tantawi), authored by Muhammad bin Mustafa al-Azhari, famously known as al-Tantawi. The work is dated 1290 AH (approximately 1873 AD). The volume is bound in a dark maroon leather hardcover featuring a centrally embossed mandorla medallion with intricate arabesque floral motifs, flanked by smaller palmette tools and enclosed by multiple blind-tooled border rules. The opening page features calligraphic red ink script arranged in a decorative, tapered panel. The interior contains numerous pages of meticulously handwritten astronomical and ephemeris tables in black and red ink within red-ruled grids. The tables are numbered, continuing through at least the Twenty-Fourth Table. Extensive marginalia and explanatory notes in Arabic script are present throughout the text, providing commentary on the astronomical calculations and the motion of celestial bodies. The paper is an ivory-toned laid paper typical of the period. 20 by 14cm