I. Writers on the Art of Writing.

1. شوق المستهام في معرفة رموز الاقلام Shauq al-Mustaham fi ma'rifat rumuz al-aqlam The Desire of the Passionate for Knowledge of the Secrets of Scripts, by Ahmed ibn Abi Bakr ibn Wahshiyya. Desire of the knowledge of the secrets of scripts fulfilled, by the author Ahmed f. Ebibekr, celebrated by the name Ben Wahshie.

Regarding this extremely rare codex, which was donated to the Imperial Library by the illustrious Knight Carlo Rosetti de Rosenhügel, Prefect of Austrian Commerce in Egypt, it is superfluous to discuss more here, since it was translated into the English language by the author of this catalog during his sea voyage from Alexandria to Britain, and later published in England through the care of the most famous Wilkens and the expenses of the magnificent Count Spencer under the title:

Ancient Alphabets and hieroglyphic characters explained, with an account of the egyptian priests, their classes, initiation and sacrifices in the arabic language by Ahmed Ben Ebibekr Ben Wahshie, and in english by Joseph Hammer Secretary to the Imperial Legation at Constantinople; London 1806 in 4to.

Although that book was published six years ago, due to the circumstances of the times and the blocked roads, it has not yet reached the hands of the translator himself, and it became known to him only through the mention of the learned Silvestre de Sacy in the Magasin encyclopédique of November 1810. This prince of Oriental philologists of the present age, even though he rightly corrected many errors (σφαλματα) errors of both the Arabic writer and the English translator, we do not think one should agree with his opinion that this codex is apocryphal and perhaps not to be attributed to Ibn Wahshiyya, for several reasons that are too long to relate. Here, we merely ask for permission to add a few words about the manner in which it came into our hands. Indeed, in the year 1801, when, for the sake of visiting Egypt, we experienced the hospitality of the aforementioned most famous Knight (which all travelers have celebrated for half a century) and inquired about Oriental codices, the Knight himself confessed to us that nothing had been left to him after the fates of war except this most precious codex, which was preserved in some mosque; when he brought it, since we did not have the means to purchase it, he offered it as a gift to the Imperial and Royal Library of Vienna.