Syrups from the apothecary's shop:: A Genizah fragment containing one of the earliest manuscripts of 'Minhaj al-Dukkan'

Minhaj al-dukkan wa-dustur al-a'yan fi a'mal wa-tarakib al-adwiya al-nafi'a lil-insan ('The management of the [pharmacist's] shop and the rule for the notables on the preparation and composition of medicines beneficial to Man') is a manual for pharmacists composed in the year 658/1260 in Cairo by the otherwise unknown Abu 'l-Muna Dawud b. Abi Nasr al-Kuhin al-'Attar al-Haruni al-Isra'ili, from his name a Jewish druggist. Minhaj al-dukkan was composed in the period covered by the Genizah, but hitherto no such manuscript has been identified. We were able to identify T-S At. 40.91 as a fragment of chapter two of Minhaj al-dukkan. In this article we will present a transcription and translation of T-S At. 40.91, followed by a description of the sources and materia medica referred to. Finally, we will show that this fragment is a remnant of one of the earliest manuscripts of Minhaj al-dukkan found so far.