D'Agostino has preferred to refer to the compendium simply as «Astromagia», but, in my opinion, «Libro de astromagia» seems more appropriate, as can be seen by comparison with other known titles of Alfonso's scientific works (such as the Libros del saber de astronomía and the Libro de las formas et de las ymágenes), cited above. Professor D'Agostino kindly informed me in a recent personal letter that he agrees with me that «Libro de astromagia» is a very appropriate title, adding that even in an apparently exceptional case such as the Alfonsine compilation known as Lapidario, the original title was in reality Libro de las piedras («Book of the Stones»).

See PINGREE, D., «Between the Ghāya and Picatrix. I: The Spanish version», Journal, XLIV (1981), pp. 27-56.

See D'Agostino, p. 81, who advances this hypothesis very cautiously, since it is based on the tentative reading of the word «Granada» in a virtually illegible Arabic inscription on fol. 8v.

Diman and Winget, p.i.

MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO, M., La ciencia española, Madrid, 1887-1888, 3.ª ed., p. 351.

On the relationship between the Liber Razielisand the Libro de las formas see my «Alfonso X y el "Liber Razielis": imágenes de la magia astral judía en el scriptorium alfonsí», forthcoming, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, LXXIV.1 (1997).

The identity of Abolays remains a puzzle. On this problem see NUNEMAKER, J.-H., «Index of the Stones in the Lapidary of Alfonso with Identifications in other Lapidaries», Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1928, p. 5; idem, «Note on Abolays», Hispanic Review, II (1934), pp. 242-246; G. O. S. Darby, «The Mysterious Abolays», Osiris, I (1936), pp. 251-259; idem, «Ibn Wahshīya in Mediaeval Spanish Literature», Isis, XXXIII (1941-1942), pp. 433-438. None of the identifications proposed by these authors is entirely convincing. In my opinion, Abolays is to be identified with Abū 'Alīï al-Khaiyāt (on whom see SEZGIN, F., Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, VII, Frankfurt, 1979, pp. 120-121), whose name was changed into «Albolay» in a 14th-century book list (Copenhagen, Royal Library, Gl.Kgl.S. 277, fol. 146r.); see BJORNBO, A. A., «Ein Lehrgang der Mathematik und Astrologie im Mittelalter», Bibliotheca mathematica, serie 3, IV (1903), pp. 288-290; LEMAY, R., «The Teaching of Astronomy in Medieval Universities, Principally at Paris in the Fourteenth Century», Manuscripta, XX (1976), pp. 197-217 (210-211); BURNETT, G. S. F., «The Impact of Arabic Science on Western Civilisation in the Middle Ages», Bulletin of the British Association of Orientalists, II (1979-1980), pp. 40-51 (50). In some other manuscripts we find the transcriptions «Abuali», «Albuali», «Aubueli» or «Albohaly» for Abū 'Alīï al-Khaiyāt (see CARMODY, F. J., Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation. A Critical Bibliography, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1956, pp. 49-51).

FERNÁNDEZ MONTAÑA, J., Lapidario del Rey D. Alfonso X. Códice original, edición facsímil, Madrid, 1881. The new facsimile edition (Primer Lapidario del Rey Alfonso X el Sabio, Madrid, 1982) does not include the Libro de las formas. See also RODRÍGUEZ MONTALVO, S., Lapidario, según el manuscrito escurialense H.I.15, Madrid, 1981. The first person to connect the codices, which are numbered consecutively in the Real Biblioteca de El Escorial, seems to have been RODRÍGUEZ DE CASTRO, J., Biblioteca española, I, Madrid, 1781, p. 159. Accordingly, the title which appears on the cover of the Libro de las formas (ms. h-I-16) is «Tabla del libro llamado Lapidario» («Index of the Book called the Lapidary»).

STEINSCHNEIDER, M., Die hebräischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher, II, Berlin, 1893, p. 980; idem, «Arabische Lapidarien», Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XLIX (1895), pp. 244-278 (266-268).

NUNEMAKER, J. H., «In Pursuit of the Sources of the Alfonsine Lapidaries», Speculum, XIV (1939), at p. 483. See also GARCÍA SOLALINDE, A., Antología de Alfonso X el Sabio, Madrid, 1965, p. 195: «Varios eran los libros dedicados a las piedras, pero sólo se llegaron a copiar cuatro de los once que anuncia el índice del manuscrito alfonsino».