Copy of the Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabita (The Book of Fixed Stars)

This manuscript is a copy of the Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabita (‘Book of Fixed Stars’), which text was written in 353AH/965 CE by ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (290-375 AH/903-986 CE). Integrating by Ptolemy’s work, Al-Sufi provides information on 48 constellations’ positions and their luminosity, through textual descriptions, astronomic tables and drawings of each constellation as they appear in the sky and on a celestial globe. The present copy was executed by ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-Jalil b. ‘Ali b. Abi Muhammad, who indicates in the text that he copied and illustrated it after another copy dated 472 AH/1036 CE, which belonged to vizir Nizam al-Mulk (408-484 AH/1018-1092 CE) and was copied by Hibatallah b. Bishr al-Sham‘I, a pupil of al-Sufi’s son. He specifies that he completed it in the month of muharram (February) but corrected the content in safar (March) after finding a copy illustrated by al-Sufi himself, which belonged to the Buyid emir ‘Adud al-Dawla (r. 337-372 AH/949-983 CE), who reigned on the Fars and Iraq from 367 AH/978 CE. The present manuscript was put in the treasury of Abbasid caliph al-Qa’im (r. 422-467 AH/1031-1075 CE) by the Buyid princes.