A Timurid-era Manuscript of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (The secret of secrets) from the Atelier of Bāysunghur Mīrzā

A description and content analysis of the manuscript copy of the Arabic treatise on statecraft known as Sirr al-asrār (The secret of secrets) that was produced in 829/1425–26 in the atelier of the Timurid prince Bāysunghur and currently housed in the Chester Beatty Library (Ar. 4183). Ascribed to the philosopher Aristotle and addressed to his former pupil, Alexander the Great, this anonymous literary fiction, which is believed to have been composed in tenth-century Iraq, consists of advice in the mirrors for princes tradition on a wide range of topics relating to monarchical rule. Regarded as a genuine work by Aristotle (his Politics), the Sirr al-asrār enjoyed great popularity not only in the Islamicate world, but also in the West thanks to translations into Latin and European languages. The article discusses the main versions of the treatise and compares the Bāysunghur manuscript with several near-contemporary manuscript witnesses that help to resolve a number of problems in the text, which was copied by the scribe Ja‘far al-Bāysunghurī. This in-depth study of a single manuscript of the so-called shorter version of the treatise contributes to an understanding of the transmission of the Sirr al-asrār in the Islamicate world.