Risalah dar marifat-i sanat-i usturlab-i shumali va junubi.

4to (173 x 265 mm). 18 ff. Persian manuscript on paper. 17 lines of black nasta'liq with important words and phrases picked out and red, and numerous rubricated charts and diagrams. Rebacked contemporary red leather decorated with floral borders and medallions. An illustrated treatise on the astrolabe by famous Persian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician Abd Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn Birjandi (d. 1528). This manuscript contains a different text than al-Birjandi's better known work on the uses of the astrolabe, and is flush with illustrations and charts to aid in the reader's understanding of theoretical and practical usage of the instrument. - Al-Birjandi's writings are some of the most important of the 16th century; he was a member of the Ulugh Beg Observatory, wrote on the sizes and distances of the planets, hypothesized the physics of Earth's rotation, and explained the tools of his trade, from ephemerides tables which track and predict the motions of the heavens to astronomical tools such as, of course, the astrolabe. This particular treatise has been furnished with over a dozen in-text geometrical diagrams explaining different sections of the work. - Early binding fully rebacked and laid down, modern spine and endpapers, professional paper repair throughout.