The Collection of the Islamic Manuscripts  on Medicine and Magic at L’Orientale

Francesca Bellino

doi:10.6093/978-88-6719-346-2

The Collection of the Islamic Manuscripts on Medicine and Magic at L’Orientale

Authors

Francesca Bellino

University of Naples L'Orientale

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-346-2

Synopsis

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Quaderni del Fondo Manoscritti e Rari

Pages: 270

Language: Italiano

Abstract: The inaugural volume of the series focuses on the collection of Arabic manuscripts on medicine, pharmacopoeia, science, and magic preserved at the University of Naples “L’Orientale.” It aims to reconstruct the origin and provenance of the materials, collected primarily—but not exclusively—by the Arabist and colonial physician Tommaso Sarnelli (1890–1972), chiefly in Yemen. The catalogue traces the complex developments associated with his scientific and professional career.

In addition, the volume offers an integrated analysis of the preserved materials: on the one hand, reconstructing the circulation of these texts within the broader context of the post-classical Islamic world; and on the other, providing a reading of the texts in conjunction with their paratexts—that is, examining the history of the works alongside their readers, collectors, and transmitters of knowledge, situated at the intersection of medical practice and magical-religious traditions. The study also emphasizes the history of medical and magical manuscripts as objects within the communities of doctors, pharmacists, and practitioners who used and transmitted this knowledge.

The volume includes contributions by Francesca Bellino, Luca Berardi, Giovanni Maria Martini, and Antonella Murtagia, as well as the complete catalogue of 23 Arabic manuscripts in the collection.

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Author Biography

Francesca Bellino, University of Naples L'Orientale

Francesca Bellino is Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” where she has taught since 2017. She previously held teaching positions at the University of Turin (2007–2016).

She earned her degree in Semitic Philology from the University of Turin (2001) and a Ph.D. from the University of Florence (2005), where she studied the manuscript tradition of Ghazwat Raʾs al-Ghūl, attributed to Abū al-Ḥasan al-Bakrī (fl. 13th century), and legendary maghāzī literature. Her Italian translation of al-Qazwīnī’s ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt (Le meraviglie del creato e le stranezze degli esseri, Milan, 2008) marked the beginning of her ongoing work on Arabic encyclopaedic traditions. She recently edited a monographic issue on The Natural World in Arabic Textual Culture (7th–15th Centuries) (Quaderni di Studi Arabi, 2023) and co-edited L’adab, toujours recommencé: Origins, Transmissions, Metamorphoses of Adab Literature (Brill, 2023). Her research focuses on Arabic popular literature, Islamic cosmography, and the transmission of knowledge in pre-modern Islamic textual culture.

She has worked extensively with manuscripts, notably collaborating on the Paul Kahle Archive project (KADMOS) at the University of Turin, focusing on Islamic materials and Arabic manuscripts. Francesca has conducted research and study stays in Cádiz, Damascus, and Cairo, and has been a visiting scholar at Princeton University, the University of Tokyo, and Harvard University.