Cum grano salis. Some Arabic Ink Recipes in Their Historical and Literary Context

Abstract

With the help of three case studies, this article presents ink recipes in their material and literary context. By discussing the value of textual variants and problematic passages in recipe collections, on the one hand, and their intellectual context on the other, a philological and historical approach can offer a solid ground for new scientific approaches to manuscript studies. The reconstruction of the literary history of these materials helps in mapping routes for the transmission of technical knowledge in the pre-modern Eastern world. This article also aims at making Arabic sources available to a larger scholarly public in an English annotated translation. Specialists can profit from the linguistic data, as well as from the discussion of the application of textual criticism to technical materials.