–17 Dhu al-Qaʿdah 1110 AH, according to what we found in the exemplar; we seek refuge in Allah from any excess or deficiency.’ The scribe does not state his name and follows the taʿqībah (catchword) system.

At the end he also wrote: ‘jumlatuhu karās 14 illā 3 awrāq’ (its total is 14 quires minus 3 folios).

The copyist placed a number of marginal sub-headings, each introduced with the word ‘maṭlab’ (issue); we did not deem it worthwhile to record them.

The manuscript is penned in black ink, while the chapter titles and certain markers appear in red. Red lines are drawn above some words, the text is enclosed in a red rectangular frame, and the first page is gilded and decorated with vegetal motifs.

On the title panel there is an ownership note that reads: ‘tamalakahu ʿabduhu al-ḍaʿīf al-ḥaqīr, shaykh al-Ḥaram sābiqan, Abū Bakr Āghā, fī 10 Jumādā al-Ākhirah 1112 AH’ (owned by his weak, humble servant, formerly the shaykh of the Ḥaram, Abu Bakr Agha, on 10 Jumada al-Akhirah 1112 AH).

The volume also bears a small oval seal whose content is unclear, and a rectangular seal indicating its endowment to the Ottoman Library.

This copy has been collated against the archetype from which it was transcribed, as is shown by the corrected insertions in the margins of several folios. It is the more complete of the two manuscripts, yet it suffers from numerous misreadings and omissions. The lacunae vary in length; the longest occurs in the first line of folio 37, where dozens of pages are missing. In the margin one finds the note: ‘hakadhā wajadnā fī al-aṣl’ (this is how we found it in the original). It is therefore clear that the loss lies in the exemplar itself, and I have supplied the missing passage from manuscript “B.”

I designate this manuscript with the siglum “Ḥ.”