New Materials on the Tabaqāt al-shu‘arā’ of al-Jumahī

Extract

I

IT is well known that the Ṱabaqāt al-shu‘arā’ of Muḥammad b. Sallāam al-Jumahi is one of our most important source-books for the history of Arabic poetry and poetic theory; it is equally well known that the text as at present available is both deficient, because of lacunae in the manuscripts hitherto discovered and used, and otherwise unsatisfactory, on account of inadequate editing. Despite the very numerous emendations to Joseph Hell's edition (Leiden, 1916) proposed by several eminent scholars, the book still remains lamentably short of perfection; though there can be few texts in the whole of Arabic literature which it would be more desirable to have in good and proper shape.

It has now been my unusual fortune to study in Mr. Chester Beatty's library an exceedingly fine old copy of the Ṱabaqāt al-shu‘arā’, undated but certainly of the fourth/tenth century. This hitherto unknown manuscript not only supplies a great part of the major lacuna in Hell's text (p. 19), but also contains other extensive additions summing up to a considerable fraction of the whole work; it presents moreover a very reliable recension of the book, and its numerous variants will make it possible at last to establish a satisfactory edition.

In the present paper a collation is offered of all the passages contained in Hell's text for which new readings are provided by the Chester Beatty manu-script. It is hoped in a subsequent paper to publish the additional material for which that manuscript constitutes the sole authority. Scholars will be interested to note how remarkably this fresh evidence confirms many of the brilliant emendations proposed by the famous Arabists who have from time to time devoted themselves to the improvement of Hell's edition.