Stars of Smarkand - Ulugh Beg (Facsimile)

ne of the most beautiful astronomical works of the Middle Ages, created for the famous scientist on the ruler's throne - Ulugh Beg. This extraordinary facsimile bears witness to the amazing cultural and scientific flowering of Samarkand on the Silk Road in the 15th century.

The manuscript is a narrative version of the famous Book of the Fixed Stars by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi (903-986), who combined insights from Ptolemy's Almagest with Arabic tradition and his own observations of the sky.

Ulugh Beg had the manuscript created around 1430 as an illustrated deluxe volume for his library - each of the 74 miniatures depicts the constellations in two views: as we see them in the sky and as they are projected onto the celestial sphere.

This extraordinary astronomical manuscript contains 247 parchment folios with precise Arabic calligraphy and 74 hand-painted miniatures depicting constellations and celestial bodies. The text is accompanied by golden captions, scientifically accurate calculations, and ecliptic coordinates of the stars. Of particular note are the rare mentions of the constellation Andromeda and the Great Magellanic Cloud (al-Bakr), the first recorded observations of these objects. The manuscript thus represents a catalogue of stars that has been the basis for many celestial globes over the centuries.

The work was commissioned by Al-Sufih for Ulugh Beg (1394-1449), the famous scholar and ruler, grandson of Tamerlane, who founded the famous madrasa and observatory in Samarkand. It was also here that the Zij-i-Sultani star catalogue was created, whose astronomical calculations surpassed most of his European colleagues - for example, he determined the length of the sidereal year with a deviation of only 58 seconds. The work thus represents not only the scientific but also the artistic peak of Islamic scholarship in the period before the European Renaissance.

The facsimile faithfully reproduces the manuscript preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. The elegant leather binding with gold embossing is housed in a deluxe slipcase for safe keeping. The edition also includes a companion booklet that includes translations and commentary on all the miniatures, the historical circumstances of the work's creation, and places it in the broader context of Ulugh Beg's scholarly school in the 15th century.

Specifications:

• Signature: MS arabe 5036 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris)
• Year of creation: c. 1430
• Place of origin: Samarkand
• Edition: 600 hand-numbered copies, number 292
• Format: 24.5 × 18.5 cm
• Size: 247 leaves (folios), 74 miniatures
• Weight: c. 1.5 kg
• Binding: leather binding with gold embossing, embroidery and protective sleeve
• Companion volume: Comprehensive commentary with all translations and scientific explanations of the miniatures
• Publisher: Verlag Müller und Schindler