GUNZBURG (David de). Lot n° 383

The diwan of Ibn Kuzman. Berlin S. Calvary 1896. The text according to the unique manuscript in the Asian Museum in St. Petersburg. In-4 ff. in half cloth jacket, 8 p. and 148 folios of zadjels. Fascicule 1 (the only one published) reproducing the unique surviving manuscript in phototype with a foreword. Baron David de Gunzburg intended to edit the text, the translation and a commentary with historical considerations, on the poems of Ibn Kuzman, his life, his time, his language as well as a study on the Arabic spoken in Spain in the xi th century. But only the reproduction of the manuscript and a foreword of 8 pages were published. Abu Bakr ibn Kuzman (d. 1160) was a famous Zadjalist in whom only the Hispanic Arabic dialect was used. His success was so brilliant that he earned the title of "prince of the zajalists (imam al-zadjdjalin). Like Abu Nawas and François Villon, he led a bohemian life, was an open drinker, bawdy and versatile (Kali', zani, lawwat) and was imprisoned. Posterity ratified Ibn Kuzman's judgment of his own talent and consecrated him as a prince of the zadjalists and his works have become models of perfection in the genre.