Fatimid coins in the collections of the University Museum, Philadelphia, and the American Numismatic Society. Numismatic Notes and Monographs No. 121. By George c. Miles. New York, American Numismatic Society, 1951. Pp. 52+iv, 6 plates. $2.00.

These two monographs, form the same hand and numbered consecutively in the same series, could hardly be more different treatment and in potential audience. The virtues they share include, nevertheless, clarity of presentation, authoritativeness, and excellence of photographic reproduction in the plates.

The Fatimid item is a concise check list, with minimal descriptions or references, of 537 coins, chiefly dinars, stuck by the Fatimid imams between A.D. 909 and 1171 in Tunisia, Sicily, Egypt, Syria, and the Yaman, together with the few imitations. Of this large group, 131 issues have not been previously published, but these are chiefly new years for known mints or slight variations in types. The only previously unrecorded Fatimid mint is San`a` in the Yemen, represented by a bullion piece dated A.H. 463. Unfortunately, no indices are provided, though a table of known Fatimid mints and dates is appended.

The extreme conciseness of the presentation leads to some uncertainty as to whether occasional unexpected readings are misprints, errors in engraving, or anomalies requiring comment. For instance, coin 16 includes the name ``Abu`l Tahir,`` but this ruler`s name is given on page 4 as ``AbuTahir; in this case the plate confirms the reading. Again, coin 67 is read in part as ``al Mu`izz Din Allah,`` with the ruler termed on page 6 ``alMu`izz li Din Allah,`` while the plate seems to show the neither form . On coin 69 ``Mohammad`` is red in a phrase where ``wawazir`` is the usual expressionbefore ``khayr al mursalin``with no comment and no plate.For coin 438 the variant of the mint Tarabulus is spelled Atarabulus instead of the correct Atrabulus.

The epithets of the imams are inconsistently treated. The fifth and eight are correctly called, respectively, al`Aziz bi`llah and alMustansir bi`llah, but the first, alMahdi bi`llah is listed merely as alMahdi, and the third, alMansur bi`llah, as alMansur, though their coins carry the complete forms. The second imam is rightly called alQa`im biAmr Allah, though he also appear on coins as alQa`im bi`llah, but the sixth has the same final phase rendered, after al Hakim, as biAmri`llah, as has the twelve after alZahir. The thirteen, alFa`iz, is completed by biNasri`llah, where consistency suggests biNasrAllah.

Questionable listings in the appended table of known issues include Aylah for A.H.314, long before the Fatimid conquest of Egypt, and alMahdiyah for 447, while known coins for thelatter mint dated 451 and 456 are omitted. Typographical errors range from 433, in the date list on page 34, and misspellings of Misr on page 8, except on page 23, area on page 29, and rahim on page 47 to the inevitable but commendably rare dropped diacritical and punctuation marks and the superfluous dot under the ``s`` of Qasim on page 40. The monograph as a whole does not suffer unduly from these few faults, but the limitation of treatment is disappointing. The lack of indices seriously restricts its utility, and the appended table is a tantalizingly insufficient substitute for the definitive corpus for which Dr. Miles has assembled the material. It is to be hoped that he will be able to prepare such a corpus for publication relatively soon, in which event the present item will take its place as a handy interim record of the specimens in America`s two richest collections of Fatimid coins.

The supplement to Dr. Miles` fine study of early Arabic glass weights and stamps number 111 in the same series published in 1948 yields far more than might reasonably be expected. It fulfills its primary purpose by cataloguing 36 items acquired since the appearance of its predecessor, as well as a few noteworthy specimens not owned by the American Numismatic Society, and by duly listing corrections and additional references, but new material of great value is also included.

Dr. Miles has identified the vessel stamps as the mediaeval equivalent of our druggists` labels on prescriptions and proprietary medicines, specifying the medicament contained and the quantity as attested by local prefects or inspectors. These pharmaceutical substances have been identified Arabic, Latin, and English names, all fully indexed, and their medical uses have been ascertained, obviously by enthusiastic ad hoc research in a field of inquiry previously as alien to the author as to this reviewer. Among the substances thus discussed are woad-leaves (detested by Elizabeth of England),olive oil (for which a complete jar with stamp is illustrated_), lupine (versus worms and bedbugs, among other uses), cumin of various colours (used with vinegar for hiccups), sesame-seed (said to be both a hair tonic and an aphrodisiac), chick-peas (flatulent, lenitive, and diuretic according to Dioscorides), fennel (or perhaps dill),and lentils (as a blood tonic) These fascinating brief excursuses are bulwarked by a longer`digression on the history of the introduction of sugar cane into Egypt`and by notes on the individuals and weights named on the stamps. The whole is marked by careful transcriptions confirmed by fine plates and by through scholarships in diverse field, yet it is readable in direct reflection of the author`s disciplined enthusiasm.

Certain questions arise in the mind of a reader. One would like further sidelights on the fragments of ring weights for meat: how with indigo by Arab druggists, as stated on page 6, or was the name of one erroneously applied to the other? If the final word on number 8 "wazn," why is the waw alone on the bottom line? (I tend to prefer Lane-Poole`s reading "wafi.") Why is Allah" used in the translations instead of its English equivalent "God"? Dr. Miles` polite dismissal of M. Jungfleisch`s view that engravers` errors represented "an intentional expedient workshops" is unquestionably correct.

Typographical errors are the sole blemish apparent to this non- pharmaceutical reviewer, but they are rather numerous . "7" should replace "3" on page 4, three lines from the bottom. On number 5 "an-" should be "al-". On number 14 the letter after "Yazid" should be "b.", not "d.", while "H.A." in the commentary should be "A.H." On number 26 "Ibrahim" needs a macron over the "i", and in the commentary al-Mahdi is spelt "al-Madhi." In number 30 one name is transliterated both "abi`l-`Abbas," the date 934 is an error for 834, and "prefect" is ironically "perfect". The alif is dropped from the Arabic for "Allah" in number 32. On page 36 consensus is spelt "concensus." In his first appearance on page 43 the dot is missing from the "t" of Suyuti. Fustat is misspelt Futsat on pages 50 and 53. In the index under Abu`l-Wahhab, Tamim becomes "Tamin"; "Ashinas" loses its macron, and al-Mutawakkil appears as "al-Mutawwakil."

Perhaps one final cavil is permissible. Punctuation usage is of course largely personal, but the hyphen between an ordinal numeral and the word "century" serves to distinguish the adjectival use of such a phrase from the normal use. Thus, "in the eighth century,"but "an eighth-century source," and so on. In this monograph the hyphen is regularly omitted. Such minor quibbles in no way diminish the fascination of this unassumingly-titled opus.

Harry W. Hazard