Catalogue of Chinese books and manuscripts in the library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine

sick, and so forth. Much effort has been devoted to the editing of the text, for which six manuscripts have been examined and collated. There are, however, numerous other copies in Arab and Western libraries (Khalfa seems not to know of these), and the history of the text's composition and transmission does not lend itself to editing simply by opting for the more frequently attested variants. Ibn .Hajar revised or rewrote his treatise at least twice between 819/1416 and his death hiirty three years later, and his changes were significant enough for him at one point to opt for a different arrangement of the chapters. Features of all three recensions can be detected in the extant MSS, along with marginalia and possible interpolations by later scribes. Khaffa's editorial method lacks the sophistication required to differentiate among these versions and additions, however, and his text more likely represents yet a fourth version rather than any one of those that Ibn Hajar left us. This obviously affects the use of the book for serious historical purposes, and, at the least, means that we still lack the critical edition that the Badhl al-mca'uin merits. Nevertheless, one can hardly fail to welcome a major addition to the meagre Arabic plague literature available in print, and it will hopefully draw attention to and encourage work on other books of this genre.