If one thinks about mediaeval collections of recipes and properties—medical and non-medical—in Arabic, it is likely that the image of a chaotic and hopelessly entangled mass comes to mind. This impression is also due to the fact that this kind of material has been scarcely studied so far. Thus, with certain levity, the slightly detrimental label ‘folkscience’ has often been attached to these texts. However, a deeper inquiry into some of the manuscript traditions associated with this genre raises a number of substantial counterarguments to this misperception. The manuscript tradition of Abū ʿAlā ibn Zuhr opens a new perspective for the study of compendia and the transmission of knowledge from ancient to Medieval sources.