In general, this work is deemed to be a continuation by Ibn al-Shiḥnah to the chronicle
of Aleppo Bughyat al-ṭālib fī ta'rīkh Ḥalab by Kamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim ʿUmar ibn
Aḥmad Ibn al-ʿAdīm al-ʿUqaylī al-Ḥalabī (d. 660/1262; EI2 III/695; GAL I/332 S I/568-569;
Kaḥḥālah VII/275-276; Ziriklī V/40). In his 25 chapters, the author mostly follows
the Aʿlāq al-khaṭīrah fī dhikr umarāʾ al-Shām wa-al-Jazīrah, a historical geography
of Syria and Mesopotamia by ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī
Ibn Shaddād al-Anṣārī al-Ḥalabī (d. 684/1285; EI2 III/933; GAL I/482 S I/883; Kaḥḥālah
VIII/209-210). Although manuscripts and prints generally attribute this work to Ibn al-Shiḥnah, his
authorship is disputed. In the two prefaces that manuscript copies of this work might
have, the author is never named. In the first preface, the author conveys his intent
to write an appendix to Ibn al-ʿAdīm's work while in the second preface he mentions
wanting to make a selection from Ibn al-Shiḥnah's chronicle of Aleppo Nuzhat al-nawāẓir
fī rawḍ al-manāẓir. Based on the second preface, Brockelmann and Pertsch classify
the work as an anonymous selection from the Nuzhat al-nawāẓir fī rawḍ al-manāẓir by
Ibn al-Shiḥnah, which in turn would be a continuation of Ibn al-ʿAdīm's work. Furthermore,
Ziriklī refers to the assertion of Muḥammad Rāghib ibn Maḥmūd ibn Hishām al-Ṭabbāḫ
al-Ḥalabī in his Iʿlām al-nubalāʾ bi-ta'rīkh Ḥalab al-shahbāʾ that he considers Abū
al-Yumn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Batrūnī (d. 1046/1636; Ziriklī
VI/196) to be the likely author of Durr al-muntakhab. On the other hand, Jean Sauvaget
would like to dispel any doubts concerning the authorship of Ibn al-Shiḥnah “as the
author mentions the waḳf founded by his father" (see EI2 III/938). f. 2a: title of the work and the name of the author, Ibn al-Shiḥnah, in another hand than
that found in the text
Reddish-brown Oriental leather binding; spine has been renewed in brown leather; central
ornament of the covers: small mandorla with lobed perimeter and an infill of leafy
scrolls and two fleuron pendants; frame consists of a line pattern; doublures made
of coloured paper with a silver floral pattern
