abstract

An intriguing inscription is found in the endleaves of many manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Ottoman Turkish: Ya kabikaj! (O buttercup!) and variants thereof. The invocation, which may refer to the Persian buttercup plant Ranunculus asiaticus or to the djinn (spirit) of the same name in charge of insects, was used to protect the book from insect damage. This project expands on the codicological work of Adam Gacek, principally his 1987 article, “The Use of ‘kabīkaj’ in Arabic Manuscripts” (published in Manuscripts of the Middle East, Leiden), which surveyed the possible etymology of such inscriptions in manuscripts held by Leiden. Even with this small corpus, he was able to identify inscriptions in manuscripts copied from the 16th through 19th centuries, from Indonesia to North Africa. We attempt to build a broader corpus of manuscripts with kabikaj inscriptions by running a survey of private and institutional collections to establish a broader sense of the geographical and temporal distribution of this inscription in manuscripts from the Muslim world. We also attempt to identify any plant matter contained within these manuscripts, as well as whether it is indeed possible for buttercup species to have any deterrent impact on pest activity within a book. Many species of the ranunculus genus are well-known to be toxic to mammals and some insects when fresh, but toxicity greatly lowers or disappears when dried. Gacek’s article has remained a codicological touchstone in the field for the past thirty years — pairing an expanded version of his initial work with updated research into the chemical properties of this family of flowers may shed greater light on the practical origins of these enigmatic inscriptions.

can you help?

We have a survey here looking for examples of kabikaj inscriptions. If you have too many to list out but can point us to a collection or online catalogue we’d be most grateful.

If you’re in a UK institution with an established IPM programme and an area with regular book pest activity and would be willing to decorate a few traps with Ranunculus leaves, to help us observe the impact (with results before end of March 2025), please get in touch with Abby.