ABSTRACT
There is only one manuscript copy of the History, MS 1867 in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris whose only reliable title is that given by the anonymous scribe in his colophon Ta rı¯kh Ibn al-Qu¯t
˙ ı¯ya, ‘The History of
Ibn al-Qu¯t ˙ ı¯ya’. All other versions are derived from that unique manuscript.
These are: MS 996 Leiden; MS 987 Munich; MS 4996 Madrid; MS Ta rı¯kh 2837, Cairo.1 In the most serious study of the History published so far, María Isabel Fierro comes to this conclusion. After examining all the evidence, she convincingly dismisses all editions of the text which, until the publication of her study of Ibn al-Qu¯t
