Liber de causis.

catalog of oriental manuscripts in the University Library at Leiden,Catalogus librorum tam impressorum quam manuscriptorum bibliothecae publicae universitatis Lugduno-Batavae, Leiden 1716 in folio, p. 447 No. 918. — Catalogus codicum orientalium bibliothecae academiae Lugduno Batavae, authors P. de Jong and M. J. de Goeje, vol. III. (Leiden 1865) p. 312 No. 1434. was in fact our book de causis.

It was L. Zunz who, with reference to and in reliance upon that Hebrew translation, first expressed this assumption.In the "Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für jüdische Theologie" edited by A. Geiger, vol. 4 (Stuttgart 1839), p. 190, note 15. — Gesammelte Schriften von Dr. Zunz, vol. 3 (Berlin 1876), p. 179, note 1. M. Steinschneider repeated it, following the aforementioned statement by Jourdain.M. Steinschneider, "Catalogus librorum hebraeorum in bibliotheca Bodleiana" (Berlin 1852–60, in one quarto volume), col. 742. In a later passage, which Haneberg overlooked, col. 1404, Steinschneider was already able to attest to the earlier assumption as correct "ex autopsia" (from personal observation). Haneberg subsequently examined the manuscript itself and confirmed the book de causis as its content (see the Introduction).

This manuscript was entrusted to me for transcription in 1873 through the kind mediation of Professor Dr. M. J. de Goeje in Leiden.

It was brought from the Orient by the famous Arabist Jakob Golius (died 1667) and bears the No. 209 among the Golius manuscripts.It is an error when Haneberg, in the aforementioned place, p. 365, states that the manuscript belongs to the Warner collection (the "legatum Warnerianum"). It comprises 29 leaves in small quarto format and is written in large, regular, flowing strokes. Unfortunately, it is no longer in its original, pristine condition. Later hands have not only provided the margins with a few glosses but have also corrected the text itself, and the writing style of the first hand has been rendered unrecognizable in several places through these corrections as well as through erasures. However, what is even worse is that the ink has lost so much of its color over time that determining the letterforms is frequently fraught with great difficulties, and now and then it becomes downright impossible. I must highlight, with heartfelt thanks, that the trained eye of my highly esteemed teacher, Professor Dr.